UCLA In the News lists selected mentions of UCLA in the world’s news media. See more UCLA In the News.

Psychologist claims Google search steers voters to the left | Los Angeles Times

“The larger issue he is looking at is extremely important,” said Ramesh Srinivasan, a professor of information studies at UCLA who focuses on the relationships between technology and politics. Srinivasan voices skepticism about Epstein’s conclusion that the GOP is being victimized, but argues scholars need to look more deeply at how search engines can shape the views of those who use them.

Art from the rubble of Watts | Los Angeles Times

In his essay “Before and After Watts: Black Art in Los Angeles,” UCLA African American studies scholar Paul Von Blum writes that the uprising forced public dialogue about race and pushed government agencies to fund social and cultural programming in the city.

Did Fresno and Tulare counties violate a pesticide law? | Fresno Bee

A Tulare mother said her youngest son has rashes all over his body and has trouble learning much because of hazardous pesticides used on farmland near their home. And a newly released study may back up her claims, citing many California agricultural counties — including Fresno and Tulare — in violation of state law of granting growers permits to use toxic pesticides without properly evaluating safer alternatives. The study … was released Wednesday by a group of UCLA researchers. (Also: Ventura County Star)

California visit is key test for Sanders’ 2020 prospects | Guardian (U.K.)

“It’s a diverse state, and its diversity is what makes it so interesting and important to the candidates,” Matt Barreto, a professor of Chicana/o Studies at UCLA who did polling for the Clinton campaign in 2016, told the Guardian. “None of those Democrats are going to win the 2020 presidential race without having strong support and very high turnout among communities of color. So California gives them an opportunity to try that out and see how effective they can be.”

With Latino power rising, Kamala Harris seeks to connect | CNN

UCLA political science professor Matt A. Barreto noted that younger Latino voters were a driving force in highly contested U.S. House races in California and Nevada. … “The data was all very clear, whether it was the pre-election polling data, or the election night polling data, or the precinct results, or the voter file — all the data that we’ve gone through points to record turnout rates by Latinos.”

Changing gun policy in the U.S. versus in New Zealand | NPR’s “All Things Considered”

“The Second Amendment certainly plays an important role in shaping cultural attitudes about guns and forming American politics about guns. But the courts haven’t used the Second Amendment to strike down lots of laws. And most courts have upheld the kinds of laws that New Zealand is considering, such as bans on high-capacity magazines and bans on military-style rifles. The problem is the NRA won’t let those laws be passed in America,” said UCLA’s Adam Winkler.

Black horror films like ‘Us’ reflect a nightmarish reality | San Francisco Chronicle

“A more common theme throughout black horror, as in all horror, is the will to fight back and survive against overwhelming force,” adds [Tananarive] Due, who also teaches a class at UCLA about black horror inspired by “Get Out” called “The Sunken Place: Racism, Survival and the Black Horror Aesthetic.” “Because black Americans so often feel relegated to outsider status, our horror will often examine isolation and everyday experiences from a unique perspective, or invoking intergenerational magical mythologies and faith we inherited from our grandparents raised in the South or the Caribbean.”

Who’s to blame for mosque shooting videos on Facebook? | Pacific Standard

“I often feel like I’m talking in another language when I’m talking to people who work inside the tech industry and operate strictly in these paradigms of data aggregation and numbers, without considering the nuances of what we’re talking about. That isn’t to say that they don’t think about these issues, but they’re trying to quantitatively measure things and sometimes that’s not the right measuring stick,” said UCLA’s Sarah Roberts.

Study warns of extinction threat for local mountain lions | HuffPost

Researchers, including from the University of California at Los Angeles, UC Davis and the National Park Service, analyzed DNA samples and 15 years of data from both areas to create population viability models to predict extinction based on genetic and environmental risk factors. The “greatest long-term threat to both populations appears to be the rapid loss of genetic diversity associated with their isolation from mountain lions in surrounding areas,” the study concludes. But even a single newcomer into either group could increase chances of long-term survival, the researchers say. 

Musical pacifier helps premature babies | KCBS-TV

“When the infant sucks on the pacifier, it gently plays the song. Then it stops, after the infant stops sucking” said UCLA’s Jenna Bollard.

Scientists say adulthood doesn’t really begin until age 30 | Earth.com

“These are larger questions that go beyond the science,” said Daniel Geschwind, a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles. “There are individual trajectories… development takes place over decades. But this varies from individual to individual.”

The shaky science of IV vitamin drips | Medium

“With vitamins and micronutrients, you only need a small amount,” says Dr. Zhaoping Li, director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition. While many people approach vitamin supplementation with a more-equals-better ethos, Li says that’s misguided. Your body has built-in systems to regulate your nutrient intakes and levels — systems you bypass by injecting these nutrients into your blood.

Periodontitis gum regeneration treatment shows promise | UPI

“Given the current disadvantages with guided tissue regeneration, we saw the need to develop a new class of membranes, which have tissue and bone regeneration properties along with a flexible coating that can adhere to a range of biological surfaces,” Alireza Moshaverinia, an assistant professor at the UCLA School of Dentistry and study co-lead author, said in a news release. (Also: Phys.org)

Webb Telescope to explore galaxies’ origins | Space Daily

An international team led by Tommaso Treu of the University of California, Los Angeles, has been investigating how Webb can tackle these two key questions about the universe in the Early Release Science program. Treu and his team will study the earliest, most distant galaxies to investigate their origins.

Disrupting the dominance of white, western English | Pittsburgh City Paper

Dr. Samy Alim has spent his career dissecting the ways language can empower, subvert, and control cultural norms. As an author and professor of anthropology and African-American studies at UCLA, Dr. Alim has studied in depth how western, white, English language has come to be understood to be the standard, an ideology that allows its speakers to believe they have no accent.

Senior citizens should drink more water to head off disease | HealthDay News

Not drinking enough water is a common but under-recognized problem among American seniors that puts their health at risk, researchers say. “So many health issues are related to inadequate hydration,” including urinary tract and respiratory infections, frequent falls and other problems, said study author Janet Mentes. She’s a professor of nursing at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).