News
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Monday, May 14, 2012The UA Office of Sustainability has completed a climate action plan to track the UA's greenhouse gas emissions and provide concrete solutions to reduce them.
Back in the days of the Old West, the University of Arizona already was green. Literally. Inspired by the sagebrush, a hardy shrub whose small footprint and ability to conserve precious resources allow it to thrive in the harsh Arizona desert, the plant's chartreuse green was one of the UA's original school colors....
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Saturday, May 12, 2012A 38.5-acre photovoltaic array is the latest addition to the Solar Zone technology demonstration area at the University of Arizona Science and Technology Park.
The 6.1-megawatt system was built by AstroSol, a subsidiary of German solar developer Solmotion GmbH, in partnership with Astronergy, a Chinese solar manufacturer.
Astrosol CEO Michael Volz was on hand to screw the last solar panel in place at a dedication event Friday.
The new system uses thin-film, amorphous...
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Thursday, May 10, 2012View photo gallery.
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Thursday, May 10, 2012SAN DIEGO - An increase in plastic debris floating in a zone between Hawaii and California is changing the environment of at least one marine critter, scientists reported.
Over the past four decades, the amount of broken-down plastic has grown significantly in a region dubbed the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch." Most of the plastic pieces are the size of a fingernail.
During a seagoing expedition, researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography found that a...
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Thursday, May 10, 2012As commencement approaches, UANews looks back at a school year full of appointments, discoveries, awards and groundbreakings.
From medical gains and scientific discoveries to a changing of the guard within administration and Arizona Athletics, the University of Arizona had a busy – and productive – 2011-12 school year.
As the spring semester comes to a close, UANews reflects on its top 10 stories of the academic year.
1. ...
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Thursday, May 10, 2012Dendrochronology is the science of interpreting over 9,000 continuous years' worth of environmental conditions through tree ring samples. That field of study got its start at the University of Arizona in the Laboratory of Tree Ring Research, and it's still finding answers today.
Samples can be taken from dead trees and, by using an increment borer, from live trees as well. Each ring on each sample tells its own story: a fat ring may...
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Wednesday, May 9, 2012Sand dunes on Mars move not unlike those on Earth, despite a much thinner atmosphere and weaker winds, as revealed by images taken with the UA-led HiRISE camera.
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO, has revealed that movement in sand dune fields on the Red Planet occurs on a surprisingly large scale, about the same as in dune fields on Earth.
This is unexpected because Mars has a much...
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Wednesday, May 9, 2012The spring commencement speaker for the UA's College of Science studied English at Yale and makes her living as a film director.
Science, though, plays a major role in Jessica Yu's most recent documentary, "Last Call at the Oasis," which explores problems with the worldwide supply and quality of water.
Yu won an academy award in 1997 for her documentary short feature "Breathing Lessons."
Some of the scenery, the characters and the inconvenient...
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Wednesday, May 9, 2012University of Arizona law student Gregory Schneider is getting ready for graduation this weekend, for the birth of his third child later this year — and now he'll have to get ready for a spaceflight as well.
Schneider accepted his prize during a Seattle Space Needle ceremony today from none other than 82-year-old Buzz Aldrin, one of the first men to walk on the moon in 1969. The suborbital trip into space, aboard a craft that's yet to go into operation, was the first...
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Tuesday, May 8, 2012President Eugene Sander’s numerous roles and accomplishments are no secret.
But one of his more important positions, which he held for only minutes, remains unknown to much of the UA community, said Ron Wysocki, chair of the Appointed Professionals Advisory Council, at the president’s farewell and thank-you ceremony on May 4.
According to Wysocki, one of Sander’s most crucial moments came when he was sitting in a golf cart outside the Administration building...