University of Arizona in the News

If Deb Haaland is confirmed next month as President Joe Biden's next Interior Secretary, the Democrat New Mexico congresswoman, who took office in 2019, will become not just the most powerful Native American politician in the nation, but also the first one to run a department whose centuries of broken promises and benign neglect has contributed to the slow erosion of Indigenous culture. While running for lieutenant governor, Haaland received an email from a college student who was inspired by seeing a Native American woman aiming for high office.

University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins and Wesley Kremer, president of Raytheon Missiles & Defense, write about the critical role hypersonic weapons and counter-hypersonic capabilities are going to play for our national defense and the importance of investing in our capabilities at the University of Arizona. "During the past 12 months, the Covid pandemic has changed the way we learn and interact with one another and reinforced the importance of investing in our research institutions.

The coronavirus variant that shut down much of the United Kingdom is spreading rapidly across the United States, outcompeting other mutant strains and doubling its prevalence among confirmed infections every week and a half, according to new research made public Sunday. "It is here, it's got its hooks deep into this country, and it's on its way to very quickly becoming the dominant lineage," said Michael Worobey, head of the University of Arizona's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a co-author of the new paper.

Some prominent scientists in a variety of fields say that there are clues that life could have started on Mars. Erik Asphaug, a professor of planetary science at the University of Arizona, is also an outlier, said that what we know about the oldest rocks on Earth tell us that life started "started forming on Earth almost as soon as it was possible for it to happen." If that's the case, it makes for an interesting precedent.

Scientists from Arizona's three public universities are joining forces to analyze test samples to detect dangerous COVID-19 mutations. "The concern, of course, is you get one of these mutations that take hold and there's no vaccine that can protect you," said University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins.

Many people are starting to report that second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine can cause more side-effects than the first dose. "The second time you give a person the shot, those cells are sitting around like a clone army and can immediately start producing a very big immune response, which is what is happening when people feel like they have been kicked in the teeth," said Michael Worobey, head of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona.

In a study of 48 U.S. urban areas, researchers found that the average city had underreported its carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 20%. But in some cases, the report was more than 100% off. "You can imagine in something as large as a major urban area, there are literally hundreds of emission sectors," said Riley Duren, a carbon monitoring expert at the University of Arizona and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

As America faces the potential for catastrophic coronavirus spikes fueled by highly infectious variants, public health authorities remain wary of imposing the stricter measures adopted by other nations. Instead, they continue to embrace a stick-to-the-basics strategy: Wear a mask, maybe even two. Avoid crowds. And get vaccinated — fast. Colleges and universities across the country are on high alert for the viral variants as they begin the spring term. "Obviously any kind of mutation of this virus is very disturbing and problematic," said University of Arizona President Robert C.

Michael Worobey, head of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona who studies the evolution of flu viruses, is interviewed about COVID-19 variants and exactly how concerned people should be.

From practicing mindfulness to spending time outdoors, experts offer some tips for overcoming what some are calling "pandemic fatigue" and avoiding burnout. David Sbarra, a professor of psychology at the University of Arizona, is interviewed.