University of Arizona in the News

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft descended to an asteroid Tuesday and, dodging boulders the size of buildings, momentarily touched the surface to collect a handful of cosmic rubble for return to Earth.

On Tuesday, a NASA spacecraft, OSIRIS-REX, will attempt to briefly touch an asteroid, Bennu, and suck up some rocks and dirt.

Fourteen years after its inception and 10 years after NASA officially made it a mission, the UArizona-led OSIRIS-REx mission successfully surpassed its most treacherous and rewarding phase: sample collection.

The personal protective equipment industry is trying to inject some clarity into the mask-purchasing experience by creating a uniform set of standards to show consumers how well the products would protect them and those around them. "Whether it's a standard or whether it's something equivalent to the Consumer Reports rating (of) good, better or best, it is probably useful because otherwise people are lost," said Philip Harber, a professor of public health at the University of Arizona who studies the use of respirators.

University of Arizona Heath Sciences researchers developed one of the most accurate COVID-19 antibody tests available and now have shown antibodies persist for months after infection, providing long-term immunity.

The University of Arizona-supported project that yielded the first images of a black hole helped win this year's Nobel Prize in physics.

The Tohono O'odham Nation has committed $1 million to the University of Arizona to help researchers fight COVID-19.

Elizabeth "Betsy" Cantwell, senior vice president for research and innovation at the University of Arizona, writes this this milestone for OSIRIS-REx captures perfectly the spirit of research and innovation, the careful balance of problem-solving and perseverance, of obstacle and opportunity.

In a wide-ranging interview, University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins discusses the university's COVID-19 strategies, worries about Halloween parties and the potential for a campuswide coronavirus vaccine mandate.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will descend to asteroid Bennu and pick up a sample of pristine material left over from the formation of our solar system.