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Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne presented his 2025 State of Education Speech to the AZ Senate Committee on Education on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025.

The Buzz speaks with Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne

Feb 14, 2025 Horne speaks on issues confronting our schools ranging from funding issues to threats to student mental health.
NASA's SPHEREx observatory undergoes testing in August 2024. The mission will make the first all-sky spectroscopic survey in the near-infrared, helping to answer some of the biggest questions in astrophysics.

Searching the entire sky for the secrets to our universe

Feb 10, 2025 A new telescope could launch as early as late February. SPHEREx will look into deep space and also search for organic molecules.
Two grand canyons on the moon radiating from the Schrödinger impact basin, from a view that looks obliquely across the lunar surface, like an astronaut in an approaching spacecraft.

The moon's grand canyons were carved in the blink of an eye

Feb 10, 2025 The Earth's Grand Canyon took millions of years to carve, but the moon's grand canyons took about ten minutes.
A view of the outside of the OSIRIS-REx sample collector. Sample material from asteroid Bennu can be seen on the middle right. Scientists have found evidence of both carbon and water in initial analysis of this material. The bulk of the sample is located inside.

First big results from OSIRIS-REx revealed

Jan 29, 2025 The ingredients for life were found on the asteroid.
A Louisiana aquarium has a new star — and a mystery — on its hands after a baby shark was born in a habitat without any males.

This shark pup was born in a habitat without any males. How did that happen?

Jan 28, 2025 Yoko the baby swell shark was born on Jan. 3, some eight months after her egg was discovered in a tank with that only housed other female sharks.
Skull of Sabre-Toothed Tiger - Museum of Anthropology - La Paz - Baja California Sur - Mexico. 2015

Saber teeth in predators evolved many times. Did it lead to their extinction?

Jan 21, 2025 A new analysis suggests saber teeth were highly specialized for puncturing prey, ultimately at the cost of durability.
A team of astronomers sifted through James Webb Space Telescope data to compile one of the largest samples of "little red dots." The team started with the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey before widening their scope to other extragalactic legacy fields, including the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) and the Next Generation Deep Extragalactic Exploratory Public (NGDEEP) survey.

James Webb Space Telescope's 'little red dots' come into focus

Jan 14, 2025 When the cosmic oddballs first showed up in some of JWST's early observations, in December of 2022, it was a surprise.
Artist rendering of Blue Ghost and Tenacious rover on the lunar surface.

Latest private moon landing venture begins this week

Jan 13, 2025 Blue Ghost designed to carry a dozen scientific experiments to the lunar surface
Road improvements at I-10 & SR 87 in 2018.

New Arizona Transportation Institute enlists help from state universities for road issues

Dec 10, 2024 Engineering researchers will work on new surface compounds and ways to reduce highway repair costs
Spacewatch asteroid trackers use the 90 inch Bok telescope atop Kitt Peak to look for wayward space rocks.

Arizona asteroid hunters detected space rock that fell over Russia

Dec 4, 2024 The team used a University of Arizona telescope to track the object to its fiery fate.
International scientists, Alexander Werth, from left, professor Joy Reidenberg and Michael Denk study a male spade-toothed whale ahead of a dissection at Invermay Agricultural Centre, Mosgiel, near Dunedin, New Zealand, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024.

Scientists gather to decode puzzle of the world's rarest whale in 'extraordinary' New Zealand study

Dec 2, 2024 The creature, which washed up dead on a beach on New Zealand's South Island in July, is only the seventh specimen ever found.
Illustration of the Parker Solar Probe flyby of the Sun.

Parker Solar Probe making history six years after launch

Nov 22, 2024 Robotic explorer is the first to sail through the sun's atmosphere.
Bo Yang, UA professor of landscape architecture and urban planning at the Campus Agricultural Center in Tucson, Ariz., on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2014. Yang is a faculty advisor for the Smart Tree Watering project.

UA tree watering project aims to conserve water and reduce urban heat

Nov 14, 2024 From rainwater harvesting to mulching, researchers find ways to grow resilient trees.
This graphic shows the difference in the appearance of the Moon’s size in its furthest and closest distances to Earth.

Stargazers can see the final supermoon of the year this weekend

Nov 14, 2024 If you miss this supermoon, you won't be able to see the next one until October 2025.
Aspen trees atop Mt. Lemmon.

Autumn among the aspens.

Nov 14, 2024 Also on Arizona Spotlight: Lyse Doucet, chief international correspondent for the BBC, receives the 2024 Zenger Award for Press Freedom from the UA School of Journalism; and Richard Cachor Taylor's talks about his book "Birds of Arizona".
James Webb Space Telescope's MIRI imager shows dust cloud around Vega.

Webb telescope delivers new ideas about Milky Way star Vega

Nov 12, 2024 UA-built camera shows vast, smooth dust disk surrounding the star.

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