alpine mountains

Diversity begets diversity in alpine environments

July 19, 2018

As plant communities become more diverse and complex in the high alpine, so, too, do soil microorganisms, according to new research at CU Boulder.

Minerals

Billion-year-old lake deposit yields clues to Earth's ancient life

July 18, 2018

Researchers say that scant supplies of oxygen may have existed in Earth's ancient atmosphere.

Arctic plane

A bird's-eye view of the Arctic

July 7, 2018

A CIRES and NOAA team has developed unmanned aircraft systems to collect weather data in the Arctic.

Antarctica

The coldest place on Earth just got colder

June 19, 2018

Tiny valleys near the top of Antarctica’s ice sheet reach temperatures of nearly minus 100 degrees Celsius, according to new research from the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

Marina Vance

Nation's largest indoor air quality study begins

June 19, 2018

A collaborative research team including CU Boulder scientists is outfitting a house with scientific instruments to demystify indoor air chemistry.

wildfire

How wildfires contaminate drinking water sources

June 19, 2018

Wildfires can pollute streams and watersheds through the mobilization of sediments and other matter, straining the capabilities of downstream municipal treatment facilities.

sunflower

The sunflower's rapid evolutionary transformation

June 11, 2018

A new study sheds light on the genetic mechanisms that allowed sunflowers to undergo a relatively rapid evolutionary transition from wild to domesticated in just over 5,000 years.

Thomas Fire

The key triggers of 2017's costly wildfire season

June 5, 2018

Three major "switches" affecting wildfire—fuel, aridity, and ignition—were either flipped on and/or kept on longer than expected last year, triggering one of the largest and costliest U.S. wildfire seasons in recent decades.

interdisciplinary

Examining the risks and rewards of interdisciplinary climate science

May 30, 2018

A new assessment identifies early-career barriers, and solutions, to improve climate research.

glacier

A new wrinkle to the limits of life on Earth

May 25, 2018

A new study of post-glacial environments upends previous ecological assumptions and could expand scientists’ understanding of the limits to life on Earth.

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