This week on New Mexico in Focus, a look behind the push to make New Mexico a dumping ground for nuclear waste from around the country. Environment reporter Laura Paskus talks with a New Mexico Senator who’s working to keep the private company, Holtec,...

The University of New Mexico was recently declared a First-generation Forward Institution by the Center for First-gen Student Success. The designation recognizes institutions of higher education who have demonstrated a commitment to improving experiences...

a typical bridge over a raging stream carrying snowmelt from the Himilayan highlands. The stream is cutting through a thick travertine deposit formed from geothermal springs along this stretch of the river. Spring access points and river crossings are heavily decorated with traditional Tibetan prayer flags all across the Tibetan Plateau

sampling gases on the Tibetan Plateau. Note funnel placed over the bubbling gases emerging from the geothermal pool. 

measuring temperature and salinity in the boiling geothermal waters. 

 used for sampling steaming gas from geothermal outlets. 

spring deposits in outflow pools. The emergent regions cool enough that green-colored microbial films can form. Note boiling water in the back right. 

Carmen Winn sampling geothermal area on the Tibetan Plateau. Steam rises from the boiling geothermal waters. 

Klemperer, left, and UNM PI Laura Crossey examine a small boiling geothermal pool in a large outflow channel. 

The Himalayan Mountains and the Tibetan Plateau, the largest and highest geologic structures in the world, started forming some 50 million years ago through the crashing and colliding of the Asian and Indian continental plates. The Tibetan Plateau is a...