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NEWS TIP SHEET U.S. Congressional Races. Ken Bickers, professor of political science, can address congressional races in Colorado and nationally. He will be available on election night by cell phone at (303) 746-3313. His office number is (303) 492-2363 and his e-mail address is bickers@colorado.edu .

Hazy skies on early Earth could have provided a substantial source of organic material useful for emerging life on the planet, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Business, government and academic researchers involved in the development of nanotechnology are invited to attend the grand opening of the Nanomaterials Characterization Facility at the University of Colorado at Boulder on Nov. 16.

Construction will begin next summer on the University of Colorado at Boulder's new Visual Arts Complex, which will synthesize art, history and high technology to create a new hub for creative expression. Scheduled to open in 2009, the 148,000-square-foot complex will be the new home of the CU Art Museum and the art and art history department, a cross-disciplinary program ranked among the finest in the nation.

Computer simulations indicate that Himalayan mega-earthquakes must occur every 1,000 years or so to empty a reservoir of energy in southern Tibet not released by smaller earthquakes, according to a paper that will appear in the Nov. 9 issue of the journal Nature. Colorado researchers Roger Bilham and Nicole Feldl co-authored the paper "Great Himalayan Earthquakes and the Tibetan Plateau." Their research was funded by the National Science Foundation.

A University of Colorado at Boulder scientist has been named this year's recipient of the I.I. Rabi Prize for his contributions to the field of precision measurement. The American Physical Society confers the award to a nominated scientist every two years, recognizing outstanding research in atomic, molecular and optical physics by researchers who have held a doctorate for 10 years or less.

Editors: While the Teachers of Color and Allies Summit is not open to the public, reporters are welcome to attend. Colorado's growing minority population is changing the demographics of the state's classrooms, creating a great need for more minority teachers, according to experts at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

MEDIA ADVISORY The University of Colorado at Boulder School of Education will evaluate the success of a teacher incentive program in Denver Public Schools to be expanded by the U.S. Department of Education. A major grant to the program will be announced today at a 1:30 p.m. news briefing in Denver.

Note to Editors: Media are welcome to attend the trebuchet challenge, the boat building and racing event, and other activities. Please contact Gloria Nelson or Carol Rowe to obtain a detailed schedule. More than 260 high school students from 27 schools around Colorado will test their skills at building boats and medieval siege machines, called trebuchets, during the Colorado Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement Fall Fling at the University of Colorado at Boulder Nov. 2 and 3.

The Sommers-Bausch Observatory at the University of Colorado at Boulder is hosting an open house, weather permitting, to view a rare "Mercury transit" of the sun on Wednesday, Nov. 8, from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Using the observatory's heliostat -- a specialized solar telescope that transfers the sun's light via a series of mirrors and lenses and projects it on a flat surface for safe viewing -- people will see Mercury's silhouette on the sun's surface as it passes between Earth and the sun.