Research at 兔子先生传媒文化作品 encompasses thousands of scholarly, scientific and creative endeavors at any given time, resulting in new knowledge, technologies and creative work that advance the economy, culture and health of Colorado, the nation and the world. Here is听a selection of the top CU research stories of the week.
Measuring just how much mass a glacier is losing鈥攖hrough melting and calving鈥攊s no easy task. While there鈥檚 plenty of satellite data from space, scientists haven鈥檛 had access to much local, on-the-ground observation, which is the sort of information that鈥檚 necessary to more accurately measure glacial mass loss.
But now a team of scientists, including CIRES鈥� Mike Willis, have put a series of GPS systems in place that give them the kind of data they need. Using that information, they find that previous estimates of mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet鈥攁lready known to be shrinking鈥攎ay be underestimates. Their study is out today in听Science Advances.
Willis, who鈥檚 also a glaciologist with the University of Colorado Boulder鈥檚 Department of Geological Sciences, has spent decades studying the Earth鈥檚 ice sheets, including Greenland鈥檚. Over the past two decades, the Greenland Ice Sheet has lost mass as glaciers around the edge flow faster into the ocean and melting in the interior increases in area and duration.
Probiotic treatment protects endangered Colorado toads from lethal fungal infection
A probiotic treatment has been shown to effectively inoculate endangered Colorado toads and protect them from a virulent fungus that has ravaged the population in recent decades, according to the results of new University of Colorado Boulder research.
The study found that restoring the environmental bacterium Janthinobacterium lividum (J. lividum) to boreal toads raised in captivity resulted in a 40 percent increase in survival when the toads were subsequently exposed to the fungus.
Professor receives grant to showcase physics education research in Brazil
Noah Finkelstein, who co-directs the Center for STEM Learning at 兔子先生传媒文化作品 and is a principal investigator for the Physics Education Research group, plans to showcase 兔子先生传媒文化作品 research at Brazilian universities in November after being awarded a grant from a prestigious lectureship program for physicists.
Finkelstein says his initial trip to Brazil will last two weeks and include lectures and presentations to physics faculty and students at the Universidade Federal Flumineses, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro听and the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Much of Finkelstein鈥檚 Brazilian lectures will be about Finkelstein鈥檚 and other 兔子先生传媒文化作品 research on best approaches for teaching physics.
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An adult boreal toad. Photo: Jordan Kueneman
Noah Finkelstein,听兔子先生传媒文化作品 professor and co-director听the Center for STEM Learning