Recent research from CU Boulder may have finally revealed why humans tend to get sick from airborne viral diseases more often in drier environments.

The study found that airborne particles carrying a mammalian coronavirus closely related to the virus which causes COVID-19 remain infectious for twice as long in drier air, in part because the saliva emitted with them serves as a protective barrier around the virus, especially at low humidity levels.

PhD student Shelby Buckley has made the research trip of a lifetime – studying the impacts of climate change up close and personal on a five-week trip to the Arctic aboard the Kronprins Haakon icebreaking ship.

It offered a unique chance to personally collect ice core and seawater samples and experience the excitement and fears of life on top of the world.

In 2021, a quick-moving, grass-fueled wildfire in suburban Boulder County burned 6,000 acres and destroyed more than 1,000 homes.

The Marshall Fire also spurred researchers to apply their expertise to the aftermath. One year later, dozens of ongoing research projects explore the science behind what happened and how we can mitigate future catastrophes amid a changing climate.

When gas leaks into and contaminates a household water well near an oil and gas drilling site, there is always a question of where it came from. Is it from a failure in the drilling or was the gas migrating naturally?

New research by a team led by a CU Boulder graduate could help definitively answer that question.

Researchers at CU Boulder have developed and validated a new sensor for E. coli risk detection that features an impressive 83% accuracy rate when detecting contamination in surface waters. 

The findings could improve detection of a variety of contaminants quickly and effectively in water systems around the globe and in America.