Coffee and climate come together on the mountainous slopes of Guatemala, where fields -- and the livelihoods of indigenous farmers -- are threatened by changing rainfall, rising temperature, and a fungus called "coffee rust." By studying tree rings, geographer Kevin Anchukaitis seeks clues in the past lives of the firs and pines there. More

Anthropologist Evan MacLean, director of the Arizona Canine Cognition Center, found that dogs and 2-year-old children show similar patterns in social intelligence, much more so than human children and one of their closest relatives, chimpanzees. The findings could help scientists better understand how humans evolved socially. More

Anthropologist Stacey Tecot has spent 17 years studying red-bellied lemurs in Madagascar's Ranomafana National Park. One of her biggest challenges is keeping track of who's who in the lemur community. Tecot is among the scientists who helped create LemurFaceID, a computer-assisted recognition system that has the potential to redefine how researchers track different species in the wild. More 

The ability of citizens to find out what their government is up to will become more difficult under the new presidential administration, according to a national study conducted by David Cuillier, director of the School of Journalism. Cuillier surveyed and interviewed more than 300 journalists and freedom of information experts in December and January regarding their experiences and predictions in accessing public records. More

Some of our recent lectures are now online for your viewing pleasure. The 25th annual Sabbagh lecture, titled "The History of Iraqi Jewish Children--In Israel and Iraq" can be viewed here. UA History Professor Bill Beezley's talk on "The Constitution of 1917: 100 Years Making Mexico's Political, Social and Economic Goals into Laws" can be viewed here. Judaic Studies Professor Leonard Hammer's popular talk "Holy Places in the Old City of Jerusalem: An International Legal Perspective" is on YouTube here. And you can click here to watch the recent talk "Mapping Middle East Mayhem," sponsored by the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies.

* Thanks to a grant from Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute, the UA has hired Austin O'Malley, a new faculty member in Persian Studies. O'Malley will be housed in the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies and work with the newly established Roshan Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Persian and Iranian Studies! More 

* Diana Liverman, a Regents' Professor in the School of Geography and Development, has been selected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to help prepare a Special Report on Global Warming. The IPCC selected 86 experts from 39 countries to undertake the assessment. Liverman was one of eight experts from the United States! More