University of Arizona in the News

Chris Impey, Distinguished Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona, writes that even though members of the team behind this new discovery aren't yet certain, they strongly suspect that the background hum of gravitational waves they measured was caused by countless ancient merging events of supermassive black holes.

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope report finding a thread-like arrangement of 10 galaxies that formed just 830 million years after the Big Bang. The 3 million light-year-long structure is anchored by a luminous quasar – a galaxy with an active, supermassive black hole at its core. The team believes the filament will eventually evolve into a massive cluster of galaxies. "I was surprised by how long and how narrow this filament is," said University of Arizona professor of astronomy Xiaohui Fan.

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft remains on schedule for a September rendezvous with Earth to deliver the material it collected from the asteroid Bennu in October 2020. Researchers from the University of Arizona on Tuesday participated in a recovery rehearsal in Colorado. Regents Professor of Planetary Sciences Dante Lauretta, the OSIRIS-REx principal investigator, called the cargo on board a "scientific bonanza," that could potentially reveal secrets about the formation of our solar system, even how life began here on Earth. "I've been poring over origin-of-life research.

Community violence intervention programs are one key avenue for change that's showing promise, said Jennifer Carlson, a sociologist at the University of Arizona studying the politics of firearms in American life.

The University of Arizona received $3 million in federal funding to create Project ADELANTE – Advancing Culturally Responsive Place-Based Educational Opportunities for Latinx Students in the Borderlands – which provides academic support and career readiness programs for Hispanic and low-income students.

Mohammed Hassan, an associate professor of physics and optical sciences at the University of Arizona, writes about his work to develop faster ways to move data, using ultrafast laser pulses in free space and optical fiber.

A compost pile can become too dry without enough water. Ilse Rojas-Hamilton, program manager for Compost Cats within the University of Arizona's Office of Sustainability, explains that where you live plays a role, too. "For example, in the desert in summer when we have (104-degree heat) every day, we do need to water the compost more often."

Several data scientists discuss their best practices for publishing usable, high-quality data. Data should be in an open, non-proprietary file format, says Ellen Bledsoe, who teaches ecological data science at the University of Arizona. Otherwise, they could become unreadable.

As the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft flies by Earth, it will deliver a sample from the asteroid Bennu. After blasting through Earth's atmosphere scientists will collect the capsule from the landing site about 80 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. After the drop-off, OSIRIS-Rex will begin a new mission to study near-Earth asteroid Apophis. On the next leg of its journey, the spacecraft will be called OSIRIS-APEX with a new principal investigator, University of Arizona planetary science professor Daniella DellaGiustina.

Huy Fong Foods last summer announced a shortage of the red chili peppers it uses to make its popular Sriracha hot sauce due to severe drought in Mexico, which curtailed crops and led to water shortages in many towns and cities. The company vowed to avoid a repeat, but Gary Nabhan, an agricultural ecologist and professor emeritus at the University of Arizona, predicts future food supply shortages will almost certainly occur, given the current amount of water used in the United States.