UCLA In the News lists selected mentions of UCLA in the world’s news media. See more UCLA In the News.
Finally, a response to calls for diversity in Hollywood | Christian Science Monitor
Television, however, has made particularly promising strides for minorities, according to the annual Hollywood Diversity Report out of University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). … Darnell Hunt, a UCLA professor of sociology and African-American studies who co-wrote the report, has watched how industry attitudes toward fairer representation have evolved over the years. … “Over time, as it became clear that audiences were becoming more diverse and that they were demanding diverse content, diversity itself was seen as a business imperative,” Mr. Hunt told NPR.
Extremely rare ‘blonde’ zebra photographed | National Geographic
Ren Larison, a biologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has received funding from the National Geographic Society, notes that the “blonde” male zebras at the private reserve in Mount Kenya behave “as stallions with harems”— the standard zebra grouping of a single male and several females.
The connection between pain tolerance and anxiety | New York Times
Naomi Eisenberger, a professor in the University of California, Los Angeles, psychology department … studies the similarities in the way that the brain processes physical pain and the “social pain” that results from rejection. She said she had repeatedly found that “people who are more sensitive to physical pain are more upset by rejection.”
Divorce may hurt wealthier kids’ education more | Time
A new UCLA study found that divorce does not affect all children equally. Somewhat counterintuitively, the study suggests that divorce shortens the academic career of kids from stable families more than it does those from already struggling families. “We found that parental divorce lowers the educational attainment of kids,” says Jennie E. Brand, professor of sociology and statistics at UCLA, and lead author of the study, “but only among those for whom the divorce was unlikely. We interpret this to mean that the divorce was unexpected, and as such, more disruptive.” (Also: Phys.org)
As electric scooters proliferate, so do minor injuries and blocked sidewalks | NPR
Dr. Joann Elmore sees the same things in emergency rooms in Los Angeles. Elmore was the principal investigator on a team from the University of California, Los Angeles that looked at scooter injuries over their first year as a ride-share offering in L.A. … “It is immensely easy to use and ... given this ease, many of us underestimate the potential for public health and trauma-related issues,” she says. (Also: UCLA’s Tarak Trivedi quoted in Business Insider)
Michael Avenatti’s biggest case yet is his own | New York Times
For all the attention the Nike case is getting, the charges filed in California may be Mr. Avenatti’s bigger problem, said Peter Johnson, who teaches at the law school at the University of California, Los Angeles. The Nike allegations hinge on Mr. Avenatti’s intent — whether it was extortion or zealous advocacy — which is harder to determine. … “It’s about whether in fact he committed fraud on paper, and for the prosecution that’s an easier case to prove,” Mr. Johnson said.
The effects of oral contraceptives on the brain | The Globe and Mail
While mood changes were once dismissed as a coincidence, likely unrelated to the use of oral contraceptives, “I think we’re moving to a place now where we can say that is not the case — that there are women who are going to have a negative response because of the pill,” says Dr. Nicole Petersen, a postdoctoral fellow at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Behaviour at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Pope’s visit to Morocco raises hopes | New York Times
Aomar Boum, an anthropologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said there were virtually no Moroccan Christians until a century ago — around 100 in 1933, among 106,000 or so European Catholic settlers… “Moroccans generally associated Christians with colonization, so it was very hard for Moroccans to be intrigued by the religion, and illiteracy can be added as a factor,” Mr. Boum said. Not to speak of resentment over European imperialism.
California’s governor to visit El Salvador next month | Los Angeles Times
“The idea was to quash rebellion at any cost,” said Leisy J. Abrego, associate professor in Chicana/o studies at UCLA. “In El Salvador, it meant that anyone who might be affiliated with the leftist organizations, who might be questioning the status quo, would be used to make a statement. Those people would be disappeared. Their families would be tortured and killed.”
Can Newsom solve state’s broken charter school law? | Los Angeles Times
“There’s been almost no political action to think about how we can do this better,” said UCLA education professor John Rogers.
UCLA named Hollywood’s top law school | The Hollywood Reporter
Nestled minutes from some of Hollywood’s biggest studios, the Westwood-based school provides hands-on learning opportunities through its Ziffren Center for Media, Entertainment, Technology and Sports Law (named for Power Lawyer Ken Ziffren). “UCLA provides seminar opportunities with entertainment lawyers who actually practice in the entertainment industry at the highest levels,” says alum Jason Sloane. “That type of access is invaluable.” Alumnae Sandra Stern of Lionsgate and Catrice Monson of CBS are two examples.
FDA wants women to know about breast density | NBC’s “Today”
“Change happens slowly, but I think this is a huge step for the FDA,” Dr. Deanna Attai, past president of the American Society of Breast Surgeons, told TODAY. “I’m certainly very encouraged by this.”
Silicon Valley turning points can have unpredictable results | CNBC
The reason, according to UCLA Labor Center senior research analyst Lucero Herrera, is that the current business model for both Lyft and Uber only has two choices: Either they increase rates and can offer drivers more of a share and that in turn decreases demand, or they decrease the rate they pay drivers to offer cheaper rides and increase demand. The latter “is the only choice that has proven successful in terms of growing,” and even that has not been profitable, Herrera said.
More universities researching marijuana | VOA
The University of California Los Angeles has launched a Cannabis Research Initiative. The school claims it is one of the first academic programs in the world centering on the study of cannabis. Researchers there are currently looking at issues such as medical treatments and economic effects.
