UCLA In the News lists selected mentions of UCLA in the world’s news media. See more UCLA In the News.
The future of classical music is Chinese | Washington Post Opinion
(Commentary written by UCLA’s Inna Faliks) Seventy-five percent of my students at UCLA are Chinese or Chinese American. Pianists from China, after graduating from the best music schools in Europe and the United States, return home to pass on classical music traditions in their own distinct ways. This musical exchange is exponentially growing. Concert halls may remain empty in our nation’s cities, especially when traditional classical recitals are offered by a non-household name, but in China, playing a Beethoven or Chopin program is not boring or unhip. Chinese audiences are hungry for more.
Horror is a must-see genre again | Washington Post
Horror is more than gore and slasher films, says [Tananarive] Due, who executive-produced the documentary “Horror Noire” and teaches a course on “the Sunken Place” (from “Get Out”) at the University of California at Los Angeles. “This is a genre that can really help us as a society confront anxieties, fears, transitions, obstacles.” (Also: Medium)
Northern lights in the northern U.S.? | New York Times
The northern lights are not that uncommon, even in the 48 contiguous states, said Larry Lyons, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles who studies space physics and the auroras. The northern lights are probably visible about 10 times a year in parts of New York, Mr. Lyons estimated, away from the light pollution of major metropolitan areas. “People in the northern states, when it’s clear, see it a few times a year,” he said.
Why people procrastinate | New York Times
“We really weren’t designed to think ahead into the further future because we needed to focus on providing for ourselves in the here and now,” said psychologist Dr. Hal Hershfield, a professor of marketing at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Dr. Hershfield’s research has shown that, on a neural level, we perceive our “future selves” more like strangers than as parts of ourselves.
Survivors of childhood cancers find hope for parenthood | Los Angeles Times
“The parents of a 10-year-old boy will often ask me what I can do for their kid, and until now, the answer is: nothing,” said Dr. Jesse Mills, a reproductive surgeon at UCLA who treats male infertility and was not involved in the research. “So for me, this research is not a steppingstone — it’s a turning point. It’s going to reframe the conversation about a fulfilled life for kids after the cure.”
Cosmetic genital surgery on intersex children could be banned | Los Angeles Times
Dr. Steve Lerman, chief of the UCLA Division of Pediatric Urology, agrees that there is not enough known about the long-term outcomes of complex genital surgeries. Those surgeries were relatively new procedures in the 1970s and ’80s, and now some of those patients have valid complaints about their results, Lerman said. Lerman said doctors, including himself, need to step up and recognize that such surgeries have previously had questionable outcomes and should be further studied.
Uber drivers prepare to strike over wage cut | Southern California News Group
“Over a third of drivers buy or lease their car so they can drive for one of these companies, and this locks them into a variety of costs,” said Janna Shadduck-Hernandez, project director for the report and a faculty member at UCLA. “Many of these drivers initially see this as a novelty and an easy way to make some added income. But with all of the expenses they end up paying, some drivers find they are not even making minimum wage.”
Are Beto, Biden and Bernie the best Democrats can offer? | Guardian (U.K.)
“There is no question that the media does not do an equal and fair job of covering women and minority candidates — that they ask them different questions, that they give them less attention and coverage,” said Matt Barreto, a professor of political science and Chicano studies at the University of California, Los Angeles and the co-founder of the polling firm Latino Decisions.
More seniors seek pot for age-related aches | Associated Press
People Lee’s age — 65 and over — are the fastest-growing segment of the marijuana-using population, said Dr. Gary Small, professor of psychiatry and aging at the University of California, Los Angeles. He believes more studies on the drug’s effects on older people are needed. And while it may improve quality of life by relieving pain, anxiety and other problems, he said, careless, unsupervised use can cause trouble. “We know that cannabis can cause side effects, particularly in older people,” he said. “They can get dizzy. It can even impair memory if the dose is too high or new ingredients are wrong. And dizziness can lead to falls, which can be quite serious.”
