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5280 | February 2022

Family Time, Reinvented Download PDF

Schools closed for COVID-19 on Friday, March 13, 2020. “Enjoy an extended spring break,” the official district email communiqué advised us. With the weekend upon us, my wife, an attorney, and I didn’t grasp the implications until Monday. I had two impending writing deadlines, and she was steeped in litigation matters. What at first had seemed like a rare gift—bonus hours with our kids—quickly morphed into what felt like a theft of time. How could we possibly work a normal day with our kids at home? Because COVID-19 had vaporized our childcare, we resorted to iPads as babysitters. While the kids binged on ninja anime and Dude Perfect, I slammed through my assignments. A week later, I got COVID-19. Continue reading →

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September 26, 2020 by Michael Behar

5280 | September 2020

Operation Dust Bowl Download PDF

How Hugh Bennett saved Colorado—and the nation—from one of the worst environmental disasters in human history.

On Friday, April 19, 1935, Hugh Bennett entered Room 333 in a U.S. Senate office building in Washington, D.C., and seated himself at a conference table alongside members of the congressional subcommittee for public lands and surveys. Bennett, 54, directed the Soil Erosion Service, a division established by the U.S. Department of the Interior two years earlier, and he’d been invited to testify about the erosion problem on American farms. While the senators present knew about the dust raking the High Plains—including all of southeastern Colorado—they considered the issue a localized nuisance. Congress had been deliberating House Resolution 7054, which would fund a national soil conservation service, managed under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Bennett was there to tell the senators why the resolution needed to pass immediately. Continue reading →

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September 22, 2020 by Michael Behar

Air & Space | August 2020

Satellite Rescue Download PDF

New Spacecraft Will Refuel, Refurbish, and Relocate Satellites in Orbit—Maybe Even Wash the Windshields.

On Monday, February 24, 2020, at about 9 p.m. U.S. Eastern time, a robotic spacecraft named MEV-1 is traveling some 22,000 miles above the Pacific Ocean in a geosynchronous orbit. A satellite at that location holds a fixed position over the equator because its speed matches that of Earth’s rotation. At the moment, MEV-1, which stands for Mission Extension Vehicle-1, is in pursuit of its client, a $200 million satellite called IS-901. Continue reading →

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July 23, 2020 by Michael Behar

EATING WELL | JUNE 2020

Cultivating Better Health Download PDF

Just as you have a microbiome, the soil beneath your feet has one too. And promising new research suggests it may have a surprising influence on food and human wellness.

It’s late December in Boulder, Colorado, and I’m on the University of Colorado campus walking toward the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) lab. The native flora here is dormant, in a deep winter slumber, rendering the landscape in monochromatic tans. Almost nothing is growing outdoors. Continue reading →

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October 2, 2019 by Michael Behar

EATING WELL | SEPTEMBER 2019

Down on the Smart Farm Download PDF

Berry-picking robots. Tablet-controlled tractors. Weed-sensing drones. How farms are going high-tech to produce more food and a healthier environment.

Trevor Scherman is getting more rest these days, thanks to his iPad. Scherman is a farmer who grows wheat, peas, canola and lentils near Battleford, Saskatchewan. Like legions of farmers in both Canada and the United States, he uses precision agriculture technology—cutting-edge tools like drones and satellite imagery—to keep a careful watch on his crops. The sensors positioned around Scherman’s farm provide instant feedback on all sorts of conditions that could impact his crops, such as heavy rain or a sudden frost. He also gets digital satellite images of his fields delivered by email. A company called Farmers Edge analyzes the data with sophisticated mathematical algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI). In addition to identifying major issues, the software can even pinpoint a minor weed outbreak or a few acres where plants are withering, problems that large-scale farmers like Scherman likely would have never discovered on their own until they were rampant. Continue reading →

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May 2, 2019 by Michael Behar

5280 | May 2018

The New New New Journalism Download PDF

Can a few small Denver-based digital media organizations remake local news?

On a blustery morning in January, I arrive at 10:30 for an interview with Susan Greene, editor of the Colorado Independent. The digital-only nonprofit news outlet is based in the Denver Open Media center, an unremarkable two-story building not far from the Art District on Santa Fe. A few desks are tucked into a cramped space on the second floor; Greene occupies an adjacent glass-front office, which, at the moment, is empty. Continue reading →

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April 24, 2019 by Michael Behar

Copper Mountain Trip Report | April 3, 2019

[Originally published at OpenSnow.com, April 3, 2019]

Not long after I moved to Colorado in 2006, I began writing for SKI and SKIING magazines, both based in Boulder, where I live. An awesome perk that came with the job was complimentary lift tickets to most Colorado resorts. For a newbie to the state this was optimal, as I wasn’t ready to purchase a pass until I sampled slopes everywhere. On big powder days, my storm-chasing shenanigans often had me blazing down Interstate 70 in my SUV, past Copper Mountain and toward the more renowned resorts (I won’t name names) farther west. Back then, Copper didn’t have much cachet; nobody I knew raved about it, which I construed as “not worth bothering with.”

Continue reading →

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February 22, 2019 by Michael Behar

Virtuoso Life | March/April 2019

Easy Breezy Download PDF

The Dominican Republic’s family-friendly north coast delivers surprises on every shore.

It’s a sweltering August afternoon in the Dominican Republic when I find myself scouring the jungle for passion fruit, or chinola, with my fit, young Dominican guide, Raul Custodio. We’re hiking at a brisk pace in air so humid it feels like syrup, and by the time we reach a broad ridge that pokes above the forest, our clothes are a sopping mess. “No chinola here,” he declares. “Let’s keep going. I know another spot.” Continue reading →

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February 22, 2019 by Michael Behar

Outside | February 15, 2019

Urban Organics Wants to Fix Food Download PDF

Inside a repurposed Twin Cities brewery, a massive aquaponics operation is ready to provide a locavore’s dream: fresh produce and fish, raised indoors every month of the year.

On a cold, breezy morning in March 2017, I found myself shivering in a half-empty parking lot outside the entrance to the century-old Schmidt brewery in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The brick-walled landmark appeared abandoned. Beer hasn’t flowed through its industrial arteries since 2002, when brewing ceased permanently. Its whitewashed grain silos were yellowed and rust-stained; the chimney stack that once billowed fragrant, hops-scented steam had been capped. Continue reading →

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December 8, 2018 by Michael Behar

The Everything Test | December 8, 2018

SomaLogic is not the only company exploring proteomics to fix our broken healthcare system. There are a dozen firms whose endeavors I wasn’t able to include in my feature for The New York Times Sunday magazine. It seems biotech has turned its focus on proteomics—and not a moment too soon. We all know that person who was diagnosed unexpectedly with a serious, even terminal illness, despite appearing perfectly healthy. The tragic stories are commonplace and largely unpreventable when doctors rely on symptoms to diagnose disease. Our approach to health is inherently passive—we wait around to get sick before going to the doctor. I’ve always found this baffling, akin to driving my SUV until its tires are bald, and then continuing onward until the rubber tread disintegrates entirely. Evolution honed our bodies to endure despite impairment—we might feel terrific even when we’re gravely ill. Proteomics aims to make medicine proactive versus reactive, a smarter strategy since many diseases are curable if caught soon enough.

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