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Geologists Lizzy Trower and Carl Simpson

Why did a frozen Earth coincide with an evolutionary spurt?

Aug. 12, 2024

Geologists Lizzy Trower and Carl Simpson have won $1 million in support from the W.M. Keck Foundation to try to solve an evolutionary puzzle and extend Earth’s temperature record by 2 billion years.

Seonsik Yun and Doug Day stand on the roof of La Casa, an air quality research site in Denver.

Rooftop science: Surveying Denver’s air

July 31, 2024

CU researchers are taking part in a national project to identify sources of urban air pollution. The data will contribute to research related to both health and climate.

A view of a burned neighborhood in Lousiville,CO after the Marshall Fire.

Wildfires don’t just burn. They can also pollute aquatic ecosystems

July 29, 2024

CU Boulder chemist Lauren Magliozzi shares her findings from the devastating Marshall Fire, detailing the fire's impact on aquatic ecosystems.

Icebergs in the Ilulissat Icefjord, Greenland

Warming has more impact than cooling on Greenland's ‘firn’

July 26, 2024

A new CU Boulder study has found disproportionate effects of temperature shifts on an icy glacier layer.

Power lines against the sky

Weather-related power outages are on the rise. Here’s why, what to expect in the future

July 23, 2024

Extreme weather is straining the country’s aging power grid from Texas to Colorado and California. Kyri Baker, who studies infrastructure, offers her perspective on what the grid of the future could look like.

Smoke Stacks Against Blue Sky

Converting captured carbon to fuel: Study assesses what’s practical and what’s not

July 22, 2024

A new analysis sheds light on major shortfalls of a recently proposed approach to capture CO2 from air and directly convert it to fuel using electricity. The authors also provide a new, more sustainable, alternative.

a redpoll finch

The redpoll finch saga: How two bird species just became one

July 18, 2024

The American Ornithological Society reclassified two previously distinct species of finch as one, based on genetic research by CU Boulder scientists. The move knocks one name off birders’ “life list” and raises questions about what a species really is.

Insect with orange head and black and brown wings sits on a leaf

Searching for Colorado’s little-known fireflies

July 12, 2024

CU Boulder graduate student Owen Martin grew up in Colorado but had never seen a firefly in the state until three years ago. Now, he and his advisor Orit Peleg are trying to raise awareness of the Rocky Mountain region's glowing and "wonderous" insects.

Brooke Marten and Professor Sherri Cook following Marten's successful thesis defense

Grad student turning trash into cash

July 10, 2024

Brooke Marten is engineering a better environment, focused on what happens to trash after it is carted off to the landfill—and ways to turn it into a valuable product.

Highway road sign reads: "Extreme heat. Save power 4-9 p.m. Stay cool."

Heat waves are more dangerous than you think. Here’s why, and how to stay safe

July 10, 2024

Large portions of the West, including parts of Colorado, are reeling from extreme temperatures this week. CU expert Colleen Reid, who studies the health impacts from natural disasters, explains the unique hazards of prolonged heat waves and what people and communities can do to handle them.

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