August 2025

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 […]

Reading time: 2 minutes This artist’s concept illustrates a Martian dust storm. (Photo credit: NASA) A new artificial intelligence (AI) tool developed by researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is making it easier for scientists to explore complex geoscience data—from tracking sea levels on Earth to analyzing atmospheric conditions on Mars. Their work

Reading time: 2 minutes Living in Hawaiʻi is expensive, and lower-income households struggle the most to make ends meet. Yet despite the high cost of living, Hawaiʻi consistently ranks among U.S. states with relatively lower levels of income inequality. That’s according to a new analysis of the Gini coefficient (standard measure of income inequality that

Reading time: 2 minutes Monika Ward, Alika Maunakea (far right) and his colleague in the lab. Researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) have uncovered a connection between a mother’s weight before pregnancy and autism-like behaviors in her offspring. Published in Cell, the study marks a significant

Reading time: 3 minutes Moai at Ahu Tongariki on Rapa Nui. (Photo credit: Noah Paoa) By 2080 rising sea levels could cause seasonal waves to reach Ahu Tongariki, the iconic ceremonial platform that is part of the Rapa Nui National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site, according to a study published in the Journal of

Reading time: 2 minutes (Photo courtesy: Jena Funakoshi) The power of intergenerational storytelling and Indigenous-centered research through the voices of Native Hawaiian kūpuna was spotlighted in a new University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa study. (Photo courtesy: Jena Funakoshi) The Kūpuna Interview Project, published in the American Journal of Community Psychology, offers a 360-degree view of

Reading time: 2 minutes Marshallese master navigators read the water and wind to find their way. (Photo: Chewy Lin via University of Stirling) A University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo professor is collaborating on a groundbreaking study into the heart of Marshallese seafaring and the human brain. Joe Genz This August, UH Hilo anthropology professor Joseph

Reading time: 2 minutes Northern fur seals haul out on shore. (Photo credit: NOAA Fisheries/ Kristin Wilkinson) Understanding how northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) navigate the North Pacific is crucial not only for marine science but also for managing rising tensions between wildlife and fisheries. A new study by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa,

Reading time: 3 minutes (Photo credit: Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources) Deaths by suicide and drug overdose significantly increased in the aftermath of the August 2023 Maui wildfire, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Public health must be adequately prepared to respond to serious