University of Arizona in the News

The Federal Transit Administration last year awarded $375 million to help build bus rapid transit, or BRT, lines. There are indications that BRT lines can promote some of the density long associated with rail routes. A new analysis of job and residential growth by researchers at the University of Arizona examined areas around BRT stations in 11 cities between 2013 and 2019. In each case, they found areas close to the stations accounted for a significant share of regional growth.

As coronavirus cases once again rise in the U.S., experts say breakthrough cases will also go up, but that doesn't mean the vaccines aren't working. "It may be that for the vast majority of vaccinated people who get infected, they just don't make enough virus to infect another person," said Dr. Janko Nikolich-Žugich, an immunologist and professor of medicine at the University of Arizona.

Heatwaves are becoming more frequent across the world as climate change accelerates, and cities are particularly vulnerable. Architects and city planners are trying to adapt to the new reality. In cases where air conditioning is necessary, Ladd Keith, a professor at the University of Arizona, recommends setting the thermostat at no lower than 78 degrees to help relieve stress on the electric grid.

Kids develop a sense of their own gender identity around age 18 months to 3 years, says Russ Toomey, chair of the Family Studies and Human Development Program at the University of Arizona. And that sense of gender identity stays mostly constant throughout childhood for both cisgender and transgender children, as shown by a 2019 PNAS study that included nearly 900 kids.

Another large fire season is casting smoke across the country, with conditions ripe for major devastation. But experts say not all fires are bad, and the widespread burning also brings long-term benefits. "These kind of low intensity fires, as we call them, or good fires - they're the fires that we want to regularly clean out the forest of too much fuel," said Valerie Trouet, an associate professor in the University of Arizona's Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research.

As temperatures get hotter and the atmosphere can hold more moisture, experts say that is changing how monsoon storms behave. A study out of the University of Arizona found that now rainstorms happen less often. When the rain does fall, there's more of it all at once. Don Falk, a forest ecologist at the University of Arizona, says a weak or sporadic monsoon means the fire season extends into the hottest months of the year.

Groundwater and streams vital to both farmers and cities are drying up in the West, challenging the future of development. For now, most places are trying to stave off the worst of the drought through conservation instead of shutting off the spigot of growth. State officials say there is still plenty of drinking water and no plans to stop people from moving in and building.

The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, which is known for capturing the first image of a black hole in 2019 and includes researchers from the University of Arizona, has now imaged the heart of another galaxy – Centaurus A – in unprecedented detail.

Back in May, a group of scientists – many at the top of the virology field – shifted the debate about the origins of COVID-19. They published a letter in the journal Science, saying the so-called lab leak theory needs to be taken more seriously by the scientific community. Now one of the scientists who signed that letter says new data have come to light. And that information, summarized in an online review, has changed his thinking.

Two months after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said vaccinated individuals didn't need to wear masks in most settings, a growing number of experts are warning it's time to put them back on. The highest-rated television program in recent weeks has been the NBA Finals, featuring thousands of often mask-free fans crowding indoor arenas in Phoenix and Milwaukee to cheer on the teams – a visual that induced complicated emotions in at least one expert. "I cringe every time I see it," said Dr.