News Headlines

CUriosity: Can humans handle the stress of traveling to Mars?

Daniel William Strain — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 19:47:49 +0000

CUriosity: Can humans handle the stress of traveling to Mars? Daniel William… Wed, 03/19/2025 - 13:47

Daniel Strain

In CUriosity, experts across the 91�� campus answer pressing questions about humans, our planet and the universe beyond.

This week, Katya Arquilla, assistant professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, looks into the question: “Can humans handle the stress of traveling to Mars?”

NASA astronaut Suni Williams aboard the International Space Station in October 2024. (Credit: NASA)

Previously in CUriosity

What causes the runner’s high?

Or read more CUriosity stories here

Editor's note: This article, originally published on Nov. 13, 2024, was updated to reflect the safe return of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to Earth.

On March 18, 2025, a space capsule carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams splashed down in the waters off the coast of Florida. The event marked the end of the duo's 9-month stay aboard the International Space Station.

It was a little longer than they had planned. NASA had originally intended for the astronauts to spend only a week in space, but technical issues befell the Boeing Starliner space capsule Wilmore and Williams had ridden on.

If spending nine months on the ISS, which measures just 5,000 square feet, sounds like a recipe for frayed nerves, it may very well be. That’s according to Arquilla, an engineer who has studied how long space journeys can affect the mental health of humans.

“On long-duration space missions, there are many stressors that create the potential for negative mental health effects,” she said. “From data taken in research facilities in extreme environments on Earth, like Antarctica, we have seen symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress.”

A future mission to Mars, however, could be a lot more than eight months, potentially as much as three years. Which raises the question: Can humans handle that much time in space?

Arquilla thinks so, but there are caveats.

“It will be a big challenge,” she said. “There’s a lot we don’t know because we haven’t sent people to Mars before. They won’t be able to look down and see the Earth the way they can on the International Space Station.”

In previous research, Arquilla and her colleagues explored the mental health consequences of that kind of isolation through an unlikely event here on Earth—the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2020, millions of Americans were suddenly cooped up in their homes with the threat of a major disease hanging over their heads. The researchers conducted a survey and observed that people with military training or other experience in stressful environments tended to be more productive during the pandemic than others. But those experienced individuals didn’t appear to maintain their mental health better than less experienced people.

Katya Arquilla

Arquilla noted that simply being aware of your own body, and knowing when stress sets in, can help. She has partnered with Laura Devendorf, a researcher at 91��’s ATLAS Institute, to assist people in doing that kind of monitoring. The team integrated sensors into comfortable textiles that track electrocardiogram (ECG) signals coming from wearers’ hearts.

“Maybe I'm an astronaut on a mission and I'm tracking my own signals, and I see that my heartrate starts to go up,” Arquilla said. “I could decide based on that that I should take a break for a couple of hours.”

This research won’t just help astronauts. Arquilla is also exploring how similar technologies could give people on the ground tools to detect and manage symptoms of mental health changes in high-stress environments. That might include wilderness expeditions, remote research facilities and military deployments.

She’s glad to see people talking more about mental health, both on Earth and in space.

“We all, after the pandemic, understand the importance of mental health a lot more than we did maybe 10 years ago,” she said. “Being able to recognize that it's okay to not feel at 100% all the time, and being able to give people the tools they need to articulate what is wrong, is really important.”

As humans spend longer and longer in space, the mental health of astronauts will become increasingly important, says aerospace engineer Katya Arquilla. Her research could help people in orbit and on the ground.

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New technology turns waste heat into electricity, defies physical limit

Greg B Swenson — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:56:10 +0000

New technology turns waste heat into electricity, defies physical limit Greg B Swenson Thu, 02/20/2025 - 13:56

Assistant Professor Longji Cui and his team have developed a new technology to turn thermal radiation into electricity in a way that literally teases the basic law of thermal physics.

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Female entrepreneurs face hidden barriers in mentorship networks

Katy Hill — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:04:29 +0000

Female entrepreneurs face hidden barriers in mentorship networks Katy Hill Thu, 02/20/2025 - 09:04

Katy Marquardt Hill

In the competitive world of entrepreneurship, mentorship is an invaluable resource. Social networks are vital for building relationships, identifying opportunities and securing essential support. But when it comes to making those fruitful connections, female entrepreneurs often face an uphill battle, new research finds.

