UCLA In the News lists selected mentions of UCLA in the world’s news media. See more UCLA In the News.
Road trip to the super bloom brings to mind Halley’s Comet | San Francisco Chronicle
As stunning as the super blooms are, unfortunately they may also be a sign of a planet out of whack due to climate change. In research published last year, UCLA climate scientists forecast “precipitation extremes” in which our state’s Mediterranean climate will be susceptible to rapid shifts between drought and flood. Contrast the dryness between 2012 and 2016 to the extreme wetness of the winter of 2016-17, and of this past winter, and note the bounty at the poppy preserve twice in the past three years instead of the usual 10 years or more.
Using training apps in the emergency room | The Economist
As a result of PEPID and other apps, doctors no longer rely on wall-sized charts, for instance, where drugs for particular conditions are listed along with their interactions. “The problem with the handwritten charts is that they constantly had to be updated and often, through editing and re-editing, the charts become a confusing mess,” says Ross Donaldson, assistant clinical professor of emergency medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California at Los Angeles, who helped create the app.
Gavin Newsom’s trip to El Salvador prompts praise, speculation | Sacramento Bee
Many Latinos are pleased he picked El Salvador for his first international trip over a larger, wealthy country, said Cecilia Menjivar, a professor of sociology at University of California Los Angeles. “It shows concern for immigration, for immigrant populations,” she said. “I think not only the Salvadoran population, but the immigrant population, the Latino population are very appreciative.”
After death, Nipsey Hussle’s legacy celebrated by South L.A., a place of pride and hope | USA Today
Gaye Theresa Johnson, an associate professor at the departments of African American Studies and Chicano and Chicana Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that the area’s segregation from the rest of the metropolis was cemented through the barriers of that most L.A. feature—highways — as well as discriminatory banking, housing and educational policies. “People curtailed investments in black neighborhoods. They made it impossible for black residents to go to schools of their choices,” Johnson said. “All of these things contribute to a segregated city that doesn't quite look like other segregated cities in the U.S.”
Congestion pricing passed in New York, but can it be a national solution to traffic? | Pacific Standard
On the list of benefits of congestion pricing, Michael Manville, a professor of urban planning at University of California–Los Angeles Luskin School of Public Affairs, would put raising revenue somewhere near the bottom: The administrative cost of the type of electronic tolling system necessary to collect revenue from congestion pricing is much higher than that of taxing gas, or even property. “To an economist, you could have congestion charging in Manhattan, take all the money, put it in cash form, and then sink it in the harbor, and it would still be an incredibly beneficial program,” he says.
The future is non-binary, and teens are leading the way | Pacific Standard Opinion
A recent study by the Williams Institute at the University of California–Los Angeles found that, among all teens in California, not just those affiliated with the queer community, 27 percent identified with some level of gender non-conformity.
‘Ninja’ rat kicks snake in midair in amazing slo-mo video | National Geographic
“When snakes strike, it’s like a bullet coming out of a gun,” says Bree Putman, who was not involved in the new studies but has studied a similar dynamic between California ground squirrels and Pacific rattlesnakes. “They can’t really change the trajectory of the strike once they’ve initiated it.” Plenty of prey species have developed ways to sidestep or jump out of a snake’s trajectory, says Putman, who is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at University of California, Los Angeles, and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. “What’s really surprising about the new research is the fact that the [kangaroo rat] is actively kicking the snake mid-jump,” says Putman. “This is a new behavior that hasn’t been recorded before.”
A dead planet is orbiting a dead sun in a distant dead solar system | New Scientist
“Most rocky planets in our galaxy are also composed of the same elements,” says Ben Zuckerman at the University of California, Los Angeles. So he suggests that planets in our solar system could share the same fate. It is thought that our sun will die in about five billion years, and Mercury, Venus and Earth will almost certainly be engulfed in the explosion, but Mars, which is further from the sun, may survive and continue to orbit the remains.
The truth about drug dealers lacing cocaine with Fentanyl | Vice
“Among heroin users, some of whom may also use cocaine, risks for fentanyl overdose are high, given fentanyl is increasingly marketed as heroin,” said UCLA professor Steve Shoptaw, who studies substance abuse. “On the other hand, few people who use cocaine recreationally [by itself] have unexpected fentanyl overdoses. At this point, there just isn’t any evidence of a wide-scale substitution of fentanyl for cocaine, or methamphetamine, in drug markets.”
No U.S. labs follow all guidelines for ‘cell-free’ prenatal testing | Reuters
The new report is “really interesting,” said Dr. Leena Nathan, an obstetrician-gynecologist and an assistant clinical professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. “It was surprising to see there was no standardization.” And that’s very important, Nathan said, adding that the ob-gyns at her hospital were about to have a meeting to discuss which lab would be best to use. “This is a very helpful table,” she said. “And we will look closely at it and discuss it as a group as we decide which company to go with.”
In the Green Room: UCLA medical anthropologist Marjorie Kagawa-Singer | Zócalo Public Square
“Well, you’ve read about the five stages of grief — denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance,” said UCLA’s Marjorie Kagawa-Singer, “but that’s not how many people of color respond. It’s more of an ‘OK, now what?’ And there isn’t that sense of control.”
UC Berkeley’s insurance plan change will limit mental health care for students| KQED-FM
“To switch providers multiple times within a few years is kind of unusual,” said Shana Charles, an assistant professor at Cal State Fullerton in the public health department and a faculty associate with the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. Charles said the fact that mental health specialists are speaking out against the new plan before it’s even been put into motion suggests “a broken system.” “The UC system is a public system, and it does have a charge to take care of its students,” Charles said. “This calls for possible government intervention or regulation of some kind.”
LGBT people a ‘fundamental part of the fabric of rural communities’ | NPR
Same-sex parents, like many other parents, also gravitate to life outside the cities. The report says that “the highest rates of parenting by both same-sex couples and LGBT individuals are in the most rural regions of the country.” It points to data from The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law that says 24 out of the 30 states where same-sex couples are raising children are mostly rural in the Midwest, the South and the mountain regions of America.
As Dems turn to Trump’s tax returns, a look at the power of Ways and Means | KPCC’s “AirTalk”
“The major strength [of the Ways and Means Committee] is the fact that the statute is quite clear,” said UCLA’s Kirk Stark. “It’s been on the books for 95 years now, since 1924. The statute itself requires the Treasury Secretary to provide any tax returns or tax return information that the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee or the Senate Finance Committee requests. So if we’re just talking about the plain meaning of the statute, there’s really no question or controversy here.” (Approx. 6:15 mark)
Can taking Vitamin D help with weight loss? | Medium
“There is no evidence for vitamin D on weight loss,” says Dr. Zhaoping Li, a professor of medicine and director of clinical nutrition at UCLA Medical Center.
