University of Arizona in the News

Last week's heat wave – when temperatures reached as high as 118 degrees in Phoenix – was one for the books, but according to weather experts and researchers, it's still unclear what it means for the rest of the summer. Gregg Garfin, director of the Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center at the University of Arizona, said the monsoon season is approaching, which typically cools down the Southwest. "There's a so-called organized complex of thunderstorms in northern Sonora, which is a good indication that the monsoon is heading our way," Garfin said.

Michael A. Crimmins, a professor and extension specialist in the Department of Environmental Science at the University of Arizona, writes that extreme heat is an increasing threat in the Southwest and will require both mitigating the causes of climate change and long-term adaptation strategies to protect the people, ecosystems and natural resources in the region.

Researchers at the University of Arizona will be launching a study of how prone Hispanic children are to asthma in Tucson compared with their peers on the other side of the U.S.-Mexico border in Nogales, Sonora.

Chief executives have signed countless statements in support of social causes over the last few years. Experts discuss whether they make a difference. Nooshin Warren, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Arizona, anticipates seeing even more of these public statements. The more consumers come to expect businesses to weigh in on issues that matter to them, the more investors will see such activism as an extension of company interests and not a diversion from them.

Record-breaking temperatures in the American West this week are a weather emergency, scientists and health care experts say, with heat responsible for more deaths in the U.S. than all other natural disasters combined. Joellen Russell, a climate science professor at the University of Arizona, said the Southwest is an early example of what will hit the rest of the nation later when it comes to the dangers of heat extremes caused by global warming.

Triatomine bugs, commonly known as kissing bugs, are vectors for a dangerous parasite that can cause a debilitating illness in humans called Chagas disease. If left untreated, the infectious disease can become lifelong and painful, and in some cases lead to death.

In the film "Quantum of Solace," Daniel Craig's second film in the James Bond canon, businessman-villain Dominic Greene (played by Mathieu Amalric) is not after oil or diamonds. Instead, Greene is conspiring with coup-craving General Medrano in exchange for one simple gift: Bolivia's water. "What happens with climate change is that there's less precipitation in most of the western mountains," said Robert Glennon, a Regents Professor at the University of Arizona James E.

Dogs may have earned the title "man's best friend" because of how good they are at interacting with people. Those social skills may be present shortly after birth rather than learned, a new study by University of Arizona researchers suggests.

Most of the country's schools and day cares are preparing to reopen this fall for fully in-person instruction and care. Experts discuss the basic rules around masks, social distancing and vaccinations. "Anyone can refuse to answer the question, but they should be prepared to be treated as if they are unvaccinated," writes Sarah Whitley Coles, a University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix professor, in Dear Pandemic, a website and newsletter that offers family-friendly medical advice.

Dogs may have earned the title "man's best friend" because of how good they are at interacting with people. Those social skills may be present shortly after birth rather than learned, a new study by University of Arizona researchers suggests.