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Mossback's Northwest: The “Bird Woman” and an ode to ornithology

The “Bird Woman” and an ode to ornithology

A century ago, Seattle's first female principal, Adelaide Lowry Pollock, spread the gospel of birds and good citizenship to a generation of schoolkids.

How otters can save the sea

Dr. Shawn Larson spends her days in the field watching her favorite fuzzy sea mammal ride the waves of the Pacific Ocean. The curator of conservation research at the Seattle Aquarium has studied sea otters for 27 years. She’s fascinated by the unique properties that allow them to survive in ice cold waters and how they help recover some of our most imperiled ecosystems in the sea.

Video games for a cure

University of Washington computer scientist Zoran Popovic wants to revolutionize the way people learn. He teamed up with biochemist David Baker to create a video game that enables tens of thousands of people to contribute to scientific research by folding three-dimensional protein configurations on their home computers. Users help advance how scientists understand and predict the structure of proteins that cause and advance diseases like cancer, HIV/AIDS and Alzheimer’s.