UCLA In the News lists selected mentions of UCLA in the world’s news media. Some articles may require registration or a subscription to view. See more UCLA In the News.
Is Hollywood ready for its close-up? UCLA scholars examine progress in diversity | Diverse Issues in Higher Education
At the end of her acceptance speech for best actress at the 90th annual Academy Awards in 2018, Frances McDormand said, “I have two words for you: inclusion rider.” That phrase, which puzzled many viewers at the time, is now part of the lexicon of scholarly research, including a recent UCLA study, which found that “current status quo approaches to addressing the entertainment industry’s diversity problem have failed to move the needle in any significant way.Titled “By All M.E.A.N.S. Necessary: Essential Practices for Transforming Hollywood Diversity and Inclusion,” the report is based on an analysis of current inclusion and diversity programs at Hollywood studios, agencies and other companies as well as interviews of 21 entertainment industry leaders. The research was conducted by the UCLA Division of Social Sciences professors Drs. Darnell Hunt, Ana-Christina Ramón and J Shim.
California college road trip: UCLA | U.S. News & World Report
As a large public university located in the nation's second-largest city, the University of California—Los Angeles has a cozy, suburban campus feel but an abundance of opportunities for its 31,000-plus undergraduates to get connected to their city surroundings…. About 80% of undergrads come from within the Golden State, and nearly 1 in 3 are first-generation college students.
Students’ attitudes toward controversial speech are changing. Here’s why | Chronicle of Higher Education
Students’ attitudes can also be influenced by the tenor of current events. A survey conducted by a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles and published by the Brookings Institution tried to gauge tolerance of offensive speech by surveying what students thought was an acceptable response to it. The study by John Villasenor, a professor of engineering and law, found that 51 percent of students surveyed — 62 percent of Democrats and 39 percent of Republicans — indicated it was acceptable for a student group to shout so the audience couldn’t hear the speaker…. In a coincidence, however, the survey was conducted shortly after the deadly violence in Charlottesville, Villasenor says.
E-sniffer predicts non-responders to lung cancer immunotherapy | Reuters
The new results are “intriguing” but “preliminary,” said Dr. Edward Garon, director of thoracic oncology at the University of California, Los Angeles, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. And while there “is a great enthusiasm about the idea of predictive biomarkers, you would want to see larger datasets studied in a prospective fashion before looking at this as a diagnostic tool,” Garon said. “It would also be helpful to have a mechanistic explanation of why this would be predictive of immunotherapy outcomes,” added Garon, who was not involved with the new research.
Adolescents go wild — and not just humans | Wall Street Journal
(Commentary co-written by UCLA’s Barbara Natterson-Horowitz) The two of us have spent the past decade studying the natural world for insights into human health. For the past five years, we have focused our research on how living creatures grow up. Comparing the life histories of young animals, we’ve found striking similarities across species among those who are post-puberty but aren’t yet mature adults. Adolescent animals are more likely to take risks, gravitate toward same-age peers, practice courtship moves and stray from home — often sparking conflicts with parents and siblings.
Why Bay Area transit is broken, and who is trying to fix it | Mercury News
Historically, the Bay Area’s transit agencies were created to serve local, rather than regional, customers, said Brian Taylor, a professor at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs. One of his first academic papers in the 1980s looked at the splintered nature of the Bay Area’s transit topography. “Right now we have a system, and a tradition, where each transit agency has its own map, its own color scheme, its own way to organize fares, its own way to describe its services,” Taylor said. “And there are reasons why local organizations should have control.”
How your brain responds to a ‘like’ online shows the power of social media | Bustle
Dr. Lauren Sherman, a former developmental psychology professor and postdoctoral fellow who's currently a UX researcher at Facebook, conducted research at UCLA in 2016 that reflected these findings. In our study, “we showed the exact same photo with a lot of likes to half of the teens and to the other half with just a few likes,” she said in a UCLA press release. “When they saw a photo with more likes, they were significantly more likely to like it themselves. Teens react differently to information when they believe it has been endorsed by many or few of their peers, even if these peers are strangers.”