Ethan Poskanzer

Gender segregation within mentorship networks plays a major role in limiting access to critical resources for female entrepreneurs, according to a working paper by Ethan Poskanzer, an assistant professor at the Leeds School of Business and Minjae Kim, an assistant professor of management at Rice University Business School, who tracked interactions between startup founders (mentees) and seasoned mentors over the course of an entrepreneurship accelerator program in the Northeast U.S. in 2023.

The study revealed that while both male and female entrepreneurs equally reach out to mentors of both genders, male mentors are disproportionately likely to accept outreaches from male mentees. This bias among mentors, although not necessarily conscious, is a pervasive obstacle for women launching startups, Poskanzer said.

“Men have an easier time getting access to valuable mentorship and resources through social networks,” Poskanzer said, adding that although the study focused on gender, this is a challenge for all underrepresented entrepreneurs.

This may be because people form closer relationships with those similar to themselves, Poskanzer said, which leads to men offering more help and referrals to other men.

“Investment is essential for entrepreneurs,” Poskanzer said. “In a lot of cases, investors tend to source their investments from people they know. So getting plugged into that world and getting those kinds of warm introductions can make the difference between being funded and not being funded. Just having a conversation with a mentor for a few hours can affect a business's trajectory.”

The limits of “lean in”

The study challenges the widely promoted "lean-in" message, which suggests women can overcome network segregation by pushing themselves harder to make connections.

The researchers argue this advice overlooks a critical factor: The problem lies not in women’s efforts to reach out, but in male mentors’ receptiveness to their outreaches. “Mentors selectively decide where to distribute their resources, so it’s about the resource holders’ choice of who they’re going to work with,” Poskanzer said.

A high-stakes problem

In another working paper, Poskanzer and co-author Tristan Botelho, associate professor or organizational behavior at Yale University, found these biases become more pronounced in high-stakes situations, such as when investors or senior mentors are making funding decisions. In these cases, women entrepreneurs tend to be rated lower than their male counterparts.

In one study, both men and women pitched their startup ideas to a panel of judges. In less consequential evaluations, women were rated slightly better than men. However, when the stakes were higher—such as decisions about funding—women were rated significantly lower.

“We found that when investors feel something is low stakes, they don't act on their biases,” Poskanzer said. “But when they’re distributing more money, they become more risk-averse, more cautious, and more likely to lean on these cultural biases about women and entrepreneurship.”

Addressing the mentorship gender gap

Poskanzer emphasized that programs must go beyond simply pairing male and female entrepreneurs. “Throwing people into a mixer and telling them to network isn't enough to overcome this disadvantage since it occurs organically,” he said.

Increasing female representation in mentorship roles could be one critical step toward mitigating these biases, especially in industries where women have historically been underrepresented. However, Poskanzer acknowledges this is a complex issue requiring systemic change.

Raising awareness is another starting point, he added, since many mentors are unaware of the subtle gender dynamics influencing their decisions.

“Entrepreneurship is a difficult road to travel alone, and social connections are essential for success,” Poskanzer said. “By providing support for all talented entrepreneurs, we can develop more innovations and drive both progress and productivity.”

Cultural biases, network segregation and subtle mentorship dynamics prevent women from receiving the support they need in entrepreneurship, a new study finds.

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Mark Rentschler, Aspero Medical awarded $4.5M for endoscopy advancement

Megan Maneval — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 22:04:54 +0000

Mark Rentschler, Aspero Medical awarded $4.5M for endoscopy advancement Megan Maneval Mon, 02/17/2025 - 15:04

College of Engineering and Applied Science

Six years ago, Mark Rentschler helped launch startup company Aspero Medical to develop a medical device used during endoscopy procedures. Today, with the help of grant, Rentschler and team are bringing two new medical devices to the market that have the potential to transform gastrointestinal surgeries.

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Fran Bagenal appointed to NASA advisory committee

Megan Maneval — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 15:25:36 +0000

Fran Bagenal appointed to NASA advisory committee Megan Maneval Mon, 02/17/2025 - 08:25

Fran Bagenal, a senior research scientist at the Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics at 91��, has been named to the NASA Advisory Council’s Science Committee.

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What is ‘romantasy,’ and why can’t readers get enough?