Sex workers say decriminalization makes them safer | GQ
If sex workers themselves can’t convince legislators and feminist groups that decriminalization is the best way forward, could academics have more luck? “I would love it if we took a data-driven approach to policy decisions,” Manisha Shah, a professor of public policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, tells me. In 2014, she and Scott Cunningham of Baylor University did groundbreaking research that suggests the pro-decriminalization lobby might be onto something.
We need a plan to care for aging Californians | San Francisco Chronicle Opinion
Rising housing costs have left nearly 70 percent of San Francisco’s low-income older adults spending more than a third of their monthly income on rent, according to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. For housing costs to be considered affordable, the total costs, including utilities and insurance, should not exceed 30 percent.
How ‘Medicare for all’ became a mainstream idea | CQ-Roll Call
Mark Peterson, a UCLA political science professor, said that historically, Americans have consistently said the health care system needs improvements, but they’re also afraid of what they don’t know. “To the extent that what progressives are doing will stimulate that kind of action at the public level to really create that wave, a groundswell of support the way Social Security had, that can make an enormous political difference,” he said.
California ‘browning’ more in the south during droughts | Phys.org
Like a climate chameleon, California turned brown during the 2012–16 drought, as vegetation dried or died off. But the change wasn’t uniform. According to research from UCLA and Columbia University, large areas of the northern part of the state were not severely affected, while Southern California became much browner than usual. “Southern California is more prone than the northern part of the state to getting severe droughts,” said UCLA climate scientist Glen MacDonald, one of the paper’s authors. “But that difference seems to be increasing.” (UCLA’s Chunyu Dong is also quoted.)
13 things you do every day that can ruin your teeth | Business Insider
“Right after you eat or drink acidic foods, you have a period where the pH of your mouth is more acidic and the teeth are essentially ‘softer.’ If you brush your teeth right after, you are actually fracturing the enamel on your teeth,” [said] chief resident at UCLA orthodontics Dr. Greg Asatrian.
Finnish inmates are training AI as part of prison labor | The Verge
This type of job tends to be “rote, menial, and repetitive,” says Sarah T. Roberts, a professor of information science at the University of California at Los Angeles who studies information workers. It does not require building high level of skill, and if a university researcher tried to partner with prison laborers in the same way, “that would not pass an ethics review board for a study.” While it’s good that the prisoners are being paid a similar wage as on Mechanical Turk, Roberts points out that wages on Mechanical Turk are extremely low anyway.
What a spacecraft orbiting Uranus could learn | Space.com
“It’s a really interesting target,” Erin Leonard, a doctoral student in planetary geology at the University of California, Los Angeles, who acted as project manager for the design process, told Space.com. “We chose it a bit for the challenge also, to try to show that there is a lot that can be done within the New Frontiers cost cap.”
Americans aren’t getting enough sleep and it’s killing us | The Hill Opinion
(Commentary written by UCLA’s Jonathan Fielding) Americans don’t respect sleep. As much as 40 percent of us say that we don’t sleep enough, according to Gallup. Perhaps we have too much to do or work more than one job, preventing a normal sleep routine. Whatever our reasons, sleep is often not a high priority. We shouldn’t take it so lightly: there is a growing mountain of compelling evidence that our casual disregard of healthy sleep is downright dangerous.
Democrats introduce bill to ban LGBTQ discrimination | Politifact
“Currently, federal anti-discrimination statutes such as Title VII (Civil Rights Act of 1964) which prohibits discrimination in the employment context do not on their face prohibit sexual orientation or gender identity discrimination,” said Adam Romero, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. “The statutes don’t say the words sexual orientation or gender identity.”
Understanding circadian rhythms in algae and fungi | Phys.org
Biochemist Sabeeha Merchant, University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), studies how the molecular biology of the organism responds to light and dark cycles; specifically, how a cell decides when to divide in two. … Merchant and UCLA project scientist Daniela Strenkert cultivated Chlamydomonas on a 12-hour light-dark cycle to establish a synchronous culture of cells. The cycle ensured each of millions of cells divided once every 24 hours. The experimental system allowed the researchers to observe the sequential order of events and pathways during the process of cell division, amplified millions of times.
People don’t realize how circumspect Putin is | Zocalo Public Square
“But [more broadly], I don’t think he’s very dangerous. … Putin is an exceptionally cautious figure who follows a consistent policy. People don’t realize how circumspect Putin is,” said UCLA’s Richard Anderson.
Heating tumors could make CAR T therapy more effective | Xinhua
Heating solid tumors during CAR T-cell therapy can enhance the treatment’s success, a preclinical study led by scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) suggested. Researchers of UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer found that when a heating technique called photothermal ablation was combined with the infusion of CAR T cells, it suppressed melanoma tumor growth for up to 20 days in mice, according to a release of the university on Wednesday.
UCLA environmental plan can transform L.A. | Antelope Valley Press
A futuristic, comprehensive environmental plan for Los Angeles has been drawn up at UCLA. It’s known as the Sustainable L.A. Grand Challenge. It is being hailed as a call to action for groundbreaking intervention that could forge a more sustainable path forward for the great L.A. basin. Several years ago, a climate modeler named Alex Hall, working in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences department of UCLA, created a map of the future. (UCLA’s Mark Gold is also quoted.)
‘Grey’s Anatomy’ consent episode drew from UCLA visit | Hollywood Reporter
“Three years ago, the WGA asked certain people if they wanted to go tour UCLA’s Rape Treatment Center in Santa Monica. It’s world-renowned. I went there and learned more than I could ever possibly could on television. The most fascinating thing to me was how they treated each individual that walked into their center and the respect they gave them and how they tailored what they do as a process to every single person who comes in the door,” said [Grey’s Anatomy writer] Elisabeth Finch.
