In a controlled experiment spanning three years and involving 11 scientists from a range of life science disciplines, a new study published in PLOS ONE demonstrates that sharing a paper on Twitter did not increase citations.
It has long been asserted that papers shared on social media platforms, such as X (formerly called Twitter), receive a higher number of citations. However, a team of leading science communicators, led by University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences Professor Trevor Branch, with a combined total of 223,000 followers at the end of the experiment, wanted to explore whether increased citations was actually caused by tweeting about them, or was a correlation due to other factors such as the quality of the paper and the importance of the information in the paper. 

The Ecological Society of America (ESA) has announced the recipients of the 2024 Graduate Student Policy Award, for students engaged in advocacy with an interest in science policy, which includes SAFS grad Helena McMonagle. 

Natural history museums have entered a new stage of discovery and accessibility, where scientists around the globe and curious folks at home can access valuable museum specimens to study, learn or just be amazed, led by a team including UW scientists and the Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture. 

Transitioning from a SAFS research scientist to a graduate student in Fall 2023, Kat Lasdin is familiar with the world of microplastics research. As a member of Jacqueline Padilla-Gamiño’s lab, one of the projects Kat has been involved in focuses on water, sand, and microplastics in Tetiaroa, an atoll in French Polynesia. Tetiaroa is also the site of a breadth of other UW-led work, including seabirds and shark research. 

SAFS PhD student, Arial Brewer, joins the Oregon Public Broadcasting ‘Think Out Loud’ series to share her research into the impact of ship noise on Alaska’s Cook Inlet beluga whales. 

New research led by SAFS doctoral student, Arial Brewer, documents the vocal repertoire of Cook Inlet beluga whales for the first time. 

Recently featured in Hakai Magazine’s article “All The Fish We Cannot See”, SAFS PhD student Helena McMonagle is conducting a deep dive into a hidden cache of fish that might play an unexpected role in how the ocean sequesters carbon. We caught up with Helena to find out more about it.
Since starting this research in 2019, I’ve been using data collected at sea and in the lab, along with bioenergetic models, to estimate how much carbon these mesopelagic fish, such as lanternfish, transport from surface waters into the twilight zone. 

UW researchers are developing a drone-based salmon survey method that the Sauk-Suiattle can use to manage resources. 

A team at UW, including Trevor Branch from SAFS and Zoe Rand from QERM, have created an online interactive map called WhaleVis, which lets whale researchers visualize the IWC’s data on global whale catches and whaling routes. From this, researchers can estimate the animals’ spatial distribution and the effort whalers put into hunts. 

The Arctic is warming much faster than the rest of the planet. I study animals that are inextricably tied to the sea ice, which is disappearing. Narwhals spend most of their time in deep water, in and under dense ice. They need cold water. The other species I study is polar bears. Everything about being a polar bear is tied to the ice.