Fire ant up close

Work on fire ant colonies at CU could inspire molecular machines

Nov. 5, 2018

Researchers at CU Boulder have uncovered the statistical rules that govern how gigantic colonies of fire ants form bridges, ladders and floating rafts.

Diagram of blood vessels in arm

3D bioprinting technique developed at CU could create artificial blood vessels

Oct. 22, 2018

CU Boulder engineers have developed a 3D printing technique that allows for localized control of an object’s firmness, opening up new biomedical avenues that could one day include artificial arteries and organ tissue.

Juliet Gopinath

CU Boulder professor wins prestigious NSF quantum program

Sept. 24, 2018

The CU Boulder College of Engineering and Applied Science is leading a new multi-university and multi-disciplinary project from the National Science Foundation aimed at fostering collaboration in quantum research.

Swarm test

Work with bees could unlock potential strength of natural designs in new materials

Sept. 17, 2018

The natural world has had billions of years of evolution to perfect systems, creating elegant solutions to tricky problems. CU Boulder Assistant Professor Orit Peleg ’s work hopes to illuminate and explore those solutions with the long-term goal of applying the answers she finds to the materials we interact with...

A material before (flat) and after (3D chevron-shaped) light is applied.

Shape-shifting material can morph, reverse itself using heat, light

Aug. 24, 2018

A new material developed in Chris Bowman's lab can transform into complex, pre-programmed shapes via light and temperature stimuli, allowing a literal square peg to morph and fit into a round hole before fully reverting to its original form.

A firefighter at work on the scene of a forest fire.

Study: Wildfires contaminate freshwater sources, straining treatment resources downstream

June 21, 2018

The research, which was funded by The Water Research Foundation (WRF) and presented at CU Boulder earlier this month, outlines a multitude of challenges posed by wildfires, including short- and long-term effects on the availability and quality of drinking water sources used by major metropolitan areas such as Denver, Colorado. The report also outlines potential remediation solutions to help utilities plan for worst-case scenarios.

The Instagram icon is displayed on a smartphone screen.

Squashing cyberbullying: New approach is fast, accurate

June 11, 2018

Developed by the CyberSafety Research Center, the new method combines several different computing tools to scan massive amounts of social media data, sending alerts to parents or network administrators that abuse has occurred.

A nuclear power plant

Study raises concerns for aging nuclear containment vessel structures

April 27, 2018

There are nearly 100 nuclear power plants across the United States, all of which rely on concrete containment vessels (NCVS) to provide the last layer of safety in case of accident. Some of these vessels exhibit serious signs of aging associated with a slow, but irreversible, degradation of concrete known...

An illustration of a car traveling down the "charging lane" of a roadway.

Future electric cars could recharge wirelessly while you drive

March 27, 2018

Over the last two years, Assistant Professor Khurram Afridi and his team in electrical, computer and energy engineering have developed a proof of concept for wireless power transfer that transfers electrical energy through electric fields at very high frequencies.

Hooman Hedayati, a researcher and PhD student in the ATLAS IRON Lab, experiments with a drone

Augmented reality enhances robot collaboration

March 15, 2018

Two papers published by the ATLAS Iron Lab, directed by Dan Szafir, for the ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction in Chicago open the door to this promising area of research.

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