Daniel William Strain — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 18:31:30 +0000

What is ‘romantasy,’ and why can’t readers get enough? Daniel William… Mon, 02/10/2025 - 11:31

Daniel Strain , Nicholas Goda

This Valentine’s Day, love is in the air—and so are magic, flaming arrows, fairies, dragons and more.

Christine Larson. (Credit: Jimena Peck)

Last month, "Onyx Storm," the third book in Rebecca Yarros’ Empyrean series, took the publishing industry by, well, storm. The book follows a dragon rider named Violet and her family, friends, lovers and exes at Basgiath War College. It sold 2.7 million copies in its first week on bookshelves, a 20-year record for literature marketed toward adults.

“Onyx Storm” is the latest success story for the fast-rising genre of fiction dubbed “romantasy.” These books blend the conventions of fantasy novels with those of romance. Think sorcerers, mythical creatures and raging battles mixed with heaping doses of sex. Other heavy hitters in the genre include Sarah J. Maas. Her “A Court of Thorns and Roses” (or ACOTAR, to fans) novels dive into the adventures of Feyre Archeron in the faerie lands of Prythian.

Christine Larson, assistant professor of journalism at 91��, follows trends in the romance industry closely. Her 2024 book “Love in the Time of Self-Publishing” traces the 40-year history of Romancelandia, a tight-knit community of romance writers.

Larson weighs in what makes romantasy books so appealing, how TikTok played a role in their popularity, and why you may want to reevaluate those steamy sex scenes.

Is the rise of romantasy a new phenomenon?

Everyone talks about romantasy as if it's new. But the fantasy or paranormal sub-genres in romance have been around for decades. We can look at “Twilight.” We can look as far back as the “Dragonriders of Pern” series by Anne McCaffrey in the 1960s. Those books combined adventure and strong women who find their equal and their happily ever after.

Why do you think they’ve become so popular?

Romantasy has really taken off for two reasons: One reason is that Sarah Maas and Rebecca Yarros are amazingly good writers who tell a great story. The second is because people are feeling unsettled right now. Women, especially, are often feeling powerless, and the heroines in these books have power. They gain power, and they find love interests who are their equals. That’s important to women right now—to imagine a different world.

How did social media play a role in the emergence of romantasy?

Romantasy has been promoted in a huge way by TikTok, or, specifically, by the sub-segment of TikTok known as BookTok. Romance has been the most popular genre of fiction since the 1980s. With the rise of BookTok, younger readers dispelled myths about older romances. A lot of people thought romance was Fabio and a scantily clad woman bursting out of her bodice, and that it was very old fashioned. But, in fact, romance has come a long way. It has all these different sub-genres now.

Where did all these types of romance come from?

The evolution of new sub-genres in romance rose because of self-publishing beginning around the launch of the Amazon Kindle in 2007. There were many stories that could never be told, could never get published in traditional romance publishing, including stories about Black protagonists, Latina protagonists, LGBTQ+ protagonists, and even these fantasy stories.

Romance writers are super smart, and they said, "I don't need a publisher. I can self-publish." These books took off, and, eventually, romance publishers had to change, as well.

Romance has come a long way, but a lot of readers still turn up their noses at these books. Are romantasy books subject to those same biases?

Romance is the most disparaged, dismissed, mocked genre in the history of literature, but women's literature has always been denigrated by the literary community. It’s not only romance. Fantasy has also been a sort of stepchild of the science fiction world that was associated with women writers. It’s also thought less of in the literary world.

Beyond the story

Our arts and humanities impact by the numbers:

40-plus Grammy awards and nominations earned by 91�� faculty and alumni
2,500 exhibitions across the globe have featured art from art and art history faculty
10 91��-affiliated Pulitzer Prize winners

Follow 91�� on LinkedIn

One of the central, and perhaps most controversial, aspects of these books are their sex scenes, which get, um, a little explicit. What roles do these scenes play in the books?

Anyone who is shocked by the sex scenes in romantasy has not read romance. Romance comes in, shall we say, a variety of spiciness levels—from zero (like Amish romance, which is very sweet) all the way up to four chili peppers (like “50 Shades of Gray”).

The portrayal of sex in romantasy, and all romance, celebrates women's pleasure. That's why it's controversial. Many societies throughout history have feared or suppressed women's sexual pleasure, and romance is a space where that doesn't happen.

Say fantasy isn’t my genre. What other sub-genres of romance should I try?

