“Smart glass,” an energy-efficiency product found in newer windows of cars, buildings and airplanes, slowly changes between transparent and tinted at the flip of a switch. “Slowly” is the operative word; typical smart glass takes several minutes to reach its darkened state, and many cycles between light and dark tend to degrade the tinting quality…

In mid-October, Steven Rutledge will sail to the intertropical convergence zone near the Equator aboard a 300-foot vessel called the R/V Roger Revelle. It’s not a vacation cruise. Rutledge, professor of atmospheric science, will lead a Colorado State University team on a five-week research voyage to test a new weather radar. After more than two…

For more than 100 years, biochar, a carbon-rich, charcoal-like substance made from oxygen-deprived plant or other organic matter, has both delighted and puzzled scientists. As a soil additive, biochar can store carbon and thus reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and it can slow-release nutrients to act as a non-toxic fertilizer. But the precise chemistry by which…

The energy density contained in the center of a star is higher than we can imagine – many billions of atmospheres, compared with the 1 atmosphere of pressure we live with here on Earth’s surface. These extreme conditions can only be recreated in the laboratory through fusion experiments with the world’s largest lasers, which are…

Arun Kota, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Colorado State University, has made a superomniphobic tape that, when adhered to any surface, gives the surface liquid-repelling properties. This recent breakthrough has been published by the American Chemical Society. Superomniphobic surfaces are extremely repellent to all liquids, made possible by an air cushion that lies between…

During the 2014 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony, a young Brazilian man, paralyzed from the chest down, delivered the opening kickoff. He used a brain-machine interface, allowing him to control the movements of a lower-limb robotic exoskeleton. This unprecedented scientific demonstration was the work of the Walk Again Project (WAP), a nonprofit, international research consortium…