In the rural village Huang Gu, China, CU-Boulder graduate student and Fulbright Scholar Elise Pizzi studied access to clean water. Photo Courtesy of Elise Pizzi.

ā€˜Circular migrationā€™ improves drinking water in rural China

Dec. 2, 2015

Regardless of rainfall or government-built infrastructure, the availability of drinking water in rural Chinese villages varies based on villagersā€™ ingenuity, ā€œcircular migrationā€ patterns, and maintenance of water infrastructure, a University of Colorado graduate student has found.

Neurological mechanisms help explore the connection between epilepsy and autism.

Pre-natal stress, terbutaline linked to autism, epilepsy in rats

Dec. 2, 2015

Researchers have discovered that a combination of pre-natal stress and an unapproved pre-term labor medication called terbutaline may create a higher risk for the co-development of autism and epilepsy.

Mark Winey, professor and chair of molecular, cellular and developmental biology, leads an effort to improve the ability of scientists to reproduce results reported in scientific journals. Photo courtesy of Mark Winey.

Same experiment but different results; now what?

Sept. 12, 2015

Scientists are having trouble reproducing each otherā€™s published findings. This growing problem has received national attention and is concerning policymakers, the public and scientists. CU-Boulder biologist Mark Winey is working to solve this problem. As a leader of a task force on the issue, he notes that taxpayers need to know that research dollars are being used wisely and in ways that can lead to clinical solutions.

The Helen Carpenter Reading Room in the historic Hazel Gates Woodruff Cottage, home to the Department of Women and Gender Studies, houses a large collection of books and journals on women, gender and sexuality. Photo by Laura Kriho.

Women and gender studies elevated to departmental status

Sept. 10, 2015

On June 23, the Women and Gender Studies Program at the University of Colorado Boulder reached a historic milestone, officially becoming the Department of Women and Gender Studies. This change in stature from program to department was the culmination of more than 40 years of hard work by the diligent faculty, students and staff who founded and promoted the program through the years.

Interest in Nordic countries, whose flags fly here, has been rising, and so has interest in studying them. CU-Boulder has devoted more resources to meet the demand. Photo: iStockphoto.

CU-Boulder becomes a source for all things Norse

Sept. 9, 2015

To address the increased interest in Nordic studies, a visiting assistant professorship has been added to the programā€™s faculty, thanks to a co-sponsorship of $180,000 from the Danish Ministry of Education.nordic

Neurons

Coupleā€™s $1 million bequest supports neuroscience, conservative scholarship

Aug. 30, 2015

As a liberal undergraduate, Todd D. McIntyre planned to study psychology and then attend law school. He didnā€™t anticipate becoming so fascinated with science, the brain in particular, that heā€™d completely change his academic trajectory and then launch a successful career in the pharmaceutical industry, where developing treatments for brain pathologies has been his primary focus. As a liberal undergraduate, McIntyre planned to study psychology and then attend law school. He also didnā€™t anticipate becoming more conservative.

A view down from the headscarp of a debris flow in Boulder Canyon. The landslide removed about 20 inches of sediment from the slope on its path to flooding Boulder Creek. (Photo by Bob Anderson.)

Floods of 2013 caused up to 1,000 years of erosion

Aug. 27, 2015

The historic September 2013 storms that triggered widespread flooding across Coloradoā€™s Front Range eroded the equivalent of hundreds or even 1,000 years worth of accumulated sediment from the foothills west of Boulder, researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have discovered.

The High Park fire west of Fort Collins, Colo. destroyed 189 homes in 2012. Image courtesy of Wikimedia.

Residents in wildfire-prone areas underestimate risk

July 30, 2015

The vast majority of people living in areas prone to wildfires know they face risk, but they tend to underestimate that risk compared with wildfire professionals.

An amphioxus in the Daniel Medeiros lab is seen with most of its body burrowed into sand and its mouth exposed, as it waits for food to drift by. Photo by David Jandzik.

Vertebrates built new heads from old parts, study suggests

March 16, 2015

During the evolution of invertebrates like amphioxus into vertebrates like fish, a remarkable structure appeared: the head. How, exactly, the head evolved has long been a mystery, but scientists postulated that skulls were built from fundamentally new tissue. Now, CU-Boulder research suggests that skull tissue was actually built from existing tissues never before found in invertebrates.

Ketchum Arts & Sciences building gets a much-needed facelift.

Ketchum Arts & Sciences undergoing major renovation

March 16, 2015

Thomas Edison famously said that genius was ā€œone percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.ā€ For the last 77 years, summer work and study in CU-Boulderā€™s Ketchum Arts and Sciences building inevitably involved sweat. The building had no air conditioning. Thanks to a major renovation, that and many other architectural deficiencies are being corrected.

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