We need to talk about a planned retreat from climate disaster zones now | Vice
“When we see depictions of retreat or hear about it as this kind of last resort, the sense is that it will be forced,” said Liz Koslov, an assistant professor of urban planning, environment, and sustainability at UCLA, in a call. The popular perception of retreat, she said, either involves the government mandating the removal of a population, or people ending up displaced in the wake of a major disaster and barred from returning to their homes.
Can Trump legally revoke California’s clean air waiver? Probably not | Los Angeles Times Column
“What they’re saying is that even though California’s standards are not fuel economy standards but emissions standards, because a way to achieve emissions reductions is to make your cars more fuel-efficient, the emissions standards have the effect of regulating fuel economy,” says Julia Stein, an environmental law expert at UCLA. But two federal court rulings, both based on a 2007 decision by the Supreme Court, have upheld California’s regulations even though they might have an impact on fuel economy rules.
You’re more likely to get sick in the winter — but not for the reasons you think | Healthline
“The role of sunlight is poorly understood, but ultraviolet light from the sun is a well-known decontaminant. Historically, sun exposure was used to treat tuberculosis patients prior to antibiotic therapy with some success,” Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, a professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at the University of California Los Angeles, told Healthline.
Los Angeles: why tens of thousands of people sleep rough | BBC News
(Commentary co-written by UCLA’s Gary Blasi) You do not have to walk far in Los Angeles to see people sleeping rough. Many spend their nights in temporary shelters, or other places not meant for human habitation — on the street, in an abandoned building, or a transport hub. The number of homeless people in Los Angeles has grown by 33% over the past four years. Every night, nearly 60,000 Los Angeles County residents are homeless, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority has found.
Has patience for people sleeping on the streets been stretched to the breaking point? | KCRW-FM’s “Press Play”
Zev Yaroslavsky, director of the L.A. Initiative at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs, and former Los Angeles County Supervisor, shares his reaction to the vote: “I think this board, if I know them well enough, wants to have the discretion to do some things in a humane and intelligent way.” He suggests if a homeless person is blocking a business, it’d be a good idea to give them temporary shelter or housing, not just kick them out of the area. (Also: Los Angeles Daily News)
Amid immigration fight, making sure ‘new American children’ get an education | NBC News
A 2018 study from UCLA’s Civil Rights Project, which noted an increase in worries related to immigration enforcement and a 70 percent decline in academic performance among new American children, served as a catalyst for her work and research.
Taco Bell’s new vegetarian menu may seem ‘healthier’ but… | Healthline
Dana Hunnes, PhD, MPH, RD, a senior dietitian at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center, said that while these new items are “better than the meaty alternatives” on the menu, that isn’t saying they are nutritious choices. “I would say that they still are primarily processed white-flour, lots of calories, tortillas with a small amount of beans, high-salt cheesy product (not even sure it’s real cheese), and a token amount of vegetables,” Hunnes told Healthline. “Like I said, they are slightly better than the original meat versions, but they are not a health food.”
How to bring out your best self | Medium
Smiling is a simple and effective way to display warmth, but it also influences your brain. Marco Iacoboni, a neuroscientist at UCLA, studied the mirror effect on neurons in the body, and tells us that it’s also contagious. You’re more attractive when you are perceived as warm and approachable. Smiling does that for you easily, and it’s free!
Want to reduce suicides? Follow the data | California Healthline
In Humboldt County, Calif., health officials estimate that 435 people died by suicide between 2005 and 2018 — the most common methods being hanging, drugs and firearms. About 18% of county residents reported suicidal feelings between 2012 and 2016 — twice the state average, according to the California Health Interview Survey, a long-running health study [from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health].
Climate change left thousands of people hospitalized or dead in U.S. in a single year | Daily Mail (U.K.)
The new findings have suggested that climate change is not just an environmental issue, but “represents a major public health emergency” in the United States. The research was compiled by a team of experts from Columbia University, the University of California Los Angeles and the non-profit environmental advocacy group Natural Resources Defense Council.
