iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Amber Carlson

Science Writers Association of the Rocky Mountains (SWARM) @sciwrirockies.com · 01/12/2025

Congrats to the winners of SWARM’s first-ever writing awards: @sarahscoles.bsky.social @aecarlson.bsky.social @evelynjlamb.bsky.social @sipappas.bsky.social & Josh Rhoten! Links to their winning work are at www.sciwrirockies.com/writing-awards

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

Based on Behzadan's research, an optimally trustworthy AI tool has a few essential qualities: 1. It knows its users. 2. It’s reliable, ethical and transparent. 3. It takes context into account. 4. It’s easy to use and asks users how it’s doing. And 5. when trust is lost, it adapts to rebuild it.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

People vary in how inherently trusting they are, but AI also has to earn our trust by doing its job reliably and safely. AI technology also becomes better and more reliable when more people use it.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

Evening, #Boulder. Here's a story for our times...I spoke to @colorado.edu prof Amir Behzadan about his research on making AI more trustworthy. AI is everywhere in our modern lives, but whether we choose to use AI tech often comes down to how much we trust it. www.colorado.edu/today/2025/1...

colorado.edu

5 ways to make AI more trustworthy

CU Boulder engineers have designed a framework to help technology developers create artificial intelligence people will actually want to use.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

There are ways to reduce the risk (e.g. diversifying and using multiple cloud service providers instead of a single one). But ultimately, these types of system outages are always a risk.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

There's no guaranteed way to prevent an outage like this from happening again, especially with the number of companies and services relying on AWS and other centralized cloud platforms.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

While it's not clear exactly what caused the outage, Perigo said it was probably caused by a minor misconfiguration or script error that was deployed across many systems.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

During the outage, many services and websites hosted by AWS -- from Zoom and Venmo to Snapchat and Reddit -- couldn't "find" each other, so websites and apps appeared broken or offline.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Perigo told me the outage likely cost businesses hundreds of billions of dollars. The problem started with a failure in the Domain Name System (DNS), which translates website URLS into IP addresses that computers can use to communicate.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Heya #Boulder. After this week's AWS network outage, I spoke with Levi Perigo from @colorado.edu's network engineering program to learn more about the outage: what happened, who it affected, what caused it and why it could happen again. www.colorado.edu/today/2025/1...

colorado.edu

AWS down: How a single network outage rippled through businesses, institutions and the economy

A CU Boulder network expert discusses Monday’s Amazon Web Services network outage and its wide-ranging impacts.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Hi Brandon. I checked with the researcher on this. He said the alumina coating is purer than what you'd find in gemstone sapphire (which can have traces of other elements), but the coating is still considered sapphire.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Yep! I was told the alumina in the vaccines is purer than what's found in gemstone sapphire (gemstones can have traces of other elements, too), but yes, it is sapphire.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Normal rabies vaccines need 3-5 doses, but Randolph's shots combine multiple doses into a single shot, and each dose is coated in a timed-release sapphire layer. These shots can be stored in a dry powder form and delivered to parts of the world that lack cold-storage capacity.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Then, the candied particles are coated with a nanoscopic layer of sapphire. Sapphire dissolves slowly once injected into a patient, so it protects the vaccine particles for days to weeks, depending on the thickness of the sapphire layer.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

In Randolph's method for making the vaccines, the vaccine particles are sprayed with a hard candy-like substance, which entraps and preserves the proteins so they don't degrade at higher temperatures.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

That means it's all but impossible to deliver rabies shots in parts of the world that don’t have specialized cold storage equipment (or the electricity to run it).

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

About 60,000 people per year still die of rabies. In industrialized countries, many people and pets have access to vaccines. But current vaccines on the market need to be stored cold because heat causes the proteins in them to break down.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

I had a blast talking with all the researchers for this story and visiting their hives near Boulder Creek. Made me very nostalgic for my backyard beekeeping days! 🐝

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

Their building strategies could spark ideas for new bio-inspired structures or even new ways to approach 3D printing.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

In a new study, researchers 3D printed a variety of surfaces and added them to beehives for the bees to build honeycomb on. The bees used strategies like merging cells together, tilting the cells at an angle or layering them on top of one another to build usable honeycomb.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

Normally, the bees like to make nearly perfect hexagonal cells, but when they build on odd surfaces, the cells get more irregular and harder for the bees to use.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

We know the basics of how bees build their hives—they use wax to build the honeycomb where they store food and raise their young—but we don't know as much about how they strategize and work with one another to build honeycomb.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

Hey #Boulder. What goes on inside the hive mind of honeybees? How do they collaborate to solve problems? In my latest story for @colorado.edu, I spoke with Profs. Orit Peleg and Francisco López Jiménez about how bees build hives on tricky building sites. www.colorado.edu/today/2025/0...

colorado.edu

Construction secrets of honeybees: Study reveals how bees build hives in tricky spots

In a new study, CU researchers found that honeybees used adaptive strategies to build stable, usable honeycomb on irregular and imperfect surfaces.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

The new algorithms Lahijanian designs can help robots assess a situation and choose safer actions that still try to complete their task, but are less likely to be harmful.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

The problem is that people are unpredictable, and robots don't always know how to handle the unexpected situations that arise. This can be incredibly dangerous.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

Robots and humans can complete many types of tasks together in manufacturing, health care and other settings. The robots are specialized to do certain tasks very well, but there are some areas (e.g. anything that's more complex or needs more dexterity) where humans still have the upper hand.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

