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Landscape burning by ancient hunters and gatherers may have triggered the failure of the annual Australian Monsoon some 12,000 years ago, resulting in the desertification of the country's interior that is evident today, according to a new study.

DENVER - The University of Colorado at Boulder has claimed the No. 2 spot among all U.S. colleges and universities for producing the highest number of Peace Corps volunteers. There currently are 104 CU-Boulder graduates making a difference in the lives of individuals and communities throughout the world as Peace Corps volunteers. Every year, the Peace Corps recognizes the college and university alumni who are working to advance the mission of the Peace Corps by publishing the "Top Producing Colleges and Universities" list.

Note to Editors: Contents embargoed until 5 p.m. EST on Jan. 24. Additional photos are available by calling Mike Liguori at (303) 492-3117. Microbes living in the brilliantly colored hot springs of Yellowstone National Park use primarily hydrogen for fuel, a discovery University of Colorado at Boulder researchers say bodes well for life in extreme environments on other planets and could add to understanding of bacteria inside the human body.

MEDIA ADVISORY A "multimedia groundbreaking" Jan. 25 for CU-Boulder's new $34 million ATLAS Center will feature "virtual shovels" in a video to be shown on the site of the former Hunter Science Building, northeast of the University Memorial Center on campus. The groundbreaking is at 12:30 p.m. and is open to the public. ATLAS is the Alliance for Technology, Learning and Society Institute.

When University of Colorado at Boulder Distinguished Law Professor Charles Wilkinson was asked to testify on behalf of an American Indian accused of murder, he jumped at the opportunity. But this was not your ordinary murder case. It happened over 146 years ago. Originally tried in the Oregon Territory in what is now the state of Washington, the man accused of murder was called Leschi, the last chief of the Nisqually Tribe.

Two University of Colorado at Boulder faculty members will receive $175,000 from the MacArthur Foundation for projects that focus on human migration. The grants were among 26 awarded to scholars in Russia, Botswana, Italy, Mexico, Nepal, Northern Ireland and the United States.

A panel of writers, editors and publishers will share the secrets of succeeding in the competitive consumer magazine industry on Thursday, Jan. 27, at 5 p.m. in Eaton Humanities Building room 150 at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The event is part of the Career Series sponsored by the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and is free and open to the public.

Note to Editors: Reporters and photographers are welcome to attend the symposium, and panelists will be available for interviews after the program ends. University of Colorado at Boulder experts in earthquakes and tsunamis, the sociology of disasters, and the various cultures and politics of the Indian Ocean region will gather Jan. 26 for a free public symposium.

The University of Colorado at Boulder will host a free public symposium Jan. 31 in connection with the Denver Center Theatre Company's production of Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex." Associate Professor John Gibert, chair of the classics department at CU-Boulder, will lead a discussion by a panel of theater and classics scholars in Norlin Library's Center for British and Irish Studies from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Gibert also will lead a symposium on Jan. 30 in the Denver Center's Stage Theatre from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Note to Editors: Contents embargoed until 1 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Jan. 19. New results from the Cassini mission indicate the spacecraft was pelted with sporadic bursts of interplanetary dust as it approached Saturn last year, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder space scientist.