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.
In ‘Abominable,’ Asian actors play Asian characters. What a novelty | New York Times Column
In an industry in which we’re scarcely represented — 3.4 percent of film roles went to Asian-Americans in 2017, according to a Hollywood diversity report by University of California, Los Angeles — here was a big-studio movie with Chinese characters voiced mainly by Asian-Americans, an occurrence as rare as a solar eclipse… Darnell Hunt, a sociology professor at U.C.L.A. who leads the university’s Hollywood diversity report, said the lack of Asian-American representation on the big screen is also a reflection of the lack of minorities in Hollywood’s executive roles. At major studios, the key decision makers who greenlight projects are mostly white men. If more people of color were in those positions, they would probably have different perceptions about what viewers want, like minority actors in major roles, he said.
Congratulations, you survived Black Hole Week | New York Times
With their sights set relatively close to home, astronomers from the University of California, Los Angeles, reported this month that the giant black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy had become inexplicably hungrier…. Andrea Ghez, a U.C.L.A. astrophysicist who has long monitored the object, which is known as Sagittarius A*, had never seen it so bright. “It’s usually a pretty quiet, wimpy black hole on a diet,” she said in a news release. “We don’t know what is driving this big feast.”
As a Mexico-trained doctor in San Diego, Brenda Green gets the whole family involved | Zócalo Public Square Opinion
At first, I didn’t think I’d be able to stay in California, earn a medical license, and win a residency here. But then I had the good fortune to get into UCLA’s International Medical Graduate (IMG) program. So the IMG program prepares bilingual, bicultural immigrant medical school graduates who reside in the U.S. legally to earn a California medical license and obtain a residency in family medicine. In return, the program’s participants promise to practice in one of the state’s underserved communities for two to three years after their residency is over. UCLA was great. The program didn’t just help prepare me for the licensing exams and score in the 99th percentile for U.S. students; it also gave me an introduction to the culture of American medicine. I helped teach a Medical Spanish course at Geffen School of Medicine, and, as part of a clerkship, I rotated through the UCLA hospital system.
Pulitzer Prize winner and former L.A. Times music critic Martin Bernheimer dies at 83 | Los Angeles Times
In 1969, he joined the music faculty of UCLA and in 1982 he became an honorary member of a chapter of Pi Kappa Lambda, the national music honor society.
Deep learning powers a motion-tracking revolution | Nature
DeepBehavior, developed by neuroscientist Ahmet Arac at the University of California, Los Angeles, and his colleagues, allows users to track 3D movement trajectories and calculate parameters such as velocities and joint angles in mice and humans. Arac’s team is using this package to assess the recovery of people who have had a stroke and to study the links between brain-network activity and behaviour in mice.
Cannabis research pioneer hopes latest discovery is not overlooked — again | NBC News
Ziva Cooper, research director of the UCLA Cannabis Research Initiative, said EPM’s research confirms what many in the field have long suspected about cannabis acids, but have been unable to confirm due to their instability. “Their work is quite innovative, and it definitely builds on what we know related to the potential therapeutic effects of cannabinoids,” Cooper said, adding that the compound could be particularly effective for pain control. Cooper said that while more testing will be needed