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The most recent research information on Mars will be highlighted in a talk to be held July 27-28 at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Fiske Planetarium. Research Associate Brian Hynek of CU-Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics will present "Update From the Red Planet" on both evenings at 8 p.m.

A minor laboratory fire at the University of Colorado at Boulder's engineering center early this morning was extinguished by the building's sprinkler system and is being investigated by the Boulder Fire Department and CU Police. The engineering center was not occupied at the time of the fire and there were no injuries. However, three CU police officers were sent to Boulder Community Hospital to be checked for possible smoke inhalation.

The University of Colorado at Boulder will send a group of volunteers to bed for 10 days in the name of science in an effort to understand and treat muscle atrophy, a malady that affects all astronauts and millions of earthbound people.

American teenagers' political views and civic behavior during contentious elections are the focus of a new study starting this summer by Michael McDevitt, associate professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder's School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

The University of Colorado at Boulder has begun a national search for an associate vice chancellor for strategic communications to direct internal and external communications for the campus. Paul Voakes, dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication who chairs the search committee, said the committee hopes to have the new associate vice chancellor in place by mid-semester in the fall.

Two dozen of the University of Colorado at Boulder's top incoming freshmen are getting an early start on college by spending a month this summer working with faculty members on individual research and creative projects. The 24 students are part of the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience, or SURE, program which provides each participant with a $1,000 stipend and free room-and-board to work with faculty on various research and scholarly projects, said Joan Gabriele, director of Special Undergraduate Enrichment Programs. The program began July 9 and runs until Aug. 4.

The Energy and Environmental Security Initiative at the University of Colorado at Boulder School of Law has unveiled an online global database of international energy treaties. The database is called the International Sustainable Energy Assessment and contains in-force energy treaties from all 192 countries in the world dealing with 45 energy-related subject areas.

A Rwandan priest who has been a key figure in western Rwanda community development projects with the CU-Boulder chapter of Engineers Without Borders will present a free, public lecture on "Rural Community Building in Rwanda" July 18. Father John Bosco will discuss current projects and future needs at the Boulder Public Library Auditorium, 1000 Canyon Blvd., from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

University of Colorado at Boulder Senior Research Associate John Behrendt, a fellow emeritus of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, has been elected president of the American Polar Society for a two-year term. Behrendt, who has conducted research in Antarctica for 50 years, has been a CU-Boulder faculty member since 1996. The American Polar Society, which has more than 1,100 members, was founded in 1934 to foster interest in research and exploration of the arctic and Antarctica.

Examples of materials engineered by nature and ways human engineers can mimic the processes that create natural materials will be discussed at a free public lecture July 12 at the University of Colorado at Boulder. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign physics Professor Jennifer A. Lewis will present "Mimicking Nature via Directed Materials Assembly " at 7 p.m. in Duane Physics, room G1B20.