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A theater company co-founded by one of Britain's premier actresses will stage three performances of a critically acclaimed translation of the Spanish play ¡Ay Carmela! at Old Main theater on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus. The performances will take place Dec. 11-13 at 7:30 p.m. and will be free and open to the public. The play is a co-production of the theater companies Ensemble and York Theatre Royal and comes to Colorado on the heels of a successful U.K. tour and a hit run in London's renowned West End theater district.

A high-flying K-12 education effort by the University of Colorado at Boulder will feature two science investigations launching on a NASA space shuttle this week and continuing on for extended stays aboard the International Space Station.

A solar-powered iPod charger and a backpack containing inflatable pouches that could help a backcountry skier "float" to the top of an avalanche are among approximately 50 engineering student inventions that will be demonstrated at the University of Colorado at Boulder's ITL Fall Design Expo Dec. 9. The Expo is free and open to the public from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The event will be held at the Integrated Teaching and Learning Laboratory, located on Regent Drive south of Colorado Avenue.

The phenomenon of the lowest possible temperature will be explored during the Dec. 9 talk "Much Ado About Absolute Zero" on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus. Physics Professor Paul Beale will present the talk, which is part of the physics department's monthly Saturday Physics Series, at 2 p.m. in Duane Physics room G1B30. The event is free and open to the public.

Colorado's late fall snowstorms could disappear by mid-December due to the influence of an El Niño event in the tropical Pacific Ocean, said Klaus Wolter, a University of Colorado at Boulder and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist. "Sometime in December I would expect to see the classic El Niño winter doldrums where the storm track shifts so far south that we might run dry for a very long stretch, maybe several weeks where nothing happens," said Wolter.

NIST news release Using an ultra-stable laser to manipulate strontium atoms trapped in a "lattice" made of light, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado at Boulder have demonstrated the capability to produce the most precise "ticks" ever recorded in an optical atomic clock. The techniques may be useful in time keeping, precision measurements of high frequencies, and quantum computers using neutral atoms as bits of information.

Distinguished Professor Carl Wieman of the University of Colorado at Boulder is the winner of the 2007 Oersted Medal, the highest honor given by the American Association of Physics Teachers. The award, which recognizes "notable contributions to the teaching of physics," has been given since 1936. Previous recipients include Carl Sagan, Richard Feynman, Hans Bethe and Freeman Dyson.

Distinguished Professor Carl Wieman of the University of Colorado at Boulder is the winner of the 2007 Oersted Medal, the highest honor given by the American Association of Physics Teachers. The award, which recognizes "notable contributions to the teaching of physics," has been given since 1936. Previous recipients include Carl Sagan, Richard Feynman, Hans Bethe and Freeman Dyson.

Hundreds of elementary and middle school students from across Colorado's Front Range region will descend on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus next month for the FIRST Lego League science and technology state tournament. The annual competitive event will take place Dec. 9 at the Balch Fieldhouse, with some 72 teams made up of students ages 9 to 14 expected to attend. Competition will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with a lunch break at noon. The event is free and open to the public, with an awards ceremony at 4 p.m.

The University of Colorado at Boulder's Council on Research and Creative Work has awarded 14 faculty fellowships for the 2007-08 academic year for studies ranging from earthquakes in California and the genetics of eye disease to the geology of early Earth and alchemy in Renaissance England.