University of Arizona in the News

University of Arizona associate professor of psychology Mary Frances O'Connor discusses how Artificial Intelligence can be used to help people through periods of grief.

A new report concludes academic libraries are uniquely situated to help colleges reach their diversity, equity and inclusion goals based on how they curate their collections. However, diversifying academic libraries is not solely about expanding collections, according to the report. Librarians should also re-frame and improve access to existing materials. For example, the University of Arizona improved access to special materials it already owned, a collection of manuscripts related to the state's Indigenous population.

Pediatric hospitals remain under intense pressure in Canada amid a resurgence of childhood respiratory viruses, ongoing shortages of children's pain medication, and the return of the annual flu season. Across the country, respiratory syncytial virus infections are above expected levels for this time of year and keep increasing, federal data shows. Influenza is also spreading widely, and earlier than usual.

No gene variant poses a bigger risk for developing Alzheimer's disease than APOE4. New research reveals a link to faulty cholesterol processing in the brain, which in turn leads to defects in the insulating sheaths that surround nerve fibers and facilitate their electrical activity. Preliminary results hint that these changes could cause memory and learning deficits. And the work suggests that drugs that restore the brain's cholesterol processing could treat the disease.

Increased inclusion of Indigenous people in the the Southwest's water management policies will likely prove beneficial for Arizona and other states in the Colorado Basin. "Everybody's realizing that we're all at risk," said Sharon Megdal, director of the University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center. "If Lake Mead goes down to dead pool, and water can't flow, it doesn't matter what the priority of the Yuma farmers is. It doesn't matter what the priority of the Imperial Irrigation District farmers is. We're all in this together.

Seth Asare Okyere, a visiting assistant professor in the University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, writes that social innovation helped people in Ghana solve many challenges.

New research claims at least 50 turtle species vocalize, along with several other types of cold-blooded vertebrates previously assumed to be silent. However, establishing that the sounds are actually meaningful communication will require more research according to University of Arizona professor of ecology and evolutionary biology John Wiens.

Last month, three scientists won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work proving one of the most counterintuitive yet consequential realities of the quantum world. They showed that two entangled quantum particles must be considered a single system – their states inexorably intertwined with each other – even if the particles are separated by great distances. In results published in August, another group of researchers used lasers and a special type of crystal to entangle three photons hundreds of meters apart.

The natural rubber alternative guayule is becoming a popular drought-tolerant crop. "Guayule is a wonderful alternative, because it's not a crop that will die if you fail to water it a couple of days late, or even a couple of weeks late, or in some cases a couple of months late," said University of Arizona professor of entomology Peter Ellsworth, an integrated pest management specialist. "So it makes it uniquely adapted to our production region."

Nearly 800 University of Arizona students attended an event at Centennial Hall Tuesday night to listen to researchers and identical twins Lexi and Lindsay Kite speak about dismantling self-objectification and developing a positive body image that focuses on more than appearance. "Body positivity can be kind of problematic from the research perspective. When you're telling women to love their bodies ...