If you have a favorite genre, there is a romance sub-genre for you. If you like spy fiction, there's romantic suspense. If you like sci-fi, there's sci-fi romance. There's sci-fi paranormal romance. Romance writers are women of words. They write because they love to read, and they're fantastic at world building in any genre.

91�� Today regularly publishes Q&As with our faculty members weighing in on news topics through the lens of their scholarly expertise and research/creative work. The responses here reflect the knowledge and interpretations of the expert and should not be considered the university position on the issue. All publication content is subject to edits for clarity, brevity and university style guidelines.

Fairies and dragons and love! Oh my! An expert on romance fiction digs into one of the publishing industry's hottest trends.

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5 91�� startups to watch in 2025

Daniel William Strain — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 20:59:15 +0000

5 91�� startups to watch in 2025 Daniel William… Wed, 01/29/2025 - 13:59

Lisa Marshall , Daniel Strain , Yvaine Ye

When it comes to putting science into action, last year was one for the

record books. From July 2023 to June 2024, 91�� helped to launch 35 new companies based on research at the university—a big tick up from the previous record of 20 companies in fiscal year 2021.

The new businesses are embracing technologies from the worlds of healthcare, agriculture, clean energy and more—including sensors that could one day help farmers improve their crop yields and breathalyzers that can detect signs of infection in the air you breathe out.

Here’s a look at how scientists, with the help of the university’s commercialization arm Venture Partners at 91��, seek to use discoveries from the lab to make a difference in peoples’ lives.

Beyond the story

Our research impact by the numbers:

45 U.S. patents issued for CU inventions through Venture Partners in 2023–24
35 startups launched based on university innovations in 2023–24
$1.2 billion raised by companies built on 91�� innovations in 2022–24

Follow 91�� on LinkedIn

Chunmei Ban, left, and undergraduate student Kangmin Kim, right, talk about sodium-ion batteries in Ban's lab on campus. (Credit: Jesse Morgan Peterson/91�� College of Engineering & Applied Science)

Mana Battery: Cheaper, longer lasting batteries for clean energy

This company is set to spark a renewable energy revolution. Founded by Chunmei Ban, associate professor in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, along with CU alumni Nick Singstock and Tyler Evans, Mana Battery is developing a cheaper, safer and longer lasting alternative to the traditional lithium-ion battery.

Lithium-ion batteries are the most common type of rechargeable battery on the planet, powering everything from TV remotes to cell phones and even electric vehicles. But the materials used in these batteries, such as lithium and cobalt, are rare and expensive. In contrast, Mana’s batteries run on sodium, an abundant mineral, offering a more affordable and sustainable alternative.

Currently, sodium-ion batteries come with a host of technological challenges. For example, they typically store less energy than lithium-ion batteries of the same size.

Ban and her team are working on improving sodium-ion battery designs to increase the amount of energy they can store. Their goal is to develop sodium-ion batteries with the same energy density as lithium-ion batteries at just 35% to 75% of the cost.

The renewable energy industry could reap the benefits. Sodium-ion batteries could store excess clean energy generated by solar panels or wind turbines, providing power even during cloudy or windless days.

“The use of batteries has significantly supported, and will continue to promote, the widespread use of electric vehicles and low-cost energy storage solutions for the power grid,” Ban said.

Flari Tech: Laser-based nose to sniff out disease

Imagine a day when, instead of giving blood, saliva or other bodily fluids, you simply exhaled to get a read on what was happening with your health.

That’s the idea behind a new laser-based technology designed to harness human breath for faster, cheaper and less invasive medical diagnostics.

“There is a real, foreseeable future in which you could go to the doctor and have your breath measured along with your height and weight. … Or you could blow into a mouthpiece integrated into your phone and get information about your health in real time,” said Jun Ye, a JILA fellow and adjoint professor of physics who helped develop the technology along with physics doctoral candidate Qizhong Liang.

Humans exhale more than 1,000 distinct molecules with each breath, producing a unique chemical fingerprint or “breath print” filled with clues about what’s happening deep inside them. Scientists have long sought to harness that information, turning to dogs and other animals to sniff out cancer, diabetes and more.

Liang and Ye’s “frequency comb breathalyzer” could someday do the sniffing instead.

