The craggy surface of the asteroid Bennu as seen from space

Hopping space dust may influence the way asteroids look and move

July 11, 2022

When NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft arrived at the asteroid Bennu, scientists discovered something surprising: The asteroid's surface wasn't smooth like many were expecting but was covered in large boulders. Now, a team of physicists think they know why.

Patrick Kociolek standing on the shore of a lake

After 30-plus years working at museums, Patrick Kociolek still pinching himself

June 30, 2022

After 13 years, Patrick Kociolek will step down as director of the CU Museum of Natural History. To mark the milestone, he reflects on the unexpected beauty of microscopic life and why museums still have an important role to play in society, even in the digital age.

Jars of snail specimens sit on a shelf

These snails died during Prohibition. Researchers just identified their gut microbes

June 29, 2022

The gut microbiomes of long-dead animals could give researchers surprising insights into how climate change and other factors have shaped the Rocky Mountains over decades.

Margaret Murnane, U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, Philip DiStefano and Todd Saliman inspect equipment in a lab

babyÖ±²¥app's quantum revolution turning state into new Silicon Valley

June 28, 2022

Quantum technologies, or tools inspired by a weird and wild branch of physics, are now becoming a reality—and they may soon transform your life.

People wave LGBTQ+ flags in front of the U.S. Capitol Building

From 'Don’t Say Gay' to bathrooms and sports: How debates over LGBTQ+ rights impact kids

June 20, 2022

Elizabeth Meyer has spent her career working with teachers and students to study how school policies can help or harm LGBTQ+ youth. In this Q&A, she weighs in on the wave of legislation around the country targeting the rights of transgender and nonbinary kids.

Artist's depiction of an electro-optic transducer, an ultra-thin wafer that can read out the information from a superconducting qubit.

What quantum information and snowflakes have in common, and what we can do about it

June 15, 2022

Qubits, the basic building blocks of quantum computers, are as fragile as snowflakes. Now, researchers have come up with a new way of reading out the information from certain kinds of qubits with a light touch, potentially paving the way for a quantum internet.

monitoring methane at an oil and gas site

Methane leaks are a major factor in climate change. One startup wants to stop them

June 8, 2022

Escaped methane from oil and gas operations contributes more to climate change than previously thought. But a new CU Boulder-born startup, inspired by a 2005 Nobel Prize winning discovery, has devised a way to sniff out leaks in real time.

A winding valley on the surface of the moon

Astronauts may one day drink water from ancient moon volcanoes

May 18, 2022

If any humans had been alive 2 to 4 billion years ago, they may have looked up and seen a sliver of frost on the moon's surface. Some of that ice may still be hiding in craters on the moon today.

Goats near a village

For East Africa’s pastoralists, climate change already fueling violence, hunger

May 10, 2022

For centuries, East African peoples like the Maasai and Turkana have survived by herding cattle, moving these animals across miles of wide-open grasslands to keep them fed. Now, worsening droughts and a host of other challenges are threatening that nomadic existence.

Artist's depiction of the bright accretion disk around a supermassive black hole

A surging glow in a distant galaxy could change the way we look at black holes

May 5, 2022

Several years ago, a supermassive black hole at the center of a far-away galaxy suddenly got a lot brighter. Now, scientists think they know why.

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