News
Environmental variability and global change are discussed more and more frequently in news articles and programs as the general public becomes increasingly aware of the rapid environmental transformations taking place around the world. The Institute of the Environment produces general interest articles about current UA research relevant to the environment, spotlights that chronicle the work of IoE faculty, and other articles, including a series on drought in the Southwest. The most recent articles are listed below. Older articles and links to UA News press releases also are available in the News Archive.
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Stuart Thomson's research involves the use and development of devices to determine the time and temperature history of rocks and minerals. His most recent project applied these techniques to determine the age of Antarctica’s subglacial fjords. Thomson is a research scientist in the UA department of geosciences.
For its commitment to sustainability in athletic facilities and programming, the UA has been accepted to the Green Sports Alliance, a national nonprofit organization that aims to help sports teams, venues and leagues enhance environmental performance. Among the environmentally friendly athletic facilities on campus is the Student Recreation Center, the first campus recreation center in the country to achieve Platinum LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
Earth Day is well-celebrated at the nation’s No. 1 public university for environmental research publications. The UA will mark Earth Day on April 22 from 3-7:30 p.m. on the UA Mall with vendors, entertainment, live music and events by the University's many environmental organizations.
The UA is leading a national movement to track the annual rhythms of plants and animals and the ecological connections between them. This year, the USA National Phenology Network will host the first ever annual Phenology Day on April 20, a free public celebration of desert life cycles. The network has a strong focus on citizen science.
A new chemical process can transform waste sulfur into a lightweight plastic that may improve batteries for electric cars, reports a UA-led team. The new plastic has other potential uses, including in optics. The team has successfully used the new plastic to make lithium-sulfur batteries.
The atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, often is viewed as an analog to what the Earth's atmosphere may have been like billions of years ago. "We're really starting to get a sense for what kind of chemistry an atmosphere is capable of" performing, says Sarah Hörst, a graduate student in planetary sciences at the UA who studies Titan.
A new master’s degree program at the University of Arizona is focused on preparing students to battle poverty and hunger across the globe.
The UA has established a new School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences that will bring together teaching, research and extension resources from across the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to focus on animal health, growth, nutrition and disease, and human health challenges facing Arizona and the global community. The new school likely will host the proposed Arizona Veterinary Medical Education program.
Jared Griebel, the UA Student Innovator of the Year, was honored this week at Innovation Day at the UA. Greibel's discoveries could translate a problem - waste sulfur - into an opportunity to create batteries from his electrochemically active copolymer. Three companies with an interest in developing them are working with samples of his novel plastic.
The widely used strategy of endowing crops with redundant toxins to fend off pests rests on flawed assumptions, UA researchers have discovered. Their study helps explain why pests are evolving resistance much faster than predicted and offers solutions for better agricultural management.