It uses frequency comb lasers, which feature narrow optical lines spread across a vast spectral window, to distinguish between different kinds of breath molecules, which are known to vary in concentration when people are sick. Paired with sophisticated algorithms for machine learning and data analysis, their laser-based nose has been shown to be able to detect whether someone has COVID-19 in a matter of seconds.

Research is underway, in close collaboration with medical doctors from the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, to see if breath can also be used to detect chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pediatric respiratory issues and even lung cancer. The team also plans to miniaturize their technology.

In 2023, Flari Tech Inc.—named after the word ‘flari’ (“to smell”) in the Esperanto language—was formed to help move the technology from the lab to the bedside. Much more research is necessary, but ultimately the researchers believe their work could lead to earlier diagnoses for patients—and save lives.

Qizhong Liang demonstrates how a laser-based breathalyzer works in the Ye lab at JILA. (Credit: Patrick Campbell/91��)

Artist's concept of a device emitting a stream of electrons to eject dust from surfaces on the moon. (Credit: Xu Wang)

Space Dust Research & Technologies: Tools for cleaning up dust on the moon

When future astronauts travel to the moon, they’ll face a little-known problem: The moon’s dust, or regolith, is made up of particles as sharp as glass that stick to everything.

“As we learned from the Apollo missions, lunar dust readily sticks to all surfaces of exploration systems, causing damage to spacesuits, degrading thermal radiators and solar panels and posing risks to crew health when inhaled,” said Xu Wang, a research associate at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at 91��.

Wang and Mihály Horányi, professor of physics and a researcher at LASP, launched a company to help. Space Dust Research & Technologies will pioneer technology known as Electron-beam Lunar Dust Mitigation (ELDM). ELDM devices generate a beam of electrons that add electric charges to those sticky particles of dust—causing them to, literally, jump off of surfaces.

This technology is versatile enough that it could work in handheld devices or in larger “car washes” that could clean entire spacesuits or rovers.

Space Dust Research & Technologies will also develop a separate type of technology that can sort through dust on the moon and arrange grains by size—an important step in mining regolith to turn it into building materials and more. The company’s work emerged out of years of research in LASP’s NASA-funded Institute for Modeling Plasma, Atmospheres and Cosmic Dust (IMPACT) lab.

Biosensor Solutions: Biodegradable sensors for tracking soil microbes

Scientists have long known that healthy soils and crops depend on vibrant communities of bacteria and other microbes living in the dirt. There’s just one problem: These microbial communities can be difficult to keep track of.

Until now. Engineer Gregory Whiting and his team at 91�� recently invented a way to measure soil microbial communities using low-cost, printed sensors. The trick: tasty electronics. The sensors include biodegradable resistors that soil microbes eat and degrade over time.

“It’s like a bait for microbes,” said Whiting, associate professor in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering. “As they eat the device, the signal changes.”

That, in turn, could allow farmers to get a sense of how many microbes are in their soil.

The 91��-based company Biosensor Solutions, led by co-founders David Beitz and Carl Kalin, licensed this technology in 2024. The group is currently piloting the sensors with an initial group of local companies, precision agriculture providers and growers. According to company officials, “Data and insights from these new sensors will help growers increase yields and save resources on water, fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides.”

Researchers test out a design for a biodegradable soil sensor. (Credit: BEEM Lab)

Adobe Stock

Mesa Quantum: Navigation devices based on the behavior of atoms

One new startup could make it easier to navigate the globe, even when GPS satellites go out, such as during bad storms.

For decades, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have pioneered the technology of atomic clocks. These devices keep track of time and can help to track your location by measuring the behavior of electrons whizzing around atoms.

Svenja Knappe, associate research professor in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering at 91��, recently helped to improve on those inventions. She discovered a way to make atomic clocks more reliable while also shrinking them down to the size of a computer chip.

Sristy Agrawal and Wale Lawal, who founded Mesa Quantum in 2024, have high hopes for these chips. They say the company's atomic clocks could one day become part of a suite of technologies that enable GPS-free navigation—allowing anyone, from farmers to airplane pilots, to pinpoint their locations on Earth more reliably and precisely than ever before.

“The agricultural sector in Colorado relies heavily on GPS for the operation of tractors, irrigation systems and other modern equipment,” said Agrawal, who earned her doctorate in physics from 91�� in 2024. “As the industry moves toward greater automation, these systems will become even more dependent on precise and reliable positioning data.”

