U of A expert working to preserve Native American sign languages

Thursday

Melanie McKay-Cody signing a modernized sign for the term "Indigenous"

A book she found in a library when she was 10 inspired Melanie McKay-Cody to pursue a career studying Native American sign languages. Now, as a researcher in the U of A College of Education, she's one of the foremost experts at the intersection of Native and Deaf identity.

Large and small galaxies may grow in ways more similar than expected

Galaxies like the Milky Way grow by merging with smaller galaxies over billions of years, unlike dwarf galaxies, which have long been thought to lack the heft to attract mass and grow in the same way. New observations challenge this view, suggesting that even dwarf galaxies can accrete mass from other small galaxies.

NASA's Pandora mission one step closer to probing alien atmospheres, with mission operations based at U of A

Pandora, a small satellite mission poised to provide in-depth study of at least 20 known planets orbiting distant stars to determine the composition of their atmospheres cleared an important milestone by completing the spacecraft bus, which acts as the spacecraft's "brains."

'Ghost towns' of the universe: Ultra-faint, rare dwarf galaxies offer clues to the early cosmos

Astronomers have struggled with finding ultra-faint dwarf galaxies far enough from the Milky Way's influence, making these faintest galaxies in the cosmos difficult to study. Three newly discovered dwarf galaxies in an isolated region of space show evidence of star formation being cut short by events in the early universe.