University of Arizona in the News

Robert Glennon, Regents Professor and Morris K. Udall Professor of Law and Public Policy at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, writes that climate stresses are raising the stakes for interstate water disputes.

Mordecai I. Brownlee, the vice president of student success at St. Philip's College in San Antonio, Texas, writes that through institutional commitment like that of model institutions such as the University of Arizona, Hispanic Serving Institutions will be best positioned to realize student success and help their students achieve the dream of economic mobility.

Migrants trekking across the Arizona borderlands have died at higher rates in the past two decades since stepped up enforcement began funneling them into remote, hostile desert and mountain regions, a sweeping new analysis concluded Monday. The report by the University of Arizona Binational Migration Institute provides a multidiscipline look at migrant border death investigations in Arizona over 30 years.

In a first-of-its-kind coalition to accelerate climate change action, and with help from University of Arizona researchers, a new nonprofit organization called Carbon Mapper is launching a program to improve scientific understanding of global methane and carbon dioxide emissions.

As more Americans are vaccinated against COVID-19, reunions among loved ones are becoming increasingly frequent and, for many, hugging is the main event. Most humans crave physical touch from friends and family and feel they need it to maintain their close relationships, experts say. Hugs are a way of saying hello, offering support, asking for love, sharing joy and communicating emotions that may not be neatly translated into words.

Roughly 75% independents still lean toward one of the two major political parties, and studies show that these voters aren't all that different from the voters in the party they lean toward. Independents who lean toward a party also tend to back that party at almost the same rate as openly partisan voters.

When the pandemic hit, many Americans turned to vitamins and supplements in hopes of boosting their immune systems. Scientists also raced to study them. Vitamin D, perhaps more than any other, captured the attention of researchers. There are now quite a few observational studies and large reviews of the available evidence that show low vitamin D levels are associated with higher risks of contracting COVID-19 or with becoming seriously ill. "What is clear from a number of studies is that there's a strong relationship in terms of your levels prior to infection," says Dr.

Venomous snake bites are responsible for 138,000 deaths every year around the world. Experts are exploring some disarmingly simple interventions help to save lives. "Snake bites are a far bigger problem than many people realize," said Leslie Boyer, founding director of the Venom Immunochemistry, Pharmacology and Emergency Response Institute at the University of Arizona.

A group of climate scientists who are mothers are using their scientific and maternal experiences to help demystify climate change and bring scientific facts into homes across the country. JoellenRussell, a member of Science Moms and climate scientist at the University of Arizona, said the group is focusing on providing simple, straightforward information that breaks down climate change science into a more digestible size.

COVID-19 vaccines will likely provide at least some degree of protection for a long time because there are so many layers of immunity, said Deepta Bhattacharya, an associate professor of immunobiology at the University of Arizona. The first shots of the two-shot Pfizer and Moderna vaccines provide reasonable protection. Then the second shot bumps up the level of antibodies and T cells produced by the body, he said. T cells are white blood cells that destroy cells infected by viruses. There's "a lot of room to decline and still be protected," he said.