Happy Thursday, #Boulder. For my latest story I got to speak with Morteza Lahijanian in @colorado.edu's Aerospace Engineering department about how robots can make safer decisions when they're working with humans. www.colorado.edu/today/2025/0...

colorado.edu

Robot regret: New research helps robots make safer decisions around humans

CU Boulder aerospace engineer Morteza Lahijanian is creating new algorithms that help robots complete tasks while keeping the humans in their midst safer.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

In fact, on the day I went to her lab, I saw small polyps—baby jellyfish the size of a pinhead whose tentacles are just beginning to form—lining the inside of Xu’s jellyfish tanks.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Thankfully, this work also doesn't seem to harm the jellies. Stressed moon jellies may secrete extra mucus, and they often stop reproducing. But Xu says her jellies have not shown these signs.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

These 'cyborg jellies' could make certain types of ocean research much easier and help us track the impact of climate change. Xu also feels the jellies could inspire designs for next-gen underwater vehicles.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

“Think of our device like a pacemaker on the heart,” she said. “We're stimulating the swim muscle by causing contractions and turning the animals toward a certain direction.”

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

With these devices, researchers will be able to steer the jellies toward remote ocean areas that are hard to access in any other way. Eventually, Xu plans to add sensors to the devices that can gather critical data on temperature, pH and other environmental characteristics.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Moon jellies are the most energy-efficient animal on the planet, and Xu has found a way to harness their natural swimming abilities. She fits the jellies with microelectronic devices that activate key swimming muscles.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

#Boulder, here's a fun Thursday read for you all...I spoke to researcher Nicole Xu with @colorado.edu's Mechanical Engineering department about the fascinating work she is doing with 'cyborg jellyfish'. www.colorado.edu/today/2025/0...

colorado.edu

‘Cyborg jellyfish’ could aid in deep-sea research, inspire next-gen underwater vehicles

CU Boulder engineer Nicole Xu fits moon jellyfish with microelectronic devices that enhance their natural swimming ability and will one day be able to gather

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Her software could accelerate technological advancement by saving microchip designers months, if not years, of time they previously had to spend developing and testing their designs.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Neogi, who specializes in nanoscale semiconductors (which are so tiny their parts are measured in nanometers, or billionths of a meter), developed a software that can test microchip designs at the atomic level and predict if they will fail from overheating.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Overheating hurts the microchips' performance and can damage them. While smaller chips are denser and more efficient at processing, they are harder to keep cool because of their size.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Semiconductors—substances that can selectively conduct or block electricity—are the building blocks of the chips that power all kinds of electronic devices from laptops to smartphones and tablets to sports watches. But they are prone to overheating.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Hi #Boulder folks! I've been quiet for a while but I've been working hard on more science stories. Here's a new one published yesterday about a new quantum and AI-powered microchip design software created by #CUBoulder engineering prof Sanghamitra Neogi. www.colorado.edu/today/2025/0...

colorado.edu

New quantum physics and AI-powered microchip design software awarded grants

Sanghamitra Neogi in CU Boulder’s aerospace engineering department will use $200,000 in grant funding to launch a startup in which she will offer software that

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Blood flow information isn't currently being used in clinical practice, but it could help health care providers personalize how they surgically implant and monitor LVADs in their patients. They might also be able to anticipate their patients’ level of risk.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

The researchers studied LVAD patients who did and didn't have strokes after the devices were implanted. They found differences in blood flow patterns between the patients who had strokes and those who did not. The LVADs themselves also change the way blood flows in the body.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Left ventricular assist devices, or LVADs, are a common treatment for people with severe heart failure. They assist the heart with pumping blood and can be lifesaving, but they come with an increased risk of stroke.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

#Boulder folks, for my latest story, I interviewed CU engineering prof Debanjan Mukherjee. He was part of a research team that looked at hemodynamics (blood flow patterns) in heart failure patients with left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) implanted. www.colorado.edu/today/node/5...

colorado.edu

A common heart failure treatment comes with high risk of stroke. But a new discovery could make it safer

Studying patient blood flow patterns could help determine who’s at risk of dangerous side effects from left ventricular assist devices and lead to improvements

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

There are also wildfire hardening policies and regulations local governments can explore (which I know #Boulder is doing right now). But bottom line is, there are individual and collective actions we can be taking to reduce our wildfire risk.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

The density of homes made a big difference, and having a neighborhood design that allowed easy firefighter access was also crucial.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

The researchers found multiple answers to that question. It was partly due to the materials some homes were built with and the landscaping/vegetation nearby. But how neighborhoods were laid out also mattered.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Hey #Boulder folks, I am excited to share that my first-ever published story for @colorado.edu is live! Researchers from Oregon State U and CU Boulder teamed up to study why some homes and neighborhoods survived the Marshall Fire -- but others didn't. www.colorado.edu/today/2025/0...

colorado.edu

What makes some homes, neighborhoods more likely to survive wildfire? New research offers insight

A study of the 2021 Marshall Fire in Boulder County shows that community policies are as important, if not more so, than homeowner actions.

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

I'm excited to dive in and tell stories about how researchers are discovering solutions to the problems of our time (and also geek out a bit about science stuff). I feel like we could all use more positive news right now and I can't wait to contribute to that!

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Amber Carlson @aecarlson.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

#Boulder folks, I am stoked to announce I started a new job this week as a science writer at @colorado.edu! I'll be writing stories for CU Boulder Today about new research and innovations from CU's College of Engineering and Applied Science.

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