Ohio just granted Lake Erie the same rights as a human | Medium
“I would expect that at this moment, there’s not a court in the United States that would say that Lake Erie has a right to sue,” says Sean Hecht, a professor of environmental law at UCLA. Hecht says it’s beyond the powers of a local ordinance to grant rights to a lake or any other nonhuman. This could only be achieved in state laws or by changing the federal Constitution — both of which he deems politically impossible, at least for now.
Disparity in school discipline between Asian and Pacific Islanders | EdSource
Pedro Noguera, one of the study’s co-authors and director of UCLA’s Center for the Transformation of Schools, said the research team was not surprised by the differences. Students from Southeast Asia are far more likely than their East Asian counterparts to come from families who came to the U.S. as refugees and live in low-income communities. Southeast Asian students “have higher rates of trauma and instability due to the refugee trauma … they live in poor communities and their parents often don’t speak English,” Noguera said. “That is why generalizing about different groups is so unhelpful.”
Why the U.S. can’t ban guns like New Zealand did | CBC
In the U.S., probably “a good 20 million guns would fall into the category of military-style, or at least in the double-digit-millions. So it’s not clear any ban would do anything about the available stock,” said Eugene [Volokh], an expert on libertarianism who teaches a seminar on firearms regulation policy at the University of California Los Angeles.
Identifying Jack the Ripper — or not | KCAL-TV
“They’re not identifying a unique person. Actually, about 1 in 50 to 1 in a 100 individuals in modern England have this mitochondrial type,” said UCLA’s Stanley Nelson. (approx. 1:40 mark)
March of mangroves affects fishing, flooding and carbon | Climate Central
As historical mangrove forests in Florida and elsewhere are protected and restored, UCLA Assistant Professor Kyle Cavanaugh has been studying the poleward expansion of their ranges worldwide. Using remote sensing and spatial data, he has led projects monitoring changes in mangrove abundance along the East Coast. “One common question I get is, ‘Is this a good thing?’” Cavanaugh said. “What I tell people is that, ‘Yes, mangroves are very important, but this expansion is replacing salt marsh, which is an important ecosystem itself.’”
This is your brain on March Madness | Men’s Health
Devour all the who-made-it-in reports you can: “Just thinking about the game activates neurons that release the chemical dopamine,” says Marco Iacoboni, M.D., Ph.D., of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. You release more of that feel-good chemical in anticipation of a reward (watching 4 billion games) than when you get it.
This list of climate change solutions may be key to reversing it | Forbes
Daniel J. Siegel, MD, author of Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence and a clinical professor at UCLA School of Medicine agrees with the Congressman, adding, “My take on Project Drawdown is that it is a scientifically solid, insightful guide to some of the most important and effective steps we are taking to reverse global warming.”
UCLA neurosurgeon Christopher Giza profiled | Culver City News
Dr. [Christopher] Giza founded and directs the UCLA Steven Tisch BrainSPORT program, which focuses on providing cutting edge technology and care for athletes dealing with concussions and other head injuries. Giza has also served as a clinical consultant for a majority of the major American professional sports leagues, including the NFL, NHL/NHLPA, NBA, MLB and Major League Soccer. … “What has been most rewarding is to work with professional athletes, most of whom show tremendous discipline and dedication to their training and have legitimate questions and concerns about their brain health.”
Monterey County activists cite UCLA report on pesticides | Monterey Herald
A new report critical of the Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner’s office as well as those throughout the state indicates that alternatives to dangerous pesticides are not being considered when permitting growers to use these poisons. Among the pesticides and fumigants identified by the University of California, Los Angeles, are three that are used extensively in strawberry fields and other crops such as wine grapes in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties: chlorpyrifos (brand name Lorsban), chloropicrin (Telone) and metam salts. (Also: KQED-FM, California Health Report)
When policymakers ignore science, children pay | Environmental Health News Opinion
(Commentary written by UCLA’s Richard Jackson) More than a decade ago, I authored a paper warning that the toxic pollutant lead was damaging the brains of our children and costing each year’s cohort of American babies hundreds of billions in lifetime income. Today I am writing because there is mounting evidence that failing to protect our children from air pollution will cost far more.
