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Person sitting, facing a video camera, bookshelves in the backgrounnd. (Sam McGhee/Unsplash)

Pundits: Central to democracy, or partisan spewers of opinion who destroy trust?

Jan. 4, 2024

A pundit is someone who offers commentary in the media on a particular subject area. Read more from Professor Mike McDevitt, discussing roles and trends related to pundits, on The Conversation.

Giovanna Stevens, who grew up harvesting salmon at her family’s fish camp on Alaska’s Yukon River

Arctic Report Card 2023: Warmest summer on record had cascading impacts

Dec. 14, 2023

The year 2023 shattered the record for the warmest summer in the Arctic, and people and ecosystems across the region felt the impact. Hear from scientists around the world, including CIRES experts Matthew Druckenmiller and Twila Moon, on The Conversation.

The moon

5 essential reads on modern lunar missions

Dec. 14, 2023

Scientists and space agencies are shooting for the moon. Chandrayaan-3’s successful landing made 2023 a big year for lunar exploration, and future years will come with even more discoveries. Look back on The Conversation archives, featuring CU expert Paul Hayne.

a large menorah in front of a Christmas tree at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany

Hanukkah celebrations have changed dramatically—but the same is true of Christmas

Dec. 5, 2023

Assimilation no doubt played a role in making Hanukkah the commercialized holiday it is today. But other factors shaped the modern festival, too, says CU expert Samira Mehta. Read more on The Conversation.

Moon

Scientists suspect there’s ice hiding on the moon

Nov. 15, 2023

Some dark craters on the moon are never exposed to light—ice could be hiding in these permanently shadowed regions, and a host of missions from the U.S. and beyond are searching for it. Read from CU expert Paul Hayne on The Conversation.

Close-up of the head of a yellowspot rabbitfish with orange spots and purple skin

How animals get their skin patterns is a matter of physics

Nov. 8, 2023

Understanding how animals’ intricate spots and stripes form can help scientists mimic those processes in the lab, potentially improving medical diagnostics and synthetic materials in the future. Read from CU expert Ankur Gupta on The Conversation.

1923 Renaissance basketball team, New York City

A century ago, a Black-owned team ruled basketball

Nov. 2, 2023

In 1923, one of the top professional basketball franchises began play in Harlem, challenging the dominance of white sports. Today there are no Black majority owners in any of the four major North American sports leagues. Read from CU expert Jared Bahir Browsh on The Conversation.

illustration of particle physics

New technique uses near-miss particle physics to peer into quantum world

Oct. 17, 2023

CU Boulder’s Dennis Perepelitsa and colleagues have developed a new method for measuring how fast the tau particle wobbles, unlocking an entirely new way to study quantum physics. Read more on The Conversation.

Rocky Mountain forests

The future of wildfires in the West

Oct. 17, 2023

What do the extreme fire seasons of 1910 and 2020—and 2,500 years of forest history—tell us about the future of wildfires in the West? Read from CU expert Kyra Clark-Wolf on The Conversation.

Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system launches interceptor missiles

How Hamas got around Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system

Oct. 13, 2023

How did so many Hamas missiles penetrate Israel’s state-of-the-art air defense system? CU Boulder aerospace engineer Iain Boyd explains on The Conversation.

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