Science & Technology

<p>University of Colorado Boulder faculty and students are primed to get back in action following the Easter restart of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s most powerful atom smasher located near Geneva, Switzerland, after a two-year hiatus.</p>

<p>The self-organization properties of DNA-like molecular fragments four billion years ago may have guided their own growth into repeating chemical chains long enough to act as a basis for primitive life, says a new study by the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Milan.</p>

<p>A new project that officially launches March 31 called Genes for Good gives participants the chance to learn more about their health, behavior and ancestors. In return, those who fully participate provide genetics researchers with valuable data that can be used to better understand the origins of disease, which could lead one day to better treatments, prevention and cures.</p>

<p>The University of Colorado Boulder is celebrating Colorado history with a three-day scanning event for the Colorado Communities historical website and free consultations with experts on family history and genealogy.</p>

<p>A University of Colorado Boulder study shows a ubiquitous type of phytoplankton -- tiny organisms that are the base of the marine food web – appears to be suffering from the effects of ocean acidification caused by climate change.</p>

<p>Western U.S. forests killed by the mountain pine beetle epidemic are no more at risk to burn than healthy Western forests, according to new findings by the University of Colorado Boulder that fly in the face of both public perception and policy.</p>

<p><span>Seventy percent of forested lands remaining in the world are within a half mile of the forest edge, where encroaching urban, suburban or agricultural influences can cause any number of harmful effects, according to a new study involving </span><span>CU-Boulder </span><span>scientists.</span></p>

<p>Among cancers, scientists have spent their entire research careers looking for cellular similarities that may lead to a single cure for many cancers –– the rare chance to have a single answer to a multifaceted problem. In 1997, scientists discovered a gene that they believed was the key to cellular immortality. Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase, or TERT, is a catalytic piece of telomerase, and while cellular immortality sounds like a good idea, it is actually how cancerous tumors grow and proliferate in cancer patients. In a recent paper published in Science, Tom Cech, director of the <a href="http://biofrontiers.colorado.edu">BioFrontiers Institute</a>, worked with collaborators at CU's Anschutz Medical Campus to study mutations in bladder cancer that may lead to better treatments for many types of cancers.</p>

<p>Today’s rich variety of beetles may be due to an historically low extinction rate rather than a high rate of new species emerging, according to a new study. These findings were revealed by combing through the fossil record.</p>

<p>NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft has observed two unexpected phenomena in the Martian atmosphere: an unexplained high-altitude dust cloud and aurora that reaches deep into the Martian atmosphere.</p>