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A sunset over a city

State of the Climate Report confirms 2020 among 3 warmest years on record

Aug. 31, 2021

A new report on the global climate confirmed 2020 was among the three warmest years in records dating to the mid-1800s, despite a cooling La Niña influence in the second half of the year. Several CIRES/CU Boulder experts contributed to the report.

A view of the Fourmile Canyon Fire burning west of Boulder in 2010.

CU Boulder receives $1.1 million in EPA grants to reduce public exposure to wildland fire smoke

Aug. 23, 2021

Researchers have been awarded $1.1 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for two projects to help school districts and communities reduce exposure to harmful pollution from wildland fire smoke.

A panorama of the Grand Canyon

Geologists dig into Grand Canyon’s mysterious gap in time

Aug. 23, 2021

Hundreds of millions of years' worth of rocks have gone missing from the Grand Canyon's geologic record. Geologists are trying to discover why.

Artist's depiction of three new species of fossil condylarths: From left to right, Conacodon hettingeri, Miniconus jeanninae and Beornus honeyi. (Credit: Banana Art Studio)

Paleontologists discover 3 new species of primitive ungulates

Aug. 17, 2021

The new species, mouse- to cat-sized ancestors of today's hoofed animals like cattle and deer, offer scientists a new window into what the American West looked like just after the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Stock image of Paris

Cities like Paris may be optimal urban form for reducing greenhouse gas emissions

Aug. 13, 2021

Researchers at CU Boulder are part of a newly published study that finds that low-rise, high-density environments like those found in Paris are the optimal urban form when looking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions over their whole life cycle.

The aftermath of 2021 floods in Poudre Canyon.

How fire today will impact water tomorrow

July 29, 2021

In light of recent Colorado fires, floods and landslides, CU Boulder Today spoke with environmental experts Fernando Rosario-Ortiz and Ben Livneh about how fire may shape the future of water in the West.

Two fossils lay out on a table

Icy waters of 'Snowball Earth' may have spurred early organisms to grow bigger

July 28, 2021

A new study tackles one of the oldest questions in the history of the planet: How did living organisms get so big?

Trees on Niwot Ridge

Extreme heat, dry summers main cause of tree death in Colorado’s subalpine forests

July 26, 2021

Even in the absence of bark beetle outbreaks and wildfire, trees in Colorado subalpine forests are dying at increasing rates from warmer and drier summer conditions.

Antarctic krill Euphausia superba. (Credit: Uwe Kils / Wikipedia)

Human-driven climate change only half the picture for krill, key species in the Southern Ocean

June 15, 2021

New research about the fate of krill—one of the most abundant species on Earth—during this century has important implications for not only the Antarctic food web, but for the largest commercial fishery in the Southern Ocean.

Overlooking the town of Bailey, Colorado (Photo by Patrick Campbell/University of Colorado)

Mountain residents underestimate wildfire risk, overestimate preparedness

June 11, 2021

Hannah Brenkert-Smith has studied the role of residents' choices in wildfire risk for two decades, with one goal being to improve mitigation programs. Her most recent work near Bailey, Colorado, concludes residents often overestimate their preparation and underestimate their risk.

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