Last year, 91�� helped to launch a record 35 new companies. These businesses are pioneering new technologies from sensors for monitoring soil health to breathalyzers that can sniff out signs of lung cancer.

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New quantum incubator in 91�� to propel innovations for real-world impact

Julie Poppen — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 14:03:31 +0000

New quantum incubator in 91�� to propel innovations for real-world impact Julie Poppen Wed, 01/15/2025 - 07:03

Daniel Strain

See a history of quantum research at 91��

Learn more

Interested in being part of the quantum incubator? Reach out to
cubit@colorado.edu

To kick off the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology in 2025, three Colorado universities in collaboration with Elevate Quantum have announced that a new facility for fostering quantum technologies is coming to Colorado.

The State of Colorado has taken bold action to help bring the advances in quantum physics out of the lab and into the real world through its investment into the Quantum Incubator and related quantum assets throughout the state.

The facility will be housed in a 13,000-square-foot space in east 91��. It is funded by a state tax incentive and spearheaded by 91��, in partnership with Colorado State University, Colorado School of Mines and Elevate Quantum, a coalition of 120 organizations, including the three campuses, in Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. Additionally, 91�� is providing leadership and staff resources for its development and launch.

From the partners

Gov. Jared Polis:

"Colorado is the national hub for innovation in the fast-growing quantum industry and this new incubator will strengthen the industry in our state. By bringing together our world-class higher education system with the companies who are helping to shape this industry, this incubator will help drive forward the next chapter for quantum in Colorado, driving more jobs and economic development."

U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, House Assistant Minority Leader"

“Thanks to the partnership of 91��, Colorado State University and Colorado School of Mines, we were successful in designating Colorado and the Rocky Mountain West the nation’s leading quantum tech hub under the CHIPS and Science Act. And as we cheer the development of our state’s new quantum incubator—right here in Colorado’s 2nd—we are also celebrating the advancements and developments still to come."

CSU President Amy Parsons:

"Quantum technology will revolutionize industries, solve complex problems and significantly improve lives. CSU is proud to collaborate with other quantum experts across the state as part of this effort. We will continue to develop a leading-edge degree program infrastructure that will meet future workforce needs in this high-demand space."

Colorado School of Mines President Paul C. Johnson:

"The new quantum incubator is a great example of the strong collaborative spirit driving Colorado's leadership in quantum innovation. The quantum incubator and the Quantum COmmons shared-use campus in Arvada will be great attractors for and enablers of the technological innovation and quantum industry growth that is the Elevate Quantum vision."

Elevate Quantum CEO and Regional Innovation Officer Zachary Yerushalmi:

"With these new facilities from CU and our R1 universities, we're strengthening the foundation of what is already the world's largest quantum industry cluster. Elevate Quantum could not be more excited to see this vital piece of infrastructure come to life."

University of Colorado President Todd Saliman:

"As a longstanding leader in this research, CU is excited to team up with CSU, the School of Mines, our partners at Elevate Quantum and the State of Colorado to realize this wonderful new facility. This meaningfully advances our efforts to establish Colorado as a global epicenter of quantum research and technology, and it will enable our great state to continue to drive this critical industry."

“I couldn’t be prouder of the role 91�� is playing in this important work,” said Massimo Ruzzene, vice chancellor for research and innovation and dean of the institutes at 91��. “By stepping up to secure the physical facility, establish the operating entity, identify prospective tenants and ready the building to ramp up operations starting in January, we are positioning the incubator to quickly fill an important need in advancing quantum innovation across the region.”

The facility will include a collaborative office environment for early-stage quantum companies and state-of-the-art scientific equipment—providing a testbed to transform ideas for quantum technologies into products that will benefit consumers in Colorado and beyond. Quantum technologies could include sensors for detecting signs of illness in human breath or networks that may one day send data that can’t be hacked over long distances.

“Quantum science and technologies will enable life-changing advances that touch every segment of society,” said Chancellor Justin Schwartz. “This collaborative facility will allow our researchers’ discoveries to progress more quickly from lab to market and will help cement Colorado and the United States as global leaders in this exciting field.”

The quantum incubator is one piece of a wide-ranging effort to grow the Mountain West region as a “center of mass” for quantum technology, said Scott Sternberg, executive director of the CUbit Quantum Initiative at 91��. It is especially timely as UNESCO has deemed 2025 the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology.

Rapid growth

Momentum around quantum has been building.

