What makes you curious?

Have you ever wondered how long a tardigrade would live on Mars?

Or could a fungus clean up our planet?

Would humanity as we know it exist without alcohol?

What innovations are most likely to help us through the Colorado River water crisis?

Would you rather learn how prosthetic limbs communicate with the brain or what kind of disaster might actually kill the earth’s cockroaches? 

Maybe your interests lean more toward esports and video game applications for education, how an mRNA vaccine really works or what would physically happen to you while approaching lightspeed?

Fortunately for students at Colorado State University, an entire research university is at our fingertips. We sit on a campus of world-renowned scientists who are highly likely to answer our emails, allow us to tour their labs and share unpublished updates on their discoveries. 

Curiosity — combined with the persistence and tenacity of a campus evangelist — is a sure way to unearth new ideas and unlock solutions that have never been tried. 

Ask the most resourceful people your most bizarre questions, and simply watch the chaotic energy manifest creativity and new life.

We have more questions than we give ourselves credit for. And we’re more capable of finding answers here than most other places.

Does CSU research the migration patterns of European swallows?

Well, no, but we do know about the reproductive behavior of the island scrub jay. 

OK, maybe sometimes we look for explanations in all the wrong places or we fail to understand the value of what we learn. But that’s why we do better together — that’s why we include community in our quest for novelty and problem-solving.

Our team is going to learn from organizations and scientists all over campus and Northern Colorado. We are going to ask outlandish questions and then report what we discover.

Share your curiosities with us. Challenge us to investigate difficult subjects, and ask bizarre questions. Tell us about the lab you work in or the way that you want to change the world through research.

If you are interested in a topic, lab or researcher or if you have a theory to challenge or an idea to explore, then we want to know.

My hope for this desk is that we all learn together while celebrating the science heroes who fight alongside us for parking spaces every single semester. 

Thank you for your curiosity, your support of student research and your time spent wondering.

Jenn Dawson

Send your ideas and questions to jdawson@collegian.com. I am excited to hear from you!