CIRES, NOAA team leads investigation of Southeast air quality, climate questions

June 19, 2013

Many photographs of the Southeastā€™s Smoky Mountains show layers of tall hills, shading to purples and grays in the distance. Tiny particles in the atmosphere help create the effect, which makes for stunning pictures. But human-caused enhancements of those fine particles also contribute to poor air quality in the Southeastern U.S., and may help explain why the region has not warmed like the rest of the nation.

The fight against fires begins before the first spark

June 13, 2013

As human population in the high-hazard ā€˜red zoneā€™ skyrockets, researchers strive to understand when these homeowners perceive wildfire risk and act to mitigate it.

Join CU at the MAVEN launch this fall

June 13, 2013

Join us this fall for a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to be a part of CU-Boulderā€™s mission to Mars! The university will be hosting three fun-filled days of festivities Nov. 16-18 in Cocoa Beach, Fla., culminating in MAVENā€™s launch. Space is limited for the launch viewing, and NASA requires we submit a list of tentative guests months in advance. All attendees MUST be registered with us by June 30 to be on NASAā€™s guest list.

Amount of dust blown across the West is increasing, says CU-Boulder study

June 10, 2013

The amount of dust being blown across the landscape has increased over the last 17 years in large swaths of the West, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder. The escalation in dust emissions ā€” which may be due to the interplay of several factors, including increased windstorm frequency, drought cycles and changing land-use patterns ā€” has implications both for the areas where the dust is first picked up by the winds and for the places where the dust is put back down.

CU-Boulder prof to lead NASA campaign to study North American air quality

June 6, 2013

A University of Colorado Boulder professor is leading a major NASA airborne science campaign this summer that will probe weather patterns and air pollution over a vast expanse of North America that have potential global climate consequences.

2013 Colorado Shakespeare Festival opens this weekend

June 6, 2013

A Midsummer Night's Dream kicks off the 2013 Colorado Shakespeare Festival season, with a preview performance on Friday, June 7 and opening night on Saturday, June 8. Dream a little dream of love and laughter as Shakespeare's most beloved comedy casts its spell on the enchanting Mary Rippon stage.

Protein linked with tumor growth could be potential target for cancer-fighting drugs, according to study led by CU-Boulder

June 6, 2013

A team of researchers led by the University of Colorado Boulder has discovered a protein complex that could be targeted with drugs to stunt tumor growth. As tumors expand, their centers are deprived of oxygen, and so tumors must flip specific genetic switches to survive in these hypoxic environments.

Los Angeles air pollution declining, losing its sting, says new CIRES study

June 4, 2013

CIRES news release The cleanup of Californiaā€™s tailpipe emissions over the last few decades has not only reduced ozone pollution in the Los Angeles area. It has also altered the pollution chemistry in the atmosphere, making the eye-stinging ā€œorganic nitrateā€ component of air pollution plummet, according to a new study led by a scientist from NOAAā€™s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder .

Diet likely changed game for some hominids 3.5 million years ago, says CU-Boulder study

June 3, 2013

A new look at the diets of ancient African hominids shows a ā€œgame changerā€ occurred about 3.5 million years ago when some members added grasses or sedges to their menus, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder.

Water-rock reaction may provide enough hydrogen ā€˜foodā€™ to sustain life in cool parts of the oceanā€™s crust or on Mars

May 30, 2013

A chemical reaction between iron-containing minerals and water may produce enough hydrogen ā€œfoodā€ to sustain microbial communities living in pores and cracks within the enormous volume of rock below the ocean floor and parts of the continents, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder. The findings, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, also hint at the possibility that hydrogen-dependent life could have existed where iron-rich igneous rocks on Mars were once in contact with water.

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