University of Arizona in the News

University of Arizona assistant professor of management information systems Laura Brandimarte and a colleague write that research evidence refutes the notion that privacy is a recent invention. While privacy rights or values may be modern notions, examples of privacy norms and privacy-seeking behaviors abound across cultures throughout human history and across geography.

The University of Arizona's newly formed Aegis Consortium seeks to partner with experts across disciplines to create a pandemic-free future. Areas of research will include how to use technology to adapt familiar spaces and modify everyday, routine tasks to ensure greater safety and public health. "We have expertise in smart and adaptive homes ... so that it promotes function. And that can include sensors and prompts, flexible furniture, acoustics," said Mindy Fain, co-director of the University of Arizona Center on Aging.

Researchers at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory confirm a hefty chunk of space junk expected to meet a fiery end on the far side of the Moon turns out to be a rocket booster from a Chinese mission in October 2014.

The coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech is much less effective in preventing infection in children ages 5 to 11 years than in older adolescents or adults, according to a large new set of data collected by health officials in New York State – a finding that has deep ramifications for these children and their parents.

Scientists released a pair of extensive studies on Saturday that point to a market in Wuhan, China, as the origin of the coronavirus pandemic. "When you look at all of the evidence together, it’s an extraordinarily clear picture that the pandemic started at the Huanan market," said Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona and a co-author of both studies.

A study published in the journal Science this month used new technologies, including a fleet of methane-detecting satellites, to estimate that as much as 12% of global methane emissions is caused by a relatively small number of ultra-emitting events, usually when fossil fuel operators release natural gas. A sizable portion of those emissions comes from Texas. The study was conducted by a team of researchers from four institutions in France and three universities in the American West, including the University of Arizona.

University of Arizona Health Sciences researchers suggest the risk of developing dementia after a stroke might be reduced by a drug that could help immune cells process the cholesterol-rich debris generated by a stroke.

The University of Arizona will be able to support more students – especially those who are Hispanic or from low-income households – studying science, technology, engineering and math, thanks to a nearly $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

As states across the country are lifting COVID-19 precautions such as mask mandates and some churches have dropped online services, the immunocompromised are weighing their risk of possible exposure in worship services. And some are finding their fellow parishioners and church leaders aren't taking measures to protect them. Those who are immunocompromised are not a monolith and experience different degrees of immunosuppression that could impact their response to the virus, said Deepta Bhattacharya, an immunologist at the University of Arizona.

Jason Denno, interim department head of the Cyber, Intelligence and Information Operations program at the University of Arizona College of Applied Sciences and Technology, discusses how the program has established itself as an educational powerhouse that is producing the next generation of top-level cyber professionals.