Research

Three years ago this week, Colorado recorded its first known cases of COVID-19. A week later, on March 12, CU Boulder announced its first positive case and quickly shifted to fully remote classes. Meanwhile, researchers at CU and universities across the country jumped into action to learn everything they could...

Recent research from CU Boulder may have finally revealed why humans tend to get sick from airborne viral diseases more often in drier environments. Published in December in PNAS-Nexus , the study found that airborne particles carrying a mammalian coronavirus closely related to the virus which causes COVID-19 remain infectious...

As one of the first interdisciplinary bioaerosol labs established in the U.S., the Environmental Engineering Microbiology and Disinfection Lab at CU Boulder is home to one of the biggest bioaerosol chambers in the country at an academic institution. At about 350 cubic feet (10 cubic meters), it provides a large...

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...

Joe Ryan's research into leaking oil and gas wells is being spotlighted in Denver and nationally. Denver 7 ABC TV interviewed Ryan for a feature on research into groundwater risks from abandoned and gas wells. The station also syndicated the story to stations across the country. Ryan, a professor in...

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 in the...

On Dec. 30, 2021, one of the most destructive wildfires on record in Colorado swept through neighborhoods just a few miles from the University of Colorado Boulder. The flames destroyed over 1,000 buildings, yet some houses were still completely intact right next to homes where nothing was left to burn...

On Dec. 30, 2021, a quick-moving, grass-fueled wildfire in suburban Boulder County became the costliest wildfire in Colorado history. It burned 6,000 acres, destroyed more than 1,000 homes and damaged thousands of others. Hundreds of CU Boulder students, faculty and staff were among the thousands who fled parts of unincorporated...

Put people in poorly ventilated rooms, where coronavirus-containing aerosols are trapped in the air with nowhere to go, and their risk of getting COVID-19 skyrockets. Research has shown that you can decrease the risk by ventilating the room and filtering viruses from the air. Now, a new CIRES and CU...

Thanks to new CU Boulder research, scientists see the impact of flushing the toilet in a whole new light—and now, the world can as well. Using bright green lasers and camera equipment, a team of CU Boulder engineers ran an experiment to reveal how tiny water droplets, invisible to the...