Second COVID-19 booster symbolizes new era of the pandemic

By Hannah Cree from El Inde Arizona

Second doses of the COVID-19 booster shot are now being offered to students and faculty at the UA. Read more

Is there a disadvantage to taking online labs?

Laboratories are offered fully online, live-online and flex in-person. There are no labs that are allowed to be fully in person. At most, six students and one instructor are allowed in the lab at the same time, which means that most classes follow a laboratory rotation of splitting the class up to four sections and having the student only attend the lab every other week on a rotation. Read more

The UA discovers most recent quasar to date

Researchers from the University of Arizona have recently discovered the most distant quasar to date. This finding allows researchers to answer how black holes can possibly grow. Read more

Tumultuous 2020 and siege on Capitol spurs political activism amongst UACOM-T medical students

The attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 left our nation reeling. Across the country, institutions of higher learning — their students, staff and leadership — responded to the riots with strong statements of dissent. Likewise, the University of Arizona College of Medicine — Tucson medical students expressed their condemnation and disbelief to what transpired at our nation’s sacred temple to American democracy. Read more

Round three: Cracking some common myths about the coronavirus vaccine

As of Jan. 19, there have been over 400,000 confirmed deaths from the coronavirus. Fortunately, states all across the U.S. have been rolling out vaccines to combat the deadly virus and pandemic. Here are five different pieces of fact and fiction about the COVID-19 vaccines. Read more

The UA to become point of distribution for COVID-19 vaccine

The Pima County Health Department has designated the University of Arizona to be one of the points of distribution for vaccination as a part of Phase 1B in the vaccine rollout plan. The UA will administer the Pfizer vaccine at no out-of-pocket expense. They will primarily be serving teachers, educators and childcare workers. This includes teachers, faculty and staff at the K-12 schools in Pima County, Pima Community College and over 15,000 faculty and staff at the UA. Read more

New coronavirus strain B.1.1.7 to be dominant by March, CDC says

Just over one year ago, scientists around the world began to sequence the SARS-CoV-2 virus with the aim of finding out more about the novel and enigmatic coronavirus. A few months ago, experts began to notice mutations in the virus' genome that have led to a new round of lockdowns and increased concern around the globe. Read more

The UA to lead NASA's Aspera mission

The University of Arizona will lead the NASA Aspera mission, which seeks to solve the mystery about the way galaxies form. Read more

Tucson declared a climate emergency: What happens next?

As University of Arizona junior and climate activist, Kyle Kline, chanted among several hundred concerned Tucsonans at a September 2019 climate strike, his hope was that city officials would solidify their commitments to climate action. “The main asks for the strike were the climate emergency declaration and the climate action plans,” Kline said. During the following year, Kline dedicated his time away from classes to gathering signatures, planning another climate strike and advocating alongside environmental organizations with the hopes of proving to city administration that this is what members of the community want. Read more

Is the new coronavirus variant cause for concern?

Across the pond, in the United Kingdom, a new variant of the original SARS-CoV-2 virus was first identified. As an RNA virus, the novel coronavirus is more susceptible to mutations, given its weaker proofreading capabilities. The variant, called B.1.1.7., has a handful of mutations — 23, in total — in its genetic code. Read more

Frontline workers reflect nine months into COVID-19 pandemic

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization officially declared the coronavirus outbreak a "pandemic." Since then, the world has documented 75 million infections and 1.7 million deaths, and the U.S. is currently seeing its worst days in terms of cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Read more

FDA issues emergency use authorization for first over-the-counter coronavirus test

On Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for the country’s first prescription-free at-home coronavirus test. According to the press release, the test is instructed to be used by any individual two years of age or older, both with and without symptoms and costs about $30. Read more

FDA approves Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine, distribution begins

On Friday, Dec. 11, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for Pfizer/BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine as the country is currently seeing record numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths. This action will pave the way for millions across the U.S. to start receiving the vaccine this week. Read more