In The NOCO

After the death of President Jimmy Carter last December, many of the tributes mentioned his environmental legacy and push for energy-efficient development. And one unusual part of his plan was focused here in Colorado.   Carter’s administration had backed the design of some experimental homes along the Front Range. They were warmed by the sun and fueled by renewable sources – an exciting idea in t...

Colorado is known as a very dog-friendly state. A recent study by Colorado State University noted that if you’re a pet owner in this state, there’s an 80 percent chance that pet is a dog.     Colorado is also known for being one of first states to legalize cannabis.   But the high number of dog lovers plus the state’s long history of legal weed appear to have created a growing trend that worries v...

For many people, being stopped by police can produce a wave of anxiety. But that sense of stress and uncertainty is even worse for people with conditions like autism spectrum disorder, hearing loss, Tourette’s syndrome, or dementia.   Earlier this year, Boulder’s police department rolled out a new initiative called the Blue Envelope Program to help people with disabilities communicate when they en...

Scientists say they’ve identified a sort of massive dance floor that some dinosaurs used as part of their mating rituals millions of years ago.  The area is at Dinosaur Ridge , an active paleontology site in Morrison that’s also open to the public. Researchers there found dozens of places where a dinosaur species called Magnoavipes would scrape patterns into the rock – a telltale sign of the creat...

Immigration arrests in Colorado have quadrupled since President Trump returned to office in January. Under Trump, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say they’re focused on deporting violent criminals who are in the U.S. illegally – what the President calls “ the worst of the worst .”  But in Colorado, that promise doesn't line up with who is actually being detained by immigration enforc...

Colorado has an abundance of mountains named after famous men – think Long’s Peak, Mount Wilson, or Pikes Peak.  Since childhood, Sarah Hahn Campbell has been fascinated by the people behind place names. But she discovered little to no information on peaks, lakes or trails named after women.   So, in 2017, the Denver-based author and high school teacher set out to research the mysterious women beh...

A drive through the mountains of Colorado comes with breathtaking views, occasional glimpses of wildlife – and plenty of steep, winding roads. Sometimes that becomes deadly, especially for truck drivers.  Even in good weather, mountain highways like I-70 can be uniquely challenging for professional truck drivers. And there’s no specialized training required for them to drive in the mountains.    T...

A new kind of commentator made its debut during the snowboarding competition at this year’s Winter X Games in Aspen. It's called The Owl AI – and it’s powered by artificial intelligence.     The Owl AI demonstrated its ability by predicting the snowboarding half-pipe podium lineup, announcing in a cool male voice: “Third place Ayumu Hirano. Second Yuto Totsuka. And for the top spot Scotty James.”...

New research suggests planting aspen groves could slow the spread of wildfires in Colorado’s forests.  It’s an idea that could help some mountain communities seeing increasing threats from wildfires.   A recent study looked at data from more than 300 wildfires in Western states. It found that large aspen groves often slowed the spread of forest fires. That’s partly because aspen contain more moist...

The Colorado Rockies have some of the most loyal fans in all of baseball. And that might be part of their problem.  The Rockies, as you may have heard, are having one of the worst seasons in Major League Baseball’s modern history. And yet the fans still show up – on average, about 30,000 of them attended each home game so far this season .   It's been the story of the Rockies for years: The team s...

Colorado recently hit a milestone: The first licensed psychedelic therapy clinic opened in June after voters here said magic mushrooms should be legal . So lots of reporters have written about the licensing process, interviewed therapists, and written about whether psychedelic mushrooms have real value in helping people recover from trauma, PTSD or other issues.   Our guest today is one of those r...

Trails on several of Colorado’s fourteeners are getting a facelift this summer.   Mount Democrat , Mount Bierstadt , Mount Blue Sky , and Mount Shavano are some of Colorado’s most popular mountains for hikers, but some of the trails on them are in rough shape.   A nonprofit called the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative (CFI) is working this summer to update trail routes on those and other mountains t...

