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Mountain Research Station celebrates 100th anniversary
June 27th, 2022This week, the Mountain Research Station (MRS), the University of Colorado Boulder’s field research facility, is celebrating its 100th anniversary since it was constructed in 1920. The celebration was delayed by two years due to the COVID-19 virus, but is kicking off its celebration in-person, bringing in several scientists and artists to perform seminars and talks for the public.
These maps illustrate the seriousness of the western drought
June 16th, 2022Historic drought has depleted groundwater, melted the snowpack, and dried up lakes--and it will get worse. Washington Post visual story (paywall) illustrated by maps from the Mountain Hydrology Lab.
Classroom in the sky: CU’s 10,000-foot Mountain Research Station turns 100
June 14th, 2022Twenty-six miles west of Boulder, scientists and students at the Mountain Research Station have gathered since 1920 to conduct some of the world’s most unique studies on high-altitude ecology and, more recently, how climate change is altering it. Today, the station maintains the longest continuous record of greenhouse gas measurements in the continental U.S. and is the highest elevation climate station in the country. As it celebrates its 100th anniversary this month, its director is already planning for the next 100.
Nepal’s mountains are melting
June 5th, 2022Climate scientist Alton Byers takes a close look at three recent and poorly understood glacial floods in the Himalaya.
Egg-eating humans helped drive Australia’s ‘thunder bird’ to extinction
May 27th, 2022Fifty thousand years ago, Australia was populated by giant birds, including the mihirunga, or “thunder bird,” six times the size of a modern emu. But the giant Genyornis newtoni disappeared 45,000 years ago, and researchers have long puzzled over whether human hunters or climate change was the culprit. Now, a new analysis of ancient eggshells—the leftovers of a prehistoric feast—suggests humans were responsible. Study led by Giff Miller.
Bits of an extinct bird’s eggshells may be clue to why megafauna vanished
May 26th, 2022A new study led by Giff Miller suggests that the 500-pound Genyornis newtoni laid the eggs marked by cooking fires in Australia, and not a smaller bird. The study could shed light on an even bigger scientific mystery, of why megafauna went extinct shortly after the advent of humans on the continent.