University of Arizona in the News

With climate change and long-term drought continuing to take a toll on the Colorado River, the federal government on Monday for the first time declared a water shortage at Lake Mead, one of the river’s main reservoirs. Sharon B. Megdal, director of the Water Resources Research Center at the University of Arizona, said she thought the declaration's focus on the dire state of the river would lead to more efforts in the region to use less water. "I think we're going to see some adaptation," she said.

Robert Glennon, Regents Professor and Morris K. Udall Professor of Law and Public Policy at the University of Arizona, writes that the first-ever water shortage declaration for the Colorado River won't halt growth in the affected states – but growth can no longer be uncontrolled. Increasing water supply is no longer a viable option, so Glennon argues that states must turn to reducing demand.

Kory Floyd, a professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Arizona, writes that people have suffered "touch hunger" during the pandemic – a colloquial term for what social scientists call "affection deprivation," a state in which individuals want or need more affection than they receive.

Delaney Schnell holds the distinction of being a Pac-12 champion, three-time All-American and the Arizona Wildcats' school record-holder in the platform dive. On July 27, Schnell and teammate Jessica Parratto earned the silver medal in the women’s synchronized diving 10-meter platform competition to mark the first time the United States has finished on the podium in that event.

The highly awaited James Webb Space Telescope is set to break new ground in many areas of astronomical research. Marcia Rieke, an infrared astronomer at University of Arizona and the principal investigator of one of Webb's infrared cameras, is interviewed.

Saturn's icy rings are not just aesthetically wondrous marvels. One of them also records a beautiful planetary soundtrack. Using data from the Cassini mission that ended in 2017, scientists have listened to and deconstructed a variety of symphonies in Saturn's C ring over the years. Mark Marley, a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona and an early trailblazer of kronoseismology who was not involved with the work, is quoted.

The University of Arizona has again contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, with paleoclimatologist Jessica Tierney helping pen much of the section on drought and aridity.

Indigenous communities in the U.S. experience a disproportionately higher burden of disease and lower life expectancy than most Americans. Studies cite higher poverty rates, challenging social conditions, mistrust in the delivery of health services and a history of exclusion from clinical research as factors that contribute to these disparities. At the University of Arizona Health Sciences, educators and researchers are working to change this legacy and decrease health disparities within Native American communities by introducing Native students to biomedical research.

Analogies, metaphors, similes, and the like are evocative and memorable. They transform the abstract into the concrete. And they very often work, especially when used to depict a virus or an infection, which are almost entirely unseen. But experts say a lot of the ideas we link to COVID-19 vaccines don't totally hit the mark. Michael D. L. Johnson, an immunologist at the University of Arizona, has been working to equip friends, colleagues and family members with the skills to detect and avoid misinformation.

Arizona residents are noting an uptick in insects such as moths and flies recently. The influx is likely a result of the state’s monsoon and ample food sources. The typical Arizona monsoon running from summer through September brings moisture, rains and winds. "Last year the conditions were so harsh. It was very dry; it was very hot. We didn't see great numbers of insects the last couple of years," said Gene Hall, manager of the University of Arizona Insect Collection.