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)

BRAIN Initiative May Boost Arizona's Economy, Role in Neuroscience

  • Arizona Daily Star
  • April 17, 2013
The national BRAIN initiative aims to accelerate the discovery of treatments for the more than 100 million people with 1,000 different brain diseases worldwide. The UA and Arizona have the resources to make an impact. Said the UA's Carol Barnes, director of the McKnight Brain Institute and associate director of the BIO5 Institute: "Progress has been made, but we need to understand how the brain works before we can begin to fix it."

UA Leads National Effort to Track Seasonal Cycles of Earth's Species

  • UANews
  • April 16, 2013
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.

Better Batteries From Waste Sulfur

  • UANews
  • April 15, 2013
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 discovery could provide a new use for the sulfur left over when oil and natural gas are refined into cleaner-burning fuels.

Atmosphere of Saturn's Titan 'May Hold Clues to Origin of Life on Earth'

  • The Daily Galaxy
  • April 12, 2013
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.

UA Student Chosen for NASA Fellowship

  • Tucson News Now
  • April 11, 2013
Jared Males, a UA doctoral student, is one of five scientists selected by NASA to receive a 2013 Carl Sagan Exoplanet Postdoctoral Fellowship. Males will investigate the habitability of Jupiter and Saturn-sized planets outside our solar system, perfecting instruments to image the planets.

The Strikingly Similar Brains of Flies and Men

  • UANews
  • April 11, 2013
Decision-making centers in the brains of insects and mammals share too many similarities to have evolved independently, according to comparative studies led by UA neuroscientist Nick Strausfeld. Recognizing such similarities may help scientists better understand and treat diseases such as Parkinson's.

Pages