In this artist's impression of Voyager 2's 1989 encounter with Neptune, the gas giant's Great Dark Spot is visible in the distance. Thought to be a hole in the giant planet's cloud cover, winds in that area have been clocked at 1,500 miles per hour, the fastest in the solar system (not the subject of this study). (Photo: NASA)
Storms on Uranus, Neptune Confined to Upper Atmosphere Applying newly developed analysis techniques to data obtained by NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1989, a team involving two UA planetary scientists discovered that weather phenomena on Uranus and Neptune are confined to the upper 680 miles of atmosphere instead of reaching deeper into the planets' interior as was previously thought.
Scheduled for launch in 2016, the OSIRIS-REx will travel to asteroid Bennu, scoop up a sample of pristine material leftover from the formation of the solar system, and return it to Earth in 2023.
UA-Led Asteroid Mission is a Go NASA has granted final approval of the OSIRIS-REx sample return mission led by the UA. The target asteroid, uniquely interesting scientifically, is one of the most potentially hazardous objects known - it has a one-in-2,000 chance of colliding with Earth in the late 22nd century. The asteroid could hold clues to the origin of the solar system.
One of many fresh impact craters spotted by the UA-led HiRISE camera, orbiting the Red Planet on board NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter since 2006. (Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/UA)
UA Mars Camera Reveals Hundreds of Impacts Each Year Taking before and after pictures of the Martian terrain, researchers with the UA-led HiRISE camera have identified nearly 250 fresh impact craters on the Red Planet. The results provide scientists with a better yardstick to estimate how frequently craters are blasted on Mars, allowing them to assess recently formed features with greater accuracy.
A scanning electron microscope image shows the tiny, 1-millimeter-long bladders used to catch small organisms by Utricularia gibba, the humped bladderwort plant (color added). The submerged growing plant is a voracious carnivore, with its bladders leveraging vacuum pressure to suck in tiny prey at great speed. (Photo: Enrique Ibarra-Laclette and Claudia Anahí Pérez-Torres)
Carnivorous Plant Throws Out ‘Junk’ DNA UA genomics experts have helped decipher the DNA of the carnivorous bladderwort. This genome is the smallest ever sequenced from a higher plant, and scientists say that nearly all of it - 97 percent - comprises genes that code for proteins, suggesting the majority of noncoding DNA may not be crucial for complex life.
Much more suited for arid environments than rubber trees, the guayule plant is a promising candidate for more sustainable, high-yield natural rubber production. (Photo: Jack Dykinga/USDA)
UA Receives $3M Grant for Sustainable Biorubber Production The UA's Dennis Ray will lead the effort of breeding guayule, a rubber-producing plant suited for arid environments, to achieve higher yields and reduced harvest cycle time. Tech Launch Arizona, a technology commercialization center at the UA, assisted with the UA partnership with Yulex Corporation, which is providing the grant.
In this artist's impression of Voyager 2's 1989 encounter with Neptune, the gas giant's Great Dark Spot is visible in the distance. Thought to be a hole in the giant planet's cloud cover, winds in that area have been clocked at 1,500 miles per hour, the fastest in the solar system (not the subject of this study). (Photo: NASA)
Scheduled for launch in 2016, the OSIRIS-REx will travel to asteroid Bennu, scoop up a sample of pristine material leftover from the formation of the solar system, and return it to Earth in 2023.
One of many fresh impact craters spotted by the UA-led HiRISE camera, orbiting the Red Planet on board NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter since 2006. (Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/UA)
A scanning electron microscope image shows the tiny, 1-millimeter-long bladders used to catch small organisms by Utricularia gibba, the humped bladderwort plant (color added). The submerged growing plant is a voracious carnivore, with its bladders leveraging vacuum pressure to suck in tiny prey at great speed. (Photo: Enrique Ibarra-Laclette and Claudia Anahí Pérez-Torres)
Much more suited for arid environments than rubber trees, the guayule plant is a promising candidate for more sustainable, high-yield natural rubber production. (Photo: Jack Dykinga/USDA)

Just What We Needed: A New Scorpion

  • The Arizona Republic
  • March 19, 2013
As soon as Rich Ayrey saw the 2-inch-long scorpion, he knew it was something new. He also knew there could be great public interest in a new creature found near a major metropolitan area, not in a remote wilderness. "It's a minority sport," Dawn Gouge of the UA department of entomology says about hunting for new scorpion species. "There's lots out there if somebody wants to take the time."

UA-Developed App Warns Drivers of Dust Storm Danger

  • UANews
  • March 18, 2013
A UA-developed mobile app provides dust storm alerts and tips for staying safe in a dust storm. Arizona sees some of the worst dust storms in the country during the spring and summer months. Blowing dust can lead to poor visibility and dangerous driving conditions on the state's highways.

A Telescope at the Bottom of the World

  • UANews
  • March 15, 2013
Alone in a wilderness of snow and ice, 600 miles from the Earth's South Pole, a solitary telescope watches the stars. The instrument built by the UA's Craig Kulesa and his team is the first ever to map the sky in light emitted by atomic carbon and may give astronomers vital information to understand how sweeping star-forming nebulae arise.

UA Research: Lizard Tail Regeneration

  • Inside Higher Ed
  • March 14, 2013
The UA's Rebecca Fisher studies the anatomy and evolution of vertebrates and analyzes the functional anatomy of the tail in green anoles. In this podcast, she discusses how the species of lizard is able to regenerate its self-amputated tail. Fisher is an associate professor of basic medical sciences at the UA College of Medicine-Phoenix.

Roundtable: Witnessing Starbursts in Young Galaxies

  • The Kavli Foundation
  • March 13, 2013
Three leading scientists - including the UA's Dan Marrone - discuss how the world’s most powerful radio telescope revealed that the most vigorous bursts of star birth in the cosmos took place much earlier than previously thought. Their study on the topic appears in the journal Nature.

ALMA Exposes Hidden Star Factories in the Early Universe

  • UANews
  • March 13, 2013
Using entire galaxies as gigantic gravitational lenses, UA astronomers have obtained new measurements of some of the oldest galaxies in the universe. Their observations reveal that some of the most vigorous bursts of star birth in the cosmos took place much earlier than previously thought.

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