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)

UA Scientist Studying the Formation of Antarctica

  • WAMC Academic Minute
  • April 25, 2013
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.

UA Researchers Solve Mystery of Lincoln's Funeral Train

  • UANews
  • April 25, 2013
With the 2015 sesquicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's death approaching, interest in it is rising, and with new scientific tools, UA researchers have turned their attention to one of the last remaining mysteries about what reportedly was the largest traditional funeral in American history - they have determined the precise color of the president's funeral railcar.

UA to Host Statewide STEM Competition

  • UANews
  • April 24, 2013
Hundreds of MESA after-school program students from across Arizona will compete for awards in a series of engineering and design competitions at the UA. One contest asks that students design a prosthetic arm for a fictional college-bound student, an exercise indicative of the program's goals to cultivate critical thinking while demonstrating how engineering and science are "helping" professions.

UA Spin-Off to Test Cancer-Preventing Drug Combination

  • UANews
  • April 22, 2013
The UA spin-off company Cancer Prevention Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is building on systematic basic research by UA researchers that explored molecular mechanisms underlying tumor growth. The company is embarking on a clinical trial to prevent the occurrence of colorectal cancer or high-risk polyps in colon cancer survivors.

Earth Day: Water is Hands-On Issue

  • Arizona Daily Star
  • April 22, 2013
The UA's Project WET, which stands for Water Education for Teachers, is designed to teach elementary and middle school students about Tucson's water scarcity and how to start conserving water. Project WET uses hands-on models and simulations of Tucson's watershed and groundwater pumping in its efforts.

A Telescope at the Bottom of the World

  • Scientific Computing
  • April 19, 2013
Alone in a wilderness of snow and ice, 600 miles from the Earth's South Pole, a solitary telescope watches the stars, searching for the origins of the colorful nebulae in which stars are born. How do nebulae form? It's is a question little understood and much debated by astronomers, and it's the topic of research by the UA's Craig Kulesa and Chris Walker.

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