University of Arizona in the News

More Americans are getting the COVID-19 vaccine, but a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that 32% of people in the United States remain unlikely to get vaccinated against the virus. While the issue of vaccine resistance has taken on new urgency and is receiving many more headlines because of the pandemic, hesitancy about inoculations is nothing new. In fact, the sentiment is not only as old as the republic itself, but older.

Shell beads recovered from a cave in western Morocco suggest humans' use of jewelry may go back much farther than previously thought. A study published in the journal Science Advances by a team of archaeologists led by University of Arizona professor Steven L. Kuhn estimates the beads to be between 142,000 and 150,000 years old.

Traditional ways of attracting and enrolling students had been slowly evolving overtime, and then the pandemic hit. On this podcast episode, Kasey Urquidez, vice president for enrollment management and dean of undergraduate admission at the University of Arizona, talks about new approaches to enrollment management that meet the demands and expectations of modern learners. 

A team led by University of Arizona planetary sciences researchers Ben Sharkey and associate professor Vishnu Reddy determined a near-Earth asteroid might actually be a fragment of the moon ejected into space during a meteor impact. First discovered in 2016, the quasi-satellite (a near-Earth asteroid that orbits the sun close to Earth) reflects light in a pattern that matches lunar surface minerals and lunar rocks collected during NASA's Apollo missions.

University of Arizona researchers Brian Mayer, Melissa A. Barnett, Mona Arora, and Sabrina V. Helm write that with the arrival of the fall and winter holidays, consumers are understandably desperate for a "normal" season. For many, that includes big family dinners and Black Friday shopping sprees. But many grocery store workers have experienced high rates of anxiety and depression during the pandemic.

A team of University of Arizona researchers has developed an ultra-thin wireless device that grows to the surface of bone and could someday help physicians monitor bone health and healing over long periods. The devices, called osseosurface electronics, are described in a paper published in Nature Communications.

The $324 million Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, mission got under way early Wednesday, when NASA launched a space probe designed to deflect a distant asteroid in a test of technology that might one day save the world. University of Arizona astronomer and project leader Amy Mainzer discusses the possibility of whether an undetected asteroid could damage the planet. "While this is not something that is very likely to happen, it is not something we want to completely ignore either. This is designed to find near-Earth asteroids large enough to cause regional damage.

While Thanksgiving will be a time to gather again this year for many people,thanks to COVID-19 vaccines, it may for other people be the start of a difficult holiday season. Some people may be home alone on Thanksgiving by choice, following safety guidelines, while other families will be missing loved ones at the Thanksgiving table who are hospitalized with COVID-19 or who have passed away from the virus over the past nearly two years.

Turning your camera off during virtual meetings can help reduce "Zoom fatigue," suggests new research by Allison Gabriel, McClelland Professor of Management and Organizations and University Distinguished Scholar in the University of Arizona Eller College of Management.

NASA is preparing to conduct the world's first planetary defense test mission. Amy Mainzer, principle investigator on the Surveyor team, said it should be able to spot a 460-foot asteroid from at least 50 million miles away.