Painting of army invading the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan

Across centuries and diseases, poverty, conflict and racism fuel pandemics

April 16, 2021

The current COVID-19 pandemic and other disease outbreaks aren't just biological phenomena, a team of archaeologists argue—these events are also shaped by the broader welfare of human societies.

Two people wearing spacesuits walk through the Utah desert

Science, spacesuits, dehydrated food: Simulating Mars in the Utah desert

April 8, 2021

Graduate student Shayna Hume will get a taste of what life on Mars could be like during a two-week mission at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah.

Engineers work on the EMM spacecraft in a cleanroom

How years of international collaboration led to Hope circling Mars

April 1, 2021

Beginning in 2015, dozens of researchers and engineers from the United Arab Emirates traveled to the foot of the Rocky Mountains to work toward an ambitious goal—to launch the first mission to Mars from an Arab nation.

View of storefronts in Breckenridge, Colorado.

Colorado business confidence rebounding to record levels

April 1, 2021

Business leaders around the state are feeling increasingly hopeful about Colorado's economy, a response to increasing COVID-19 vaccination rates and the easing of public health restrictions.

Street scene in Dolores, Colorado

New online network connects and supports Colorado’s rural entrepreneurs

March 31, 2021

Many of Colorado's small towns are losing young people as they follow job opportunities in bigger cities. But a new effort is trying to reinvigorate the economies of these tight-knit communities.

A cluster of bees seen up close

Bees form scent-driven phone tree to pass along messages

March 25, 2021

Think of it as a testament to a honeybee's love for its queen: Bees build what looks like a telecommunications network to pass messages, in the form of pheromones, from their queen to other members of a colony.

Image of the black hole M87*

Scientists dig deeper into subject of first-ever image of a black hole

March 24, 2021

Black holes are impossible to observe directly. But researchers like Jason Dexter are probing the hot and violent regions of space that circle these mysterious objects.

Image of the star Vega

A giant, scorching-hot planet may be orbiting the star Vega

March 8, 2021

Vega, one of the brightest stars in the night sky, may play host to a giant planet with average surface temperatures of 5,390 degrees Fahrenheit.

Panorama of Martian mountain

Decades of Mars research laying groundwork for human astronauts

March 4, 2021

Mars is a dangerous place for vulnerable humans—but robotic space missions can probe the planet's radiation, dust storms and other threats safely and for a fraction of the cost of crewed missions.

Artist's depiction of astronaut standing on the surface of Mars

Help is a long way away: The challenges of sending humans to Mars

March 2, 2021

One day, Earth will send human astronauts to Mars. A team of aerospace engineers is studying how we can get them there—and back—safely.

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