Spending time in nature is good for us. Studies have shown that contact with nature can lift our well-being by affecting emotions, influencing thoughts, reducing stress and improving physical health. Even brief exposure to nature can help. One well-known study found that hospital patients recovered faster if their room included a window view of a natural setting. Knowing more about nature’s effects on our bodies could not only help our well-being, but could also improve how we care for land, preserve ecosystems and design cities, homes and parks.
Read more at UW News »Navy Growler jet noise over Whidbey Island could impact 74,000 people’s health
New research from the University of Washington shows that the noise from Navy aircraft isn’t just disruptive — it presents a substantial risk to public health.
Read more at UW News »New report ‘braids’ Indigenous and Western knowledge for forest adaptation strategies against climate change
A report co-led by the University of Washington outlines a new approach to forest stewardship that “braids together” Indigenous knowledge and Western science to conserve and restore more resilient forestlands.
Read more at UW News »What four decades of canned salmon reveal about marine food webs
Alaskan waters are a critical fishery for salmon. Complex marine food webs underlie and sustain this fishery, and scientists want to know how climate change is reshaping them. But finding samples from the past isn’t easy. “We have to really open our minds and get creative about what can act as an ecological data source,” said Natalie Mastick, currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University.
Read more at UW News »Video: UW cherry blossoms in peak bloom
The cherry trees on the UW Quad have reached their prime. A group of students in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences has been monitoring the timing of blossoms across campus since 2018, with the goal of creating a model that will use weather data to predict the timing of peak bloom in future years.
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