University of Arizona in the News

Huy Fong Foods last summer announced a shortage of the red chili peppers it uses to make its popular Sriracha hot sauce due to severe drought in Mexico, which curtailed crops and led to water shortages in many towns and cities. The company vowed to avoid a repeat, but Gary Nabhan, an agricultural ecologist and professor emeritus at the University of Arizona, predicts future food supply shortages will almost certainly occur, given the current amount of water used in the United States.

As the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft flies by Earth, it will deliver a sample from the asteroid Bennu. After blasting through Earth's atmosphere scientists will collect the capsule from the landing site about 80 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. After the drop-off, OSIRIS-Rex will begin a new mission to study near-Earth asteroid Apophis. On the next leg of its journey, the spacecraft will be called OSIRIS-APEX with a new principal investigator, University of Arizona planetary science professor Daniella DellaGiustina.

The University of Arizona marked Juneteenth by welcoming peace advocate Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., and Ilyasah Shabazz, an award-winning author, educator and daughter of Malcolm X, to Centennial Hall Monday for a discussion moderated by Denise TrimbleSmith, project director for justice initiatives in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

The first six months of this year saw many marvelous images from space, including one last month from the James Webb Space Telescope that provide the first conclusive evidence of an asteroid belt in a star system outside our own, more than one actually orbiting the bright star Fomalhaut, some 25 light-years away. "Where Webb really excels is that we're able to physically resolve the thermal glow from dust in those inner regions. So you can see inner belts that we could never see before," said University of Arizona assistant research professor of astronomy Schuyler Wolff.

Space scientists call gamma ray bursts the most energetic events in the history of the universe, ranking only behind the Big Bang. University of Arizona researcher Manisha Shrestha explains how she and her colleagues are studying a supernova that triggered the biggest gamma ray burst ever recorded.

University of Arizona Regents Professor Emeritus of Law Robert Glennon writes that the Navajo quest for water rights continues more than 150 years after their reservation was created.

Researchers at the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory report the discovery of tiny salt crystals that could only have formed in the presence of liquid water in a sample from a class of asteroid known to mostly lack water-bearing minerals. The discovery strongly suggests many of the solar system's asteroids may not be as dry as previously thought.

Severe fungal disease used to be a freak occurrence. Now it is a threat to millions of vulnerable Americans, and treatments have been losing efficacy as fungal pathogens develop resistance to standard drugs. Dr. Fariba Donovan, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson and member of the college’s Valley Fever Center for Excellence, is quoted.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled 5-4 against the Navajo Nation over claims the federal government failed to effectively advocate for the tribe's allotment of Colorado River water. For University of Arizona assistant professor of geography and development and American Indian studies Andrew Curley, he expected the ruling.

Multiple studies conclude climate change already has led to an increase in wildfire season length, fire frequency and the size of burned areas. According to University of Arizona professor of natural resources Donald Falk, where once fire danger ran from late April into the Monsoon, now it can start as early as February and last until September. "If you're concerned about wildfires then you need to be concerned about climate change and take it seriously," said Falk, who specializes in fire history and ecology, ecosystem resilience and restoration.