Common advice to new parents is that the more words babies hear the faster their vocabulary grows.

Now new findings show that what spurs early language development isn’t so much the quantity of words as the style of speech and social context in which speech occurs.

The world is losing its large carnivores, their ranges are collapsing and many species are at risk of extinction.

“Promoting tolerance and coexistence with large carnivores is a crucial societal challenge that will ultimately determine the fate of Earth’s largest carnivores and all that depends upon them, including humans,” write the co-authors of a review article in a recent issue of Science.

A mere glass full of water from Monterey Bay Aquarium’s 1.2 million-gallon Open Sea tank, among the 10 largest aquariums in the world, is all scientists really needed to identify the Pacific Bluefin tuna, dolphinfish and most of the other 13,000 fish swimming there.

Researchers also for the first time used DNA from water samples to discern which of the species were most plentiful in the tank.

The Columbia River is perhaps the most intricate, complex river system in North America. Its diverse landscape crosses international borders and runs through subarctic, desert and sea-level ecosystems. Surrounding communities rely on the river for fishing, agriculture, transportation and electrical power.

UW environmental engineers are launching a new study to try to understand how climate change will affect the Columbia River Basin.

Results from a national, decade-long study suggest that particular types of cognitive training can have lasting benefits for older adults.

The study showed the training can help maintain certain thinking and reasoning skills, but at 10-year followup the memory training and control group had no differences in memory performance.