Full List of News Stories

From left to right, Ashley Ballantyne of the University of Colorado at Boulder, Dara Finney of Environment Canada and Natalia Rybczynski of the Canadian Museum of Nature search for fossils in a peat deposit at Strathcona Fiord on Ellesmere Island in Canada's High Arctic. Photo courtesy Dara Finney, Environment Canada...

A mobile fish lab on Boulder Creek is helping researcher assess the health of fish exposed to endocrine-disrupting chemicals polluting the waterway that can cause male fish to be feminized and decline in numbers. Image courtesy Alan Vajda, University of Colorado Denver. Male fish are taking longer to be “feminized”...

Joan Schirle lends expertise to CU Theatre The average Boulderite may not realize how his body movements speak volumes about demeanor, attitude or mood. Joan Schirle definitely does. While observing her workshop at the CU Theatre recently, I bore witness to how the movements of an actor can truly inform...

Only eight months after the tsunami, permanent houses had been provided for victims in the southern town of Hambantota, shown here, the home district of Sri Lanka's president. Tamils and Muslims on the eastern and northern coasts waited up to five years to obtain new housing. Photo credit: Michele R...

Gravity always wins, one might think. Avalanches roar and skiers plunge inexorably downhill. But moguls—or bumps, as they’re known by skiers—move uphill. Just ask lead researcher David Bahr, a Regis University professor and former CU geological sciences PhD student; Tad Pfeffer, a professor of civil, environment, and architectural engineering at...

Participatory governance is the darling of policymakers and world-organizations seeking to improve the well-being of the impoverished. The claim is that by increasing the citizens’ direct involvement with the decision-making process, the quality of their lives will improve. However, it may not bring about such dramatic changes and is no...

An extremely small RNA molecule created by a University of Colorado team can catalyze a key reaction needed to synthesize proteins, the building blocks of life. The findings could be a substantial step toward understanding “the very origin of Earthly life,” the lead researcher contends. The smallest RNA enzyme ever...

Study finds that, for many, drugs work no better than placebos, but resulting firestorm may have obscured nuances Newsweek heralded the “depressing news about antidepressants” and suggested that drugs like Prozac are “basically expensive Tic Tacs.” CNN also headlined the “startling news” and suggested that “antidepressants don’t work.” Commentators in...

Cartoon courtesy of Natural Hazards Observer - http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/o/ During major events and crises, social media’s importance is rising The alleged plot to “hide the homeless” during the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver foreshadowed Tweets and blog posts to come. A month before the convention, the blogosphere was atwitter because...

Politicians may talk tough about rival nations, but business people’s actions may be a better barometer of international relations. That’s one conclusion of Steve Chan, a political science professor at the University of Colorado who says conventional political theories don’t explain why China has become Taiwan’s most important trading partner,...