University of Arizona in the News

Space.com June 6, 2022
Infamous asteroid Apophis 'rediscovered' as scientists test asteroid defense mechanisms

Watching the skies for large asteroids that could pose a hazard to Earth is a global endeavor. So, to test their operational readiness, the international planetary defense community will sometimes use a real asteroid's close approach as a mock encounter with a "new" potentially hazardous asteroid. The lessons learned could limit, or even prevent, global devastation should the scenario play out for real in the future. "This real-world scientific input stress-tested the entire planetary defense response chain, from initial detection to orbit determination to measuring the asteroid's physical characteristics and even determining if and where it might hit Earth," said Vishnu Reddy, associate professor at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, who led the campaign.
The Arizona Republic June 5, 2022
This is the saga of Arizona's famous stolen de Kooning painting

Willem de Kooning's "Woman-Ochre" was stolen from the University of Arizona Museum of Art in 1985. It has since been recovered and restored at at the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles. The oil on canvas will go on display at the Getty before returning to the University of Arizona Museum of Art in October.
Calgary Herald (Canada) June 4, 2022
Always order the corn tortillas, and other lessons from Tucson, Arizona

Travel writer Pam Fieber writes about her recent trip to Tucson and singles out the University of Arizona Alfie Norville Gem & Mineral Museum. "One surprise was the recently opened gem museum, located in the Pima County Courthouse in Tucson. Expecting rows of turquoise? No. There are full-on boulder-sized meteorites, geodes and a bit of a history of the universe going on here, through the stories of rocks and minerals," Fieber writes.
The Atlantic June 3, 2022
Why this COVID wave feels different

In the winter, COVID-19 cases shot up and plummeted with unprecedented speed. But experts say something else is going on with this surge. So far, the immunity many people acquired then has helped to dampen the spread of the two forms of Omicron powering the current, stretched-out wave of cases. "It's imperfect, but it's at least some protection," said Dr. Joe Gerald, an associate professor of public health policy at the University of Arizona's Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. "As we take people out of the susceptible pool, basically the math works against a large and fast outbreak, so it would tend to slow transmission and make the size of the wave smaller."
Politico June 3, 2022
Can 'long COVID' lead to death? A new analysis suggests it could

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is analyzing more than 100 deaths that could be attributed to "long COVID" by looking at death certificates from across the country over the last two years, according to two people familiar with the matter. "There is a significant underdetection of long COVID," said Sairam Parthasarathy, chief of the pulmonary division at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson and one of the leads on its long COVID study. "It ties into health literacy ... of someone being aware that they have a medical problem. If someone feels that they don't have a medical problem, sometimes they may not seek care."
Arizona Public Media June 2, 2022
New state grants help point families to higher education goals

A $500,000 grant from Arizona's Technology and Research Initiative Fund will help the University of Arizona College Academy for Parents to expand outreach efforts to helps families of K-12 students plan for college. Another $150,000 TRIF grant will support the creation of the Arizona Road Trip, a new program that will bring between 2,500 and 3,000 potential future college students to campus in one academic year.
Tucson Sentinel June 2, 2022
UA program serving Native American communities gets $1.2M boost

A $1.2 million grant from the Arizona Department of Education will allow the University of Arizona College of Education's Native Student Outreach, Access and Resiliency program to expand mentoring and educational resources to Arizona's Indigenous communities. "The ADE grant will help us to continue creating healing and innovative spaces to encourage students and communities that they are loved, and they are brilliant leaders. We look forward to transforming Indigenous education to better serve our communities in this pandemic era," said program director Amanda Cheromiah.
CNN June 2, 2022
Silent spread of monkeypox may be a wakeup call for the world

A monkeypox outbreak continues to grow, with more than 640 cases reported in dozens of countries where the virus isn't normally found. Research published this week reported a genetic link between the current strain and an outbreak dating to 2017. University of Arizona professor ecology and evolutionary biology Michael Worobey, a member of the BIO5 Institute who was not involved in the research, said it suggests the world failed deploy the resources needed to control monkeypox at its source before it spread globally. "It's really a tale of two outbreaks," Worobey said. "We need to actually turn our attention to where it's been spreading ... and start caring about that population just as much as we care about what's going on in all these other countries around the world."
Science Magazine June 2, 2022
What did the ancient Maya see in the stars? Their descendants team up with scientists to find out

The historic Maya oriented their lives by the heavens. A stream of recent data supports the idea that the Mesoamerican people built temple structures to mark particular solar positions and significant points on the calendar, such as a kickoff for planting or a harvest festival. In 2020, University of Arizona professor of anthropology Takeshi Inomata used lidar data to spot Aguada Fénix – nearly 500 seemingly standardized pre-Columbian structures across a broad area of southern Mexico that date back to between 1000 and 800 B.C.E., before direct archaeological records of Maya writing and calendar systems.
Arizona Daily Star June 1, 2022
Arizona alum Douglas Allred donates $4.8 million to UA football and men's basketball

Arizona Football letter winner and longtime University of Arizona supporter Douglas Allred has given gifts totaling $4.8 million to Arizona Athletics. The funds will support program enhancements for the football and men's basketball programs as well as the Lute Olson Endowment for Excellence in Men's Basketball.