Research

Ever wonder what gives a forest its pine-fresh scent? The answer is the molecular compound pinene, naturally released by plants. A new study explores how and under what conditions plants emit pinene and other volatile organic compounds into the atmosphere. The results may help scientists detect when an ecosystem is in distress.

University of Arizona students and faculty members completed a comprehensive study to track and characterize satellites, using a ground-based sensor they developed to measure satellites' brightness, speed and paths through the sky.

Analyses based on locations and viral sequencing of early cases indicate the COVID-19 pandemic started in Wuhan's Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, with two separate jumps from animals to humans.

Before-and-after data from the few seconds it took the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to collect a sample from asteroid Bennu revealed a surprise: The particles of Bennu's exterior are so loosely packed, they act more like a fluid than a solid.

A concept developed by UArizona aerospace experts and a NASA planetary scientist takes inspiration from albatross flight to learn more about the Red Planet's atmosphere and geology.