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<p>In recent years, palm oil production has come under fire from environmentalists concerned about the deforestation of land in the tropics to make way for new palm plantations. Now there is a new reason to be concerned about palm oil’s environmental impact.</p>
<p>An analysis published Feb. 26 in the journal <em>Nature Climate Change</em> shows that the wastewater produced during the processing of palm oil is a significant source of heat-trapping methane in the atmosphere. But the researchers also present a possible solution: capturing the methane and using it as a renewable energy source.</p>

<p>University of Colorado Boulder scientists have found a creative way to radically improve thermoelectric materials, a finding that could one day lead to the development of improved solar panels, more energy-efficient cooling equipment, and even the creation of new devices that could turn the vast amounts of heat wasted at power plants into more electricity.</p>

<p>For University of Colorado Boulder Assistant Professor Gordana Dukovic of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, the awards just keep rolling in.</p>
<p>Today the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation announced that Dukovic was one of 126 people in the U.S. and Canada selected for one of the prestigious Sloan Research Fellowships in 2014. </p>

<p>As climates change, the lush tropical ecosystems of the Amazon Basin may release more of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than they absorb, according to a new study published Feb. 6 in <em>Nature</em>.</p>

<p>If you were a shrew snuffling around a North American forest, you would be 27 times less likely to respond to climate change than if you were a moose grazing nearby.</p>
<p>That is just one of the findings of a new University of Colorado Boulder assessment led by Assistant Professor Christy McCain that looked at more than 1,000 different scientific studies on North American mammal responses to human-caused climate change.</p>

<p>University of Colorado Boulder Professor Peter Molnar has been awarded the prestigious 2014 Crafoord Prize in Geosciences by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for his groundbreaking research in geophysics and geological sciences.</p>

<p>The University of Colorado Boulder’s Senior Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer Kelly Fox today announced that Vice Chancellor for Administration Louise Vale will retire effective March 14.</p>
<p>“Louise has had a distinguished career providing financial management and strategic direction to the University of Colorado for over 20 years and she will be greatly missed,” Fox said.</p>
<p>Fox has named Steve Thweatt, who is currently assistant vice chancellor for Facilities Management, as interim vice chancellor for administration starting March 15.</p>

<p>Two faculty members in the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Engineering and Applied Science have been honored with the National Science Foundation’s prestigious CAREER award.</p>
<p>The NSF Faculty Early Career Development, or CAREER, award supports junior faculty members who demonstrate excellence in research and who effectively integrate their research with education. CU-Boulder’s recent recipients are Prashant Nagpal, an assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering, and Franck Vernerey, an assistant professor of civil, environmental and architectural engineering.</p>

<p>Power plants that use natural gas and a new technology to squeeze more energy from the fuel release far less of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide than coal-fired power plants do, according to a new analysis accepted for publication Jan. 8 in <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014EF000196/abstract"><em>Earth’s Future</em></a>, a journal of the <a href="http://sites.agu.org/">American Geophysical Union</a>. </p>

<p>Trees with smoother bark are better at repelling attacks by mountain pine beetles, which have difficulty gripping the slippery surface, according to a new study by the University of Colorado Boulder.</p>
<p>The findings, published online in the journal <em>Functional Ecology</em>, may help land managers make decisions about which trees to cull and which to keep in order to best protect forested properties against pine beetle infestation.</p>