University of Arizona in the News

The change to college is stressful for most students. Those with concerns should tap into resources before they even set foot on campus. Jaiden Singh, 20, a rising junior at the University of Arizona who struggles with academic-related stress and anxiety, is a good example of someone who did the necessary prep work before he landed on campus.

Unlike summer 2020 – when researchers believed that it was unlikely someone could get the coronavirus twice – so-called re-infections are considered to be the "new normal." Deepta Bhattacharya, associate professor of immunobiology at the University of Arizona who previously co-authored a paper in 2020 that suggested that immunity to COVID-19 lasts "at least several months after SARS-CoV-2 infection," said the answer to how many times a person can get reinfected will depend on how the virus keeps mutating.

The rising number of satellites in Earth orbit means astronomers are having to contend with increasingly cluttered skies. Now a tracking device – a small sensor fitted with a camera lens – built by researchers from the University of Arizona will warn astronomers of particularly bright satellites, affording them time to avert their telescopic eyes. "Until now, most photometric – or brightness – observations that were available were done by naked eye," said lead researcher Grace Halferty, an aerospace and mechanical engineering student.

Asteroid Bennu, the target of NASA's OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission led by the University of Arizona, kept surprising the mission team while the spacecraft studied the asteroid from a distance. The biggest surprise, however, came when OSIRIS-REx swooped in to grab a sample of material from Bennu and encountered not a solid surface but one that gave way so easily the sampler arm sank 1 1/2 feet into it within seconds.

An international team of researchers has confirmed that live animals sold at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, were the likely source of the COVID-19 pandemic that has claimed 6.4 million lives since it began nearly three years ago. Led by University of Arizona virus evolution expert Michael Worobey, researchers traced the start of the pandemic to the market in Wuhan, where foxes, raccoon dogs and other live mammals susceptible to the virus were sold immediately before the pandemic began.

During Tuesday's sentencing proceedings for Nikolas Cruz, the convicted shooter in the Valentine's Day 2018 massacre at a high school in Parkland, Florida, the defense attorneys were seen crying during the testimony of Fred Guttenberg, the father of a 14-year-old girl killed in the mass shooting. It's rare for attorneys to cry in the courtroom – especially "based on something the other side has said," said Keith Swisher, a professor of legal ethics at the University of Arizona's James E. Rogers College of Law.

Their American Planning Association report published this year explores strategies for curbing urban heat islands – zones that are hotter than outlying areas – and urges paying more attention to heat equity. Ladd Keith, an assistant professor in the School of Landscape Architecture and Planning at the University of Arizona, is interviewed about heat equity, projects to watch and how cooperation is key to heat resilience.

An analysis of floods or droughts that hit the same place twice shows that using risk management alone does not reduce the effect of extreme events. Beth Tellman, an assistant professor in the School of Geography, Development and Environment in the University of Arizona, writes that addressing the social drivers of hazard impact and equitably is essential.

A little less than a month after NASA released its first images from the James Webb Space Telescope, the agency has unveiled new images showing a far-off galaxy in the shape of a wheel. The so-named Cartwheel Galaxy shows a ring in the center and outer perimeter made of stars, with strands that look like spokes made of more stellar masses and dust. Tools developed by University of Arizona were able to see in the infrared light.

Mary-Frances O'Connor is a neuroscientist at the University of Arizona, where she researches the psychological and physiological costs of grief. In her recent book, "The Grieving Brain," O'Connor uses insights from bereavement science to recast grieving as an immensely difficult learning problem. An adaptation from her book reveals how our loved ones are intricately incorporated into the brain's mapping of the world, and what happens to brain maps over time as people learn to live a meaningful life after a loved one is gone.