Full List of Features

Economic inequality is a hot topic in a presidential election year. Economists, politicians and journalists are all weighing in — but what, exactly, can an archaeologist bring to the discussion? Sarah Kurnick, a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at CU-Boulder, is glad you asked.

When Peter Blanken flew to Paris for the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in December, he had somewhat low expectations. But the CU-Boulder geography professor was heartened to see and hear that the 200 countries attending COP21 agreed on the urgency to act. “There was a strong sense that if we don’t do something in these two weeks (of the conference), it will be too late.”

In 2011, 12 high-school girls in upstate New York began to exhibit strange neurological symptoms: tics, verbal outbursts, seizure-like activity and difficulty speaking. The diagnosis was “conversion disorder.”

Strong and light carbon-fiber composites can be easily and cost-effectively recycled into new material just as strong as the originals, a team of researchers led by CU-Boulder has found. The composites are popular because they are lighter than aluminum and stronger than steel. Unlike metal, however, carbon-fiber composite is generally not recyclable.

Some peer-reviewed studies have found that happy people tend to live longer than their less-happy counterparts. But now, for the first time, researchers have found that happiness all by itself—regardless of marital status, income, physical health and other indicators—is a key factor in longevity.

Generally, ‘voluntourism’ is a poor substitute for traditional development work. Most projects are short-term, organizations that promote voluntouring don’t always ‘understand the place where it happens,’ and travelers typically don’t have skills needed for particular projects, researchers find.

The go-to-strategy for rescuing threatened species has long been to set aside tracts of healthy land to spread out in, and migration corridors that allow them to mix with other populations, gaining resilience via a broadened gene pool. Because habitat preservation isn’t always viable, introducing genetic diversity might keep threatened species viable, scientists find.

Sure, there are endorphin junkies who love to enter the ‘pain cave,’ but for those who’d rather play, fleeing from ‘zombies’ does the trick, CU-Boulder researchers find.

Nearly 1,000 students, most in the CU Club Sports Program, have benefitted from a cutting-edge clinic that tests for and treats concussions. Those who have suffered concussions are getting timely treatment, which helps them recover and stay in school. The CU clinic is gaining notice nationwide.

U.S.-Mexico border manifests from the 1920s indicate that Mexicans migrating to the United States then tended to be healthier, wealthier and more productive than those who did not migrate, according to CU-Boulder researchers. Their results suggests that U.S. migration policy in the early 1900s created an environment that drew “economically strong” Mexicans to migrate to the United States, and they say the findings have implications for contemporary policy.