JILA, a joint research institute between 91�� and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), has served as the regional epicenter for quantum research for over 60 years.

In 2023, the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) named Elevate Quantum, headquartered in Denver, as an official tech hub for quantum information technology. Since that designation, the coalition has secured more than $120 million in funding to grow the quantum industry in Colorado and the Mountain West.

As part of that effort, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed into law House Bill 1325 in 2024, which directed funds to create the new incubator. Today, the quantum industry supports about 3,000 jobs in the state, but that number could grow to more than 10,000 in the next decade.

“We asked the question: What is 91�� great at when it comes to quantum?” Sternberg said. “And how can the incubator provide a catalyst to make these assets even greater?”

Center of mass

The quantum incubator will not be alone in Colorado. In June, the U.S. National Science Foundation announced a $20 million National Quantum Nanofab facility that will be constructed on the 91�� campus. Elevate Quantum is also launching a 70-acre campus in Arvada, Colorado, called the Quantum COmmons, with an initial 30,000 square feet of shared-use facilities being developed by Colorado School of Mines in support of Elevate Quantum partners.

Sternberg sees these facilities as part of a progression—helping companies go from papers in a scientific journal, to new prototypes, to products built at scale and, eventually, to the market.

“Colorado’s new quantum facilities will help turn discoveries in the lab into real-world applications, continuing our leadership in quantum science and creating thousands of new jobs for Coloradans,” said Eve Lieberman, executive director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. “We are excited to celebrate this milestone and look forward to the achievements it will bring to our state.”

The new 91�� facility will also be a vibrant place to work. Physicists, engineers, lab workers and businesspeople can meet quantum experts from Colorado and around the world to share ideas and expertise. They’ll also be able to run experiments on equipment rarely seen outside of large universities. That could include working atomic clocks or devices that measure the extremely fast “ticking” of atoms.

The quantum incubator will be located in BioMed Realty’s Flatiron Park at 5555 Central Ave. in 91��. Flatiron Park, a hub for life science and technology innovation, consists of 23 buildings and more than 1 million square feet of lab and office space.

Leaders in the quantum ecosystem, including higher education, government and the private sector, celebrate the official launch of a new quantum incubator in 91�� on Jan. 15. Photo by Glenn Asakawa/91��.

A new quantum incubator coming to Colorado will provide private companies with a testbed to transform ideas for quantum technologies into products that will benefit consumers in the Mountain West and beyond.

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CUriosity: How do sea creatures make light?

Yvaine Ye — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 21:02:06 +0000

CUriosity: How do sea creatures make light? Yvaine Ye Wed, 01/08/2025 - 14:02

Yvaine Ye

In CUriosity, experts across the 91�� campus answer pressing questions about humans, our planet and the universe beyond.

This week, Jingchun Li, associate professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at 91��, answers: “How do sea creatures make light?”

Disco clams can reflect ambient light with their silica-containing tissue. (Credit: Brook Peterson/Adobe stock)

From shallow reefs to pitch-black depths, the ocean is alive with sparkling lights. Fish, squid, clams and plankton have found a wide range of ways to glow, shimmer and flash, lighting up the dark water like stars in the night sky.

Scientists estimate that in the deep ocean where sunlight cannot reach, 90% of animals can produce some kind of light.

“Light is important for signaling,” said Li, who has spent much of her career working in oceans around the world to study marine life. “It helps animals of the same species communicate and recognize each other, and it can also serve as a warning to other animals.”

Previously in CUriosity

Do animals have emotions?

Bioluminescence is one of the most common methods animals use to do this. By triggering a chemical reaction between oxygen, a molecule called luciferin and an enzyme, luciferase, in their bodies, they can light up.

On land, fireflies use bioluminescence to emit their electric green light. In the deep ocean, anglerfish, a terrifying antagonist seen in Finding Nemo, use the same method to shine in the abyss.

The fish has a bony structure on its forehead that lights up like a lantern, thanks to the large number of bioluminescent bacteria living inside the fish.

But not all animals are born with the right chemical ingredients to generate light on their own. Some still find ways to shine.

The disco clam (Ctenoides ales), a mollusk living in the shallow waters of the Indo-Pacific Ocean, has evolved a unique strip of tissue on their mantle that can reflect ambient light. Previous research has found that the clam’s reflective strip contains silica, the main component in glass. When disco clams furl and unfurl their mantles quickly, they reflect sunlight, creating an effect reminiscent of a disco ball.

