News at NAU

A cybersecurity project from Northern Arizona University aims to better teach drone technology how to ignore “bad” data from signal jamming, so a drone can continue its mission even in contested areas. Led by Bertrand Cambou, professor emeritus in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems and CEO and co-founder of High Entropy Security, the cutting-edge technology offers a way…

A new project at Northern Arizona University aims to provide a flexible set of eyes in dense forest canopy, offering value both to U.S. defense systems and wildfire management in northern Arizona. Glasswing is an autonomous unoccupied aircraft system (UAS) that can fly beneath forest canopies, where dense vegetation, unreliable GPS and complex obstacles render conventional drones useless. It builds on work led…

Every year at Grand Canyon National Park, millions of visitors from all over the world stop at one of a dozen water spigots. Most people are on a rim, seeing the canyon’s majesty for the first time, when they step off the trail to refill a water bottle. Others are deep in the belly of…

Humans have lived alongside animals for tens of thousands of years—hunting them, taming them, worshipping them and, more recently, dressing them in sweaters and giving them Instagram accounts. Anthropologists have been turning their attention to this relationship—not just how humans have shaped animals, but how animals have shaped what it means to be human. Department of Anthropology teaching professor Chrissina Burke teaches the ANT…

Fungi are the hidden architects of our ecosystems, acting as everything from helpful partners for plants to aggressive decomposers that recycle dead wood. However, many fungi don’t stick to just one job; they can switch lifestyles depending on their environment. Understanding this flexibility is vital for predicting how forests and farms will react to climate change. Unfortunately, the…

Scientists have long relied on tree rings to learn about ancient solar storms—rare bursts of high-energy particles from the sun that can disrupt satellites, power grids and communication systems across the planet. When these particles hit Earth’s atmosphere, they create a radioactive form of carbon that trees absorb and store in their wood. A study published this week in New Phytologist shows that…

Across rural landscapes, agriculture is often portrayed as a way of life rooted in resilience, independence and endurance. Yet behind this narrative, there is an unspoken reality: the growing mental health pressure faced by those who work on the land. For women in agriculture, this strain is compounded by unique social, economic and cultural pressures. Balancing physically demanding labor with caregiving roles, financial uncertainty, isolation and the expectation to remain dependable in…

As climate change drives more frequent and severe wildfires across forests in Alaska and northwestern Canada, scientists are asking a critical question: Will these ecosystems continue to store carbon, or will they become a growing source of carbon emissions? New research published this week shows that when these northern forests shift from coniferous spruce forests to deciduous aspen and birch forests, they could release substantially less carbon when they burn. The National Science Foundation-funded study, led…

A new study from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean has partly revealed why the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami were so devastating—and how scientists may be able to better understand intense disasters in the future. The study, co-authored by NAU associate professor Christine Regalla of the School of Earth and Sustainability, found that at the Japan Trench—a deep…

In the remote wilderness of the American West, where chainsaws and heavy machinery can’t go, fire may become the tool of choice. New research from NAU’s Ecological Restoration Institute published in Restoration Ecology shows that managed wildfires in these areas can help restore forest health and lower the risk of future severe fires. As large, unnaturally severe wildfires become more common in the western United States—fueled…