Textured "skin" inspired by snake scales seen under a microscope

Snakeskin inspires new, friction-reducing material

March 2, 2021

The new technology, called SLIP, mimics the structure of snake scales to create an ultra-slick surface.

People gathering water in urban Africa

Student explores assumptions in financing for urban water utilities in low-income countries

Feb. 16, 2021

Anna Libey, a doctoral student in environmental engineering at CU Boulder, is the lead author on a new paper that compares utilities around the world and advocates for more subsidization in utility operations to provide clean water.

Jared Beshai conducts manual readings in a lab working on a new technique to harvest electricity from blood sugar. (Photo provided)

CU Boulder, CU Anschutz experimenting with blood sugar to power prostheses

Feb. 15, 2021

CU Boulder and CU Anschutz researchers are developing a new technique to harvest electricity from blood sugar to power medical devices as part of a project with Department of Veterans Affairs.

Morgan Klaus Scheuerman

How computers see us: Doctoral student working to curb discrimination by artificial intelligence

Feb. 15, 2021

Facial recognition technology is now embedded in everything from our phones and computers to surveillance systems at the mall and airport. But it tends to misidentify certain populations and can be used to discriminate. Microsoft Research Fellow Morgan Klaus Scheuerman wants to change that.

An illustration of 'quantum squeezing'

Scientists develop new, faster method for seeking out dark matter

Feb. 12, 2021

Researchers from JILA, Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley, have used an innovative technique called "quantum squeezing" to dramatically speed up the search for one candidate for dark matter in the lab.

A marmot standing on a rock pile

Small mammals climb higher to flee warming temperatures in the Rockies

Feb. 11, 2021

Since the 1980s, Colorado's small mammals have made an ominous trek—climbing, on average, 400 feet uphill in elevation to escape from climate change.

Hand with a thermoelectric wearable device worn like a ring

New wearable device turns the body into a battery

Feb. 10, 2021

A team of engineers has developed a new device that you can wear like a ring or bracelet and that harvests energy from your own body heat.

A gypsum crystal

New kinds of liquid crystals resemble solid crystals, could improve computer and TV displays

Feb. 10, 2021

New kinds of liquid crystals developed at CU Boulder resemble gypsum or lazulite crystals—except they flow like fluids.

Graphic showing pulsar light traveling to Earth amid a sea of gravitational waves.

‘Galaxy-sized’ observatory sees potential hints of gravitational waves

Jan. 11, 2021

Scientists believe that planets like Earth bob in a sea of gravitational waves that spread throughout the universe. Now, an international team has gotten closer than ever before to detecting those cosmic ripples.

Two pairs of cyanobacteria cells dividing under the microscope.

Modern microbes provide window into ancient ocean

Jan. 6, 2021

Roughly two billion years ago, microorganisms called cyanobacteria fundamentally transformed the globe. Researchers are now stepping back to that pivotal moment in Earth's history.

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