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A special edition of Arizona Horizon featuring stories from the Arizona PBS show, “Catalyst.” Host Vanessa Ruiz and producer Steve Filmer share the latest in science.

History shows that pandemics aren’t the only threat to human populations. Even old religious texts mention swarms of locusts and the risk of famine they can bring. A new outbreak of locusts is now threatening East Africa, but researchers here in Arizona are working on ways to stop the swarms.

A little less than half of those who die trying to cross the southern U.S. border die in Arizona. Those sobering numbers present a scientific challenge: identifying the person who died so that loved ones can know what happened. An ASU researcher is using technology to meet this challenge. It’s an effort funded in part by a grant from the U.S. justice department.

The exploration of space leads to newer and better technology, but there’s one part of space exploration that’s still dangerously low-tech: the rules. Most places away from our planet are a kind of wild west with no sheriff, and no judges.

Training to be a top-level athlete is a challenge. But doing so while transitioning from one gender to another is even more difficult. From our “Catalyst” science team, the story of one woman who is meeting both of those challenges as her body – and her identity – change.