University of Arizona in the News

A new University of Arizona study finds creative people appear to enjoy idle time more than others do. Researchers asked test subject to sit alone in a room for 10 minutes with no access to digital devices, then to voice their thoughts aloud in real time. Creative types who showed an ability to think more associativity, and tended to use more words, generally rated themselves as being less bored at the conclusion of the sessions.

Although Indigenous water rights are tied to reservations as part of the treaty-based relationship between tribes and the federal government, state courts have the power to oversee and enforce them. Often, as companies, cities and farms have moved in around tribal lands, they have become part of the negotiations and can stall or sink a deal. "Every second that passes, it's harder and harder for tribes to get water that's already over-allocated and in shorter and shorter supply," said University of Arizona assistant professor of geography Andrew Curley, a Diné.

University of Arizona astronomers using the Large Binocular Telescope on Mount Graham recently spotted MWC 758c, an exoplanet twice the mass of Jupiter that previously had been hidden in the star system's protoplanetary disk.

Climate change and overuse are depleting the Colorado River and threatening the future of the Desert Southwest. Normally when things get scarcer, they get more expensive. But that's not true with water. "Even when you write a check to the local utility, it's not for water. It's for the cost of service," said University of Arizona Regents Professor Emeritus of Law Robert Glennon. "It's for the cost of the utility to pump the water, treat the water, deliver the water. There is no charge for the commodity of water. None."

Earlier this week, the global average temperature reached just over 62 degrees Fahrenheit, the hottest average temperature ever recorded by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction since it began keeping records in 1979. "The warmer these average conditions are, the more often you’ll see really extreme heat events," said University of Arizona professor of geosciences Jessica Tierney. On the hottest days during the hottest times, "places like a desert would just be unbelievably hot."

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope report finding a thread-like arrangement of 10 galaxies that formed just 830 million years after the Big Bang. The 3 million light-year-long structure is anchored by a luminous quasar – a galaxy with an active, supermassive black hole at its core. The team believes the filament will eventually evolve into a massive cluster of galaxies. "I was surprised by how long and how narrow this filament is," said University of Arizona professor of astronomy Xiaohui Fan.

As federal and state officials prepare to renegotiate the rules governing the Colorado River, the region's tribal nations are demanding seats at the table. Before the talks begin, Department of the Interior regulators will gathering feedback, including new strategies to account for the current and projected hydrology of the Colorado River system. But to make accurate hydrological projections, Michael Kotutwa Johnson, a University of Arizona indigenous resilience expert, said he believes all the outstanding cases concerning tribal water rights need to first be adjudicated.

In 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission required companies to publish not only executive pay, but also a ratio that describes how the pay of a company's leader compared with the pay of its median worker. In a recent working paper, University of Arizona assistant professor of finance Jason Sandvik and co-authors used data from the employer review site Glassdoor to analyze how employees responded to those new rules. They found that worker satisfaction with pay improved, most likely because workers tend to overestimate how much their peers make.

With hot and dry conditions across much of the West, the Fourth of July weekend carries the risk of an explosive start to wildfire season. "We're entering into a really critical period for wildfire because of the hot temperatures (and) the lack of rainfall," said Molly Hunter, University of Arizona associate research professor of natural resources and the environment. "So that means all of the fuel, the vegetation, is really primed to burn."

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope report finding a thread-like arrangement of 10 galaxies that formed just 830 million years after the Big Bang. The 3 million light-year-long structure is anchored by a luminous quasar – a galaxy with an active, supermassive black hole at its core. The team believes the filament will eventually evolve into a massive cluster of galaxies. "I was surprised by how long and how narrow this filament is," said University of Arizona professor of astronomy Xiaohui Fan.