August 2025

Reading time: 2 minutes Which bills in Hawaiʻi’s 2025 legislative session drew broad support, and which sparked fierce battles that split longtime allies? According to a new University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization (UHERO) blog post authored by Trey Gordner and Colin Moore, analysis of lobbying data reveals patterns of agreement, conflict and coalition-building among […]

Reading time: 2 minutes (Photo credit: Fabien Vivier, Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology Marine Mammal Research Program) Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, a popular snorkeling destination that attracts nearly a million annual visitors, underwent a remarkable and rapid recovery when tourism ceased during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. A study from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Reading time: 2 minutes Assistant Professor Tianlu Wang working with a robot arm to wirelessly control magnetic soft robots in physiologically relevant conditions towards medical applications. (Photo credit: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems) From the fluid motion of fish and elegant propulsion of jellyfish, to the shape-adapting capabilities of an octopus, nature’s creatures have

Reading time: 2 minutes While TAREC is located in Mānoa, its saltwater and freshwater tanks can mimic a range of natural environmental conditions. A University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa study shows a species of tilapia grows 15% faster in a system that recirculates artificial saltwater than in freshwater. This key finding comes from the new

Reading time: 2 minutes Researchers with the CTD Rosette that collects HOT program water samples. (Photo credit: Carolina Funkey) Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere enters the ocean at the surface and has been increasing the acidity of Pacific waters since the beginning of the industrial revolution more than 200 years ago. A new study, led

Reading time: 2 minutes Traffic patterns are one example of a complex system that UH researchers are helping AI better understand. A groundbreaking study by University of Hawaiʻi researchers is advancing how we learn the laws that govern complex systems—from predator-prey relationships to traffic patterns in cities to how populations grow and shift—using artificial intelligence

Reading time: 3 minutes The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument is mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. (Image credit: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/B. Tafreshi) A team of scientists, including University of Hawaiʻi researchers, has found further observational support for a model originally developed at UH Mānoa

Reading time: 2 minutes Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum (Photoc redit: Patrick Leonini) An innovative collection of planetary construction materials that were researched and developed in Hawaiʻi for sustainable space exploration are being showcased in a new exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Washington, D.C. in collaboration with the

Reading time: 2 minutes Assistant Professors Siqi Li and Niels Bidault installing a cathode in the electron gun and checking its alignment. What once sat dormant for nearly a decade—a powerful, highly specialized instrument known as a Free-Electron Laser (FEL) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa—is now sparking back to life, thanks to a

Reading time: 3 minutes A solitary bubble-net feeding humpback whale targeting a patch of Pacific herring in Alaska. (Photo credit: Martin van Aswegen) In a surprising discovery, a new study reveals that among seven species of baleen whales, only the humpback is capable of the high-performance turns required for its signature bubble-net feeding strategy. The