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Planning a ski vacation this winter but worried you are running out of time to get into decent shape before you hit the slopes? A University of Colorado at Boulder expert says it can be done and all it takes is one hour of exercise per day, three to four days a week.

The University of Colorado at Boulder's top advertising students will compete for some $5,000 in scholarships next week during a show to be judged by industry professionals from Denver, New York, Chicago and Boulder. Among the judges at the seventh annual Student Creative Advertising Show will be CU-Boulder alumnus Jason Hoff, co-creator of the cultural phenomenon and Las Vegas tagline "What happens here, stays here."

Three University of Colorado at Boulder faculty members have been named distinguished professors, the highest honor bestowed by CU on its teaching faculty. The prestigious designation was awarded to Andrzej Ehrenfeucht, professor of computer science; James Markusen, professor of economics; and Linda Watkins, professor of psychology, during the Dec. 5 meeting of the CU Board of Regents. They join 31 other CU-Boulder faculty members named as distinguished professors since the Board of Regents established the designation in 1977.

Colorado's economy will continue to grow at a stronger pace than much of the nation in 2007, but at a slower rate than it did this year, according to University of Colorado at Boulder economist Richard Wobbekind. Wobbekind's announcement was part of the 42nd annual Business Economic Outlook Forum hosted Dec. 4 by CU-Boulder's Leeds School of Business and Compass Bank. "We think Colorado will have a much more solid economy than the nation and that will feed migration to the state," Wobbekind said.

A theater company co-founded by one of Britain's premier actresses will stage three performances of a critically acclaimed translation of the Spanish play ¡Ay Carmela! at Old Main theater on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus. The performances will take place Dec. 11-13 at 7:30 p.m. and will be free and open to the public. The play is a co-production of the theater companies Ensemble and York Theatre Royal and comes to Colorado on the heels of a successful U.K. tour and a hit run in London's renowned West End theater district.

A high-flying K-12 education effort by the University of Colorado at Boulder will feature two science investigations launching on a NASA space shuttle this week and continuing on for extended stays aboard the International Space Station.

A solar-powered iPod charger and a backpack containing inflatable pouches that could help a backcountry skier "float" to the top of an avalanche are among approximately 50 engineering student inventions that will be demonstrated at the University of Colorado at Boulder's ITL Fall Design Expo Dec. 9. The Expo is free and open to the public from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The event will be held at the Integrated Teaching and Learning Laboratory, located on Regent Drive south of Colorado Avenue.

The phenomenon of the lowest possible temperature will be explored during the Dec. 9 talk "Much Ado °µÍø½ûÇø Absolute Zero" on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus. Physics Professor Paul Beale will present the talk, which is part of the physics department's monthly Saturday Physics Series, at 2 p.m. in Duane Physics room G1B30. The event is free and open to the public.

Colorado's late fall snowstorms could disappear by mid-December due to the influence of an El Niño event in the tropical Pacific Ocean, said Klaus Wolter, a University of Colorado at Boulder and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist. "Sometime in December I would expect to see the classic El Niño winter doldrums where the storm track shifts so far south that we might run dry for a very long stretch, maybe several weeks where nothing happens," said Wolter.

NIST news release Using an ultra-stable laser to manipulate strontium atoms trapped in a "lattice" made of light, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado at Boulder have demonstrated the capability to produce the most precise "ticks" ever recorded in an optical atomic clock. The techniques may be useful in time keeping, precision measurements of high frequencies, and quantum computers using neutral atoms as bits of information.