In The NOCO

Just days after the Artemis II astronauts returned to Earth, we’ve got a different lunar exploration story today – one that hasn’t gotten as much attention.     Scientists have known for years that the moon holds traces of water. That water could be invaluable for future space exploration, as ingredients for rocket fuel , or perhaps by providing water for a colony on the moon one day.   But exactl...

For centuries, the Arapaho have called Colorado and Wyoming home. The tribe gave names to places like the Kawuneeche Valley, the Never Summer Mountains, and Mount Blue Sky.    But the language the Arapaho have spoken for centuries is at risk of disappearing, as fewer members of the tribe have learned the language.   A team of language experts at the University of Colorado Boulder is working to cha...

It’s been a tough winter for skiers and snowboarders in Colorado. And that’s also rippling through the local economy of nearby resort towns.   Workers in bars and restaurants, backcountry gear shops, and hotels that depend on busy ski seasons are feeling the pinch. Many businesses are coping by cutting employee hours, not hiring some seasonal workers, or cutting back on overall spending.   Journal...

A position on the ski patrol at a Colorado resort is a dream job for many people – even in a dry winter like this one. They get paid to spend their days on some of the best terrain in the U.S. And they help thousands of skiers and snowboarders have a great time in the High Country.   But that work can also take a toll. Aside from the physical demands of skiing as a full-time job, there are downrig...

Creede is a small, former silver mining town in the heart of a canyon in the San Juan mountains. It has about 300 full-time residents. Just about everywhere you look, you see reminders of the area's mining heritage – including the abandoned mines that surround the town.  One thing sets Creede apart from other mining towns in Colorado: It has a thriving local theater scene.   In the 1960s, as the s...

For people in much of the world, snakebite is a life-threatening condition.    We don't think about it much in Colorado — though it may be more top of mind this spring, since the warm winter is prompting rattlesnakes to emerge from their dens a little earlier than usual. Here, a nasty rattlesnake bite might send the occasional hiker to the emergency room.    But the World Health Organization estim...

Just a note - today's episode touches on themes of depression and suicide.   Ten years ago, Colorado writer Becky Jensen’s life seemed great. She was raising two sons and engaged to be married. Yet, she was struggling quietly with depression and thoughts of suicide – although she didn't know why.   Hoping to find clarity, Becky decided to take a bold step: She shouldered a backpack and set out to...

Steam powers much of the modern world. It drove the Industrial Revolution , and is still widely used to generate electricity, to sterilize equipment used in food production and medicine, and to heat and cool large buildings.     However, the traditional method of making steam hasn’t changed in more than 150 years. It involves burning fossil fuels like coal or natural gas to heat water in a boiler...

Climate change in Colorado isn’t just an abstract idea. We can see the effects now.    Cities have already imposed summer watering limits. Snowpack is at record lows, and some ski resorts are closing early this season. Governor Jared Polis recently activated the state's drought task force with a warning that Colorado is in the middle of its warmest year on record.   Colorado Sun environment report...

The Colorado Rockies play their first home game of the season on Friday. It’s a fresh start for the team after last season, which was the worst in franchise history.   Today, we’re talking about a rather bold  idea that might hold potential to change the team’s fortunes moving forward.  A routine part of the Rockies’ misfortunes is the fact that Coors Field sits a mile above sea level. Baseballs f...

It’s a positive development in a grim trend we rarely talk about.    Across Colorado, fewer pregnant women and new moms are dying from accidental overdoses. The number of maternal overdose deaths dropped from 20 in the year 2020 to 8 deaths just three years later. That's a 60% reduction in the most recent years for which data is available.   Why that's happening isn’t totally clear. But a doctor w...

A stolen idea for a novel, an angry social media post – and an online backlash that engulfs the main characters. These are the elements of an intriguing novel by Colorado author R.L. Maizes .    The writer says it draws on some of her own experiences. And the novel raises thorny questions about who gets to own an idea, who has the right to tell a particular story, and the tension of writing a nove...

