University of Arizona in the News

The New York Times Jan. 10, 2023
What we know about treating extreme grief with psychedelics

In his new memoir, Prince Harry talks about taking psychedelics to deal with the ongoing pain over the death of his mother. Grief is not a mental illness; it is a normal human experience that comes after the loss of a loved one. However, if the grief has not improved at all after a year and is affecting a person's ability to function, a diagnosis of prolonged grief, sometimes called complicated grief, might be warranted. "What we see with prolonged grief is that the grief becomes very entrenched, that things look the same for this person today as they did the day after" the death, said University of Arizona associate professor of psychology Mary-Frances O'Connor. "For a person who's adapting more typically, a year after a loss, they're still going to have sadness. They're still going to miss the person who's gone. But you can see this trajectory of change where they have started to restore a life that feels meaningful to them."
The Conversation Jan. 10, 2023
Human actions created the Salton Sea, California's largest lake – here’s how to save it from collapse, protecting wild birds and human health

University of Arizona Regents Professor Emeritus Robert Glennon writes about the challenges facing the Salton Sea and how it reflects the complexity of managing water in the increasingly dry U.S. Southwest.
Arizona Daily Star Jan. 8, 2023
Local Opinion: The UA is going strong

Arizona Board of Regents chair-elect Fred DuVal writes the state of the university is "strong – with even more to come" and that President Robert C. "Robbins is on track to be one of the most successful and consequential presidents of UArizona in recent memory."
KSAZ Phoenix Jan. 8, 2023
Newsmaker: How bad is Arizona's water crisis

University of Arizona Regents Professor Emeritus of Law Robert Glennon discusses Arizona's water future, its present situation and what we can learn from its past.
Live Science Jan. 8, 2023
How does grief affect the brain?

Grief can trigger a number of cognitive, behavioral and physiological changes. Experts say there are strong evolutionary elements to how and why we endure grief. "Grief as a response may have evolved originally as a response to separation," said University of Arizona associate professor of psychology Mary-Frances O'Connor. "In order to help us maintain our connections to loved ones when we go and explore our world each day – like kids going off to school or your spouse going to work – powerful neurochemicals in the brain make us yearn for them, and reward us when we are reunited."
Durango Herald Jan. 8, 2023
What was the social impact of Gold King?

The University of Arizona Superfund Research Center is among the agencies that have conducted extensive water and soil quality testing on the Animas and San Juan rivers in Colorado in the wake of the 2015 leak of contaminated water from the Gold King Mine near Durango, Colorado. Karletta Chief is a professor of environmental science at the University of Arizona, an extension specialist and the community engagement core lead at the university's Superfund Research Center. She said the stigma that accompanied crops that had been irrigated with San Juan River water downstream of its confluence with the Animas was too much to overcome.
VICE Jan. 6, 2023
Scientists discovered these ancient cities have a secret link to the cosmos

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.
The Hankyoreh (South Korea) Jan. 6, 2023
A children's book that embraces race and gender: Kids saw the 'open world'

The Hankyoreh, a daily newspaper in Seoul, visited the College of Education's Worlds of Words as part of a feature story exploring children's literature.
The Conversation Jan. 6, 2023
Richard Avedon, Truman Capote and the brutality of photography

Rebecca Senf, chief curator at the University of Arizona's Center for Creative Photography, has worked with the images of fashion and portrait photographer Richard Avedon on a handful of occasions during my 16-year tenure. Senf writes that Avedon's portraits include so many rich details that they can feel more revealing than seeing someone in person.
The Washington Post Jan. 6, 2023
Half of Earth's glaciers could melt even if key warming goal is met, study says

New research suggests that even at 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming above pre-industrial levels, the Earth will lose nearly half of its glaciers to climate change in the coming decades. "The glacier areas around the globe are quite varied and have unique responses to the changing climate," said University of Arizona assistant professor of geosciences Christopher Harig, who was not involved in the latest research. "So there has been a rapid advance in glacier modeling to really capture what is happening in the different settings."