University of Arizona in the News

University of Arizona associate research professor of environment and natural resources Molly Hunter explains what is fueling extreme fire conditions in the Western U.S. and why risky seasons like this are becoming more common.

Young children who transition to a new gender with social changes – taking on new names, pronouns, haircuts and clothing – overwhelmingly continue identifying as that gender five years later, according to a first-of-its-kind report published May 4 by the Trans Youth Project. Just 2.5 percent of the group had reverted to identifying as the gender they were assigned at birth.

This column examining the elusive nature of "herd immunity" to COVID-19 in the United States quotes University of Arizona immunologist Deepta Bhattacharya. He said there is a "'mosaic of immunity,' with plenty of vulnerable cracks and crevices into which the coronavirus will still seep."

Linda Paola Varela, a student in the University of Arizona's School of Theatre, Film and Television, writes about her experiences writing and directing "I'm Just Trying to Help," which screened at this year's "I Dream in Widescreen" festival.

Venomics – the study of venom – has led to several important drug discoveries. "A century ago we thought venom had three or four components, and now we know just one type of venom can have thousands," said Leslie V. Boyer, a professor emeritus of pathology at the University of Arizona. "Things are accelerating because a small number of very good laboratories have been pumping out information that everyone else can now use to make discoveries."

A University of Arizona tree-ring expert is closer than ever to pinning down the date of the infamous eruption of the volcano Thera – a goal she has pursued for decades. Charlotte Pearson, an associate professor in the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, is lead author of a new paper that narrows down the date to just a handful of possibilities: 1611 B.C., 1562-1555 B.C. and 1538 B.C.

University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins and Oklahoma State University President Kayse Shrum announced the two institutions' academic medical centers have joined forces to combat the opioid crisis and chronic pain through research, treatment and education.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston this week agreed to return a bust of the Roman emperor Maximianus Herculius believed to have been looted during the second world war to the Italian government. MFA researchers conducted an internal review of the sculpture's provenance after University of Arizona professor Irene Bald Romano, an antiquities expert, identified it while conducting research on items stolen from a dig site in central Italy during the Nazi era.

The University of Arizona's Indigenous Resilience Center supports Indigenous students, staff and faculty by creating a hub for tribal resilience solutions, scholarships, tribal outreach and teaching. Karletta Chief, director of the IRC and an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Science at the University of Arizona, discusses the center's work around water and addressing the needs of the Navajo people.

Experts discuss the explosive start of fire season in the southwestern U.S. – an indication of what's to come in the warming months. Once confined to specific times of year, wildfire conditions are stretching across more months, and will likely continue until the region gets additional rain."Climate change is taking a situation that would be bad for us normally and turning the dial up," said Gregg Garfin, a climatologist at the University of Arizona.