If you decided to plant a vegetable garden earlier this spring, you’re probably already enjoying some of those home-grown tomatoes, zucchini, or peppers.    On the other hand, you may have decided that the potential benefits of growing your own food just aren’t worth the effort.  Colorado’s intense climate, elevation and scarce rainfall make vegetable gardening a challenge. But there’s hope.  Cass...

Dozens of aspiring educators in Colorado are taking an unusual path to earn their teacher certificates.   They’re doing apprenticeships in public schools as part of a state program that offers an alternative path to gaining a teacher’s license and bachelor’s degree. Proponents see the program as a partial solution to Colorado’s teacher shortage, which resulted in thousands of unfilled classroom po...

When we shop for food, the labels on our groceries give us guideposts, such as how much fiber, protein or fat is in that loaf of bread or jar of peanut butter.    But more than a decade after Colorado legalized recreational cannabis, the potency labeling on products at your local marijuana dispensary may be far less helpful – and less reliable.  A new study from the University of Colorado Boulder...

The red admiral. The black swallowtail. And the beautiful, bright orange monarch.   Each year a network of volunteers fans out across Colorado to see how many of these, and other butterfly species, they can find. Those observations help scientists understand the health of the state’s butterfly population.   Our guest today says that work is vital because butterflies are sensitive to changes in cli...

  Since 1960, the National Repertory Orchestra has brought talented college-aged musicians to Colorado to practice the art of playing in an ensemble.   Each season, about 80 young musicians are selected to join the NRO in Breckenridge. They spend eight weeks rehearsing and performing in Summit County. Many of them go on to pursue careers in professional orchestras across the country.     To get a...

A few weeks back, a pair of hikers found themselves stranded on a cliff atop Quandary Peak – 14,000 feet in elevation – in cold temperatures. A rescue crew had to respond by helicopter and lift them off the mountain.     It was one of 10 helicopter hoists that Colorado search and rescue crews performed this year through the end of June. That’s a record number. These dangerous maneuvers require hel...

The U.S. Senate this week will likely vote on whether to rescind about $1.1 billion earmarked to support the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for the next two years. That money ultimately funds local stations like KUNC and The Colorado Sound, along with NPR and PBS.   The GOP-controlled House of Representatives has already voted to kill the funding . President Trump has backed the cuts and thre...

In October 2009, Colorado and the nation held its breath as we waited to learn the fate of a 6-year-old who was thought to be stuck inside a silver balloon floating across Northern Colorado.   The Heene family was living in Fort Collins in 2009 when they made a giant helium filled balloon shaped like a saucer. They called police one afternoon to say they’d lost control of the balloon and that it h...

For a lot of people, July and early August in Steamboat Springs is all about tubing on the Yampa River.   People rent a tube in downtown Steamboat, hop into the river just a few steps away and float past wildlife and hot springs. Some days, tourists in brightly colored tubes stretch from one side of the river to the other.  But it’s very likely commercial tubing season on the Yampa will be alarmin...

A warmer, drier future for Colorado has many people wondering about their lawns. Drought and heat turn lawns brown or kills them altogether.  How can we sustain a lawn with less water and less mowing? And should we keep them at all?  Tony Koski is a professor of horticulture and landscape architecture at Colorado State University. He teaches a class on growing a lawn that's resilient in the face o...

In 2025, chatbots are part of our everyday life. They pop up on your screen while you’re checking your bank account or making an online purchase.   But a few years from now, it may be just as easy to have a conversation with a chatbot who recreates a dead loved one.  That’s the idea behind a kind of technology called a generative ghost.  Jed Brubaker is an associate professor in the Department of...

A tiny, green insect that bores under the bark of ash trees is spreading in Colorado.   The emerald ash borer has been making its way around the Front Range for the last decade. It damages ash trees and often kills them. And this year it’s been spotted in Denver .   Ash trees make up about one in every six trees in the urban forests along the Front Range. So what can we do to protect ash trees and...

How does a community heal from the shock and grief of a mass shooting? And how can people who have lost loved ones find a way to move forward?   That’s the subject of a new podcast called Senseless . In it, journalist Erika Mahoney explores the aftermath of the mass shooting at a Boulder King Soopers grocery store in 2021. And it’s a deeply personal show, because Erika's father, Kevin Mahoney, was...