A poison control center is the place to call if your child accidentally swallows something dangerous, like paint or a detergent pod.    But the Rocky Mountain Poison Center based in Denver also tracks the things that poison Coloradans. It monitors prescription drug misuse, tracks new substances Coloradans might ingest, and helps hospitals treat venomous snake bites.  Dr. Richard Dart has led the c...

A recent discovery by paleontologists working in Colorado is giving scientists a slightly revised history of primates. That’s the group of mammals that includes apes – and humans.   Scientists working at Corral Bluffs near Colorado Springs recently discovered tiny teeth and bone fragments belonging to a species called Purgatorius .   Purgatorius was an early and distant cousin of humans. It thrive...

Mysterious, unsolicited packages are showing up in people's mailboxes in Colorado and several other states.    They appear to be sent from another country, often China. Labels on the packages suggest there’s a small piece of merchandise inside, like jewelry or some kind of wire connector.    Instead, recipients find packets of seeds inside – with no indication of what the seeds are, who sent them,...

Drive through some communities in Colorado, and your movements may be monitored by a network of cameras that track your license plate.    A company called Flock Safety operates dozens of these cameras in Boulder, Denver and Fort Collins. They’ve quietly photographed millions of cars over the last year.  And right now, these cities are grappling with the question of whether these cameras help fight...

Young women are more active in sports than ever – and more visible. Think Naomi Osaka on the tennis court or Caitlin Clark playing hoops. Colorado’s first-ever women’s professional soccer team, Denver Summit FC , just played its inaugural match on Saturday. And overall, young women’s participation in sports continues to increase.  But female athletes face different health challenges than their mal...

Back in 1948, the U.S and other countries created a unique coalition:  The World Health Organization was established to address global health challenges including disease outbreaks like the COVID-19 pandemic.     At the start of this year, the Trump administration formally withdrew the U.S. from the WHO.  That withdrawal creates uncertainty over how the U.S., and individual states like Colorado, w...

Colorado has a childcare shortage. Many childcare centers see more applications from families who need care than there are spaces available.    And for parents of infants, it’s worse: Ten rural Colorado counties don't have a single licensed childcare provider for babies under the age of 18 months.    That lack of licensed care options for infants in places like Leadville and Salida has forced some...

The Great Gatsby is classic American literature. F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel about wealth and longing has generally been celebrated ever since it was published in 1925.   But a Colorado author’s latest book asks you to consider the story from a different vantage point.  Writer Allyson Reedy recently published Mrs. Wilson’s Affair . It's told from the perspective of Myrtle Wilson – a tragic charact...

Runny noses. Red eyes. Sneezing and itching and grogginess. If it feels like your seasonal allergies have flared up earlier than usual, it's not your imagination.   This year’s warm, dry winter means some plants and trees are flowering – and producing pollen – even earlier than usual.  That’s happening on top of what allergy experts say is a larger trend in which pollen season starts earlier and l...

A diagnosis of chronic depression or bipolar disorder can be daunting. These conditions can come with feelings of sadness or despair, or intense mood swings.     But a researcher at the University of Colorado says we might be thinking too simplistically about these disorders.    June Gruber   is a professor of psychology and neuroscience who runs the Positive Emotion and Psychopathology Lab at CU...

Colorado could soon see a new wave of home solar power — but not in the form of the large solar panels you may see on rooftops around your neighborhood. Instead: Imagine slim, portable panels that you can attach to a porch or balcony and then plug into your wall.    Small-scale solar units like these are already popular in Europe. But they’re almost unheard of in the U.S., partly because of regula...

In most states, if someone repeatedly hasn't paid a medical bill, collectors can eventually go to that person's employer and garnish their paycheck – which means that they withhold a portion of that person's earnings to pay off the debt.    Critics of wage garnishment say the practice disproportionately affects lower income patients .    Now a bill under consideration at the state capitol would ef...

 A bit of regional science news may have slipped past you last week. You could be forgiven if you missed the Trump administration's announcement that it's removing federal protections from a bird species known as the lesser prairie-chicken.  It roams the southern Great Plains, including southeast Colorado. It makes a sound known as “booming” when it dances as part of its distinctive mating ritual....