Li said scientists are still working to understand how disco clams developed their reflective tissue through evolution. Other closely related species, such as rough file clams (Ctenoides scaber), lack the silica structure in their tissue.

The disco clam’s dazzling display might serve as a defense mechanism. Disco clams regularly open and close their shells, but Li and her team found that when the clams sense a shadow looming over them—a sign that a predator might be approaching—they flash much faster, up to six times per second, like a strobe light.

Anglerfish, on the other hand, light up to draw smaller fish toward them, helping to attract prey in the dark. The ostracod, a tiny, bioluminescence crustacean that looks like a shrimp inside a pod, glows to attract mates. Males spit out a glowing mucus to create a special pattern during mating rituals.

The question of why deep-sea animals produce light remains an intriguing scientific mystery.

“To survive in extremely dark and cold water, every bit of energy matters. But having a vision is energetically demanding,” Li said. “From an evolutionary perspective, it’s surprising that so many animals in the deep ocean retained the ability to see and even evolved ways to illuminate their surroundings.”

Biologist Jingchun Li shares her research in marine animals and the unique ways they illuminate the sea.

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CUriosity: Do animals have emotions?

Yvaine Ye — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 15:00:00 +0000

CUriosity: Do animals have emotions? Yvaine Ye Wed, 12/18/2024 - 08:00

Yvaine Ye

In CUriosity, experts across the 91�� campus answer pressing questions about humans, our planet and the universe beyond.

This week, Marc Bekoff, professor emeritus in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at 91��, answers: “Do animals have emotions?”

Pet owners tend to see their animals’ feelings clearly. Dogs wagging their tails when the owners get home? Happiness. Crouching down after being caught raiding the trash? Embarrassment. Barking, and jumping up and down when they see their friends? Excitement.

But what about less cuddly creatures? Do crustaceans and birds have emotions, too?

Previously in CUriosity

Previously in CUriosity

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“Of course they do,” Bekoff said “There's solid science showing very clearly that a wide diversity of animals have emotions, from mammals to all the vertebrates and invertebrates.”

Bekoff has spent decades observing animals from coyotes in the Rocky Mountains to Adélie penguins in Antarctica. He has written multiple books about animal sentience including “The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy—and Why They Matter.”

He said emotions play an important role in helping animals make decisions about how to respond to social situations, such as whether to run from a potential danger or to approach a mate. For group-living animals like coyotes and wolves, having emotions is fundamental to forming packs.

Evidence has shown that mammals—including humans—emit similar brain chemicals during emotional situations. For example, birds secrete dopamine, a chemical that makes humans feel good, when they sing songs to attract a potential mate.

But even invertebrates like insects and crustaceans could experience emotions, according to a growing body of research. While scientists can't definitively say lobsters experience happiness the same way as humans do, they certainly avoid painful situations.

Marc Bekoff looking for dingoes in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, Australia. (Credit: Brad Purcell)

“There is a biodiversity of emotions,” Bekoff said. He explained that the feeling of joy varies even between different people, but that doesn’t mean animals like lobsters or ants don’t experience happiness. “It may simply look different than in humans.”

Recognizing all animals have emotions can help people develop more empathy toward wildlife and support wildlife conservation efforts, he added.

In a paper published earlier this year, Bekoff and his collaborators proposed that treating individual animals as creatures with emotions and personalities, in addition to understanding the species as a whole, could help preserve biodiversity.

For example, people might be more willing to use loud sounds or strong scents to scare away predators they encounter rather than resort to killing.

Bekoff said Colorado could apply these approaches to help manage its wildlife, including grey wolves, which were reintroduced in the state in December following a voter-approved initiative. For social animals like wolves, if the leader dies, it can lead to the dissolution of the entire pack, he said.

“Wolves have very tight bonds with their pack members,” Bekoff said. “Pups have very tight bonds with their mom. Killing any of these individuals will not support a sustainable population.”

In the end, Bekoff says humans shouldn’t be so quick to brush off other animals.

“It's really easy to write off an ant or a lobster or a crayfish, but there's no reason to. My take as a scientist is to keep the door open until we are sure that it is not true.”

Professor Emeritus Marc Bekoff shares his decades of research on the emotional lives of animals and how it could influence wildlife management.

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