CU-Boulder brain model learns to think like a gambler

March 9, 2015

During a famous roulette game in a Monte Carlo casino in 1913, black came up 26 times in a row. After about 15 repetitions, the players began betting heavily on red, likely believing that such a long streak just couldn’t continue. The gambler’s fallacy—the idea that past events, a streak of black in roulette, for example, can impact the likelihood of a future random event, whether black or red will come up after the next spin—has long been thought to illustrate human irrationality.

CU-Boulder researchers propose a novel mechanism to explain the region’s high elevation

March 5, 2015

No one really knows how the High Plains got so high. 91ÖĆƬł§ 70 million years ago, eastern Colorado, southeastern Wyoming, western Kansas and western Nebraska were near sea level. Since then, the region has risen about 2 kilometers, leading to some head scratching at geology conferences.

Evidence indicates Yucatan Peninsula likely hit by tsunami 1,500 years ago

March 5, 2015

The eastern coastline of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, a mecca for tourists, may have been walloped by a tsunami between 1,500 and 900 years ago, says a new study involving Mexico’s Centro Ecological Akumal (CEA) and the University of Colorado Boulder.

Noah Finkelstein

Finkelstein named CU’s first Timmerhaus Teaching Ambassador

March 4, 2015

Inspired by the past and building toward the future, a new outreach program at the University of Colorado is tapping educators to promote discussion of teaching and learning in schools and communities across the state. Receiving the honor of being named the inaugural Timmerhaus Teaching Ambassador is Noah Finkelstein, Ph.D., President’s Teaching Scholar and professor of physics at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Students to help control instruments on NASA spacecraft to probe magnetic reconnection

March 4, 2015

The University of Colorado Boulder will serve as the Science Operations Center for a NASA mission launching this month to better understand the physical processes of geomagnetic storms, solar flares and other energetic phenomena throughout the universe. The $1.1 billion Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission will be comprised of four identical, octagonal spacecraft flying in a pyramid formation, each carrying 25 instruments.

CU-Boulder students to help control instruments on NASA spacecraft to probe magnetic reconnection

March 4, 2015

The University of Colorado Boulder will serve as the Science Operations Center for a NASA mission launching this month to better understand the physical processes of geomagnetic storms, solar flares and other energetic phenomena throughout the universe.

CU-Boulder University Libraries to host exhibit and events on 100th anniversary of Rocky Mountain National Park

Feb. 27, 2015

University Libraries at the University of Colorado Boulder is hosting an exhibit and multiple events to honor the 100th anniversary of Rocky Mountain National Park. The Jerry Crail Johnson Earth Sciences & Map Library is featuring a new exhibit, “Expressions of Rocky Mountain National Park: A Centennial Celebration,” featuring a selection of art, maps, and companion writings and objects showcasing the park’s natural wonders and 100-year history. It will be on display through Aug. 13.

CU-Boulder technology could make treatment and reuse of oil and gas wastewater simpler, cheaper

Feb. 24, 2015

Oil and gas operations in the United States produce about 21 billion barrels of wastewater per year. The saltiness of the water and the organic contaminants it contains have traditionally made treatment difficult and expensive. Engineers at the University of Colorado Boulder have invented a simpler process that can simultaneously remove both salts and organic contaminants from the wastewater, all while producing additional energy.

Making more monuments: Just like modern cities, ancient settlements got more productive as they grew

Feb. 20, 2015

Living in bigger, denser settlements allowed the inhabitants of ancient cities to be more productive, just as is true for modern urbanites, according to a new study by scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder and the Santa Fe Institute. As modern cities grow, they obey certain rules. As the population increases, for example, the settled area becomes denser instead of sprawling outward. This allows people to live closer together, use infrastructure more intensively, interact more frequently, and as a result, produce more per person.

Google recognizes two CU-Boulder programs that use creativity to teach kids to code

Feb. 19, 2015

Two University of Colorado Boulder programs that teach kids to code have received Google RISE Awards to support their efforts to attract girls and underrepresented minorities to computer science. The two programs are the Scalable Game Design project, which hooks kids on coding by empowering them to build their own video games, and AspireIT, which connects high school and college women with K-12 girls interested in computing.

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