Planetesimal orbits around a white dwarf

Hungry, hungry white dwarfs: Solving the puzzle of stellar metal pollution

May 10, 2024

In results reported in a new paper, graduate student Tatsuya Akiba with JILA Fellow and Professor Ann-Marie Madigan and undergraduate student Selah McIntyre believe they’ve found a reason why these stellar zombies eat their nearby planetesimals.

Amir Behzadan demonstrating AI on a monitor

CU Boulder pioneers culturally sensitive AI solutions for disasters

May 10, 2024

Amir Behzadan, professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, hosted a workshop where participants were introduced to human-centered AI applications in disaster management and encouraged to work toward ways to adopt AI-informed solutions.

A sign that says stay home

Social distancing plus vaccines prevented 800,000 COVID deaths, but at great cost

May 9, 2024

Things like lockdowns, school closures and masking worked surprisingly well to contain infections long enough for a vaccine to be developed, new research shows. But with better planning, the authors say, the U.S. could manage future pandemics with less economic pain.

leukocytes attacking a cancer cell

National Cancer Research Month: 7 CU Boulder discoveries that could improve, save lives

May 8, 2024

From developing new therapies to help patients cope with anxiety to discovering new ways to treat resistant breast cancer and new environmentally friendly methods for producing chemotherapy drugs, CU Boulder researchers are pushing boundaries in cancer research.

Primate with large, brown eyes and big ears in the branches of a tree at night

In South Africa, tiny primates could struggle to adapt to climate change

May 7, 2024

Researchers led by CU Boulder primatologist Michelle Sauther walked the paths of the Lajuma Research Centre in South Africa at night, keeping an eye out for the glowing eyes of galago primates, or bushbabies. The team's findings reveal troubling hints about how small animals may adapt to extreme temperatures.

Illustration of Venus seen from space with colored spheres flying around

Venus has almost no water. A new study may reveal why

May 6, 2024

Billions of years ago, Venus may have held as much water as Earth. Now, it harbors 100,000 times less water than our planet. A new study from planetary scientists at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) dives into how that water disappeared.

Tissue stained pink seen under a microscope

Geologists, biologists unearth the atomic fingerprints of cancer

May 6, 2024

Earth scientists have long turned to minute differences in hydrogen atoms to explore the ancient history of our planet. A new study suggests that these same tiny atoms could one day lead to new ways to track the growth of cancer.

Researchers taking photos in Antarctica

Ice shelves fracture under weight of meltwater lakes

May 6, 2024

For the first time in the field, CIRES-led research shows that ice shelves don’t just buckle under the weight of meltwater lakes—they fracture.

Colorado River

Precipitation may brighten Colorado River’s future

May 3, 2024

The Colorado River’s future may be a little brighter than expected, according to a new modeling study from CIRES researchers. Warming temperatures have raised doubts the river could recover. But the new study paints a fuller picture.

illustration of cavity momentum exchange

New methods help solve a problem when taking ultra-precise measurements

May 3, 2024

Precisely measuring the energy states of individual atoms has been a historical challenge for physicists because of the tendency for atoms to recoil. In a new paper, JILA and NIST Fellows Ana Maria Rey and James Thompson, JILA Fellow Murray Holland, and their teams proposed a way to overcome this problem.

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