Stand up comedian on stage in front of an audience

How funny works: The serious science of humor

Why did the chicken cross the road? Humor experts aren’t sure, but they’ll break down why some jokes are laugh-worthy and others earn groans in this episode of the Brainwaves podcast.

An illustration of Neanderthals gathered around a fire

Neanderthals used resin 'glue' to craft their stone tools

June 26, 2019

New discoveries from two caves in Italy suggest that Neanderthals were a lot smarter than some give them credit for

Student working with film

Summer blockbusters: How Hollywood's money-making formula is changing

June 25, 2019

We talk to movie experts about the shifts in Hollywood’s summer movie formula, as well as how seemingly unoriginal titles are breaking new ground in conversations about politics and race in this edition of the Brainwaves podcast.

USA Track and Field Indoor championships

U.S. Olympic sports earn failing grade for self-governance

June 25, 2019

The organizations charged with overseeing U.S. Olympic sports from the elite level down to the youth level earned an average score of 58 out of 100 for self-governance in a new study published Tuesday.

Marijuana: (Credit: Pixabay)

Modern marijuana: How the bud business is changing with legalization

June 19, 2019

Five years after recreational marijuana was legalized in Colorado, the Brainwaves podcast looks at the business and science sides of the industry.

Women in East Africa look at a dead stalk of corn

Is climate change fueling civil war?

June 13, 2019

Droughts, floods, natural disasters—new research shows, without radical reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, one in four armed conflicts will result from climate change by century’s end.

Rower on the ocean

Human endurance: How we’re pushing our bodies to new limits with new tech and no tech

June 5, 2019

An early investor in FitBit, a researcher on energy-saving shoes and an athlete who is solo rowing across the Atlantic give us the latest on tracking and breaking our bodies’ limits in this episode of the Brainwaves podcast.

panel discussion at summit

Human Performance Summit explores apex of mind, body, spirit

May 30, 2019

CU recently hosted nearly 250 participants from the military, athletic, investment, scientific and entrepreneurial communities for a day-long exploration of where the limits of human performance lie and how to push those limits.

Dirty hands

Healthy, stress-busting fat found hidden in dirt

May 28, 2019

Thirty years after scientists suggested increased exposure to microorganisms could benefit health, CU Boulder researchers have identified an anti-inflammatory fat in a soil-dwelling bacterium that may be partly responsible.

Gregory Formosa inspects Endoculus

A robot may one day perform your colonoscopy

May 28, 2019

CU Boulder researchers are taking a page from “The Magic School Bus” and journeying inside the human body using a new, versatile robot to navigate the squishy and often-unpredictable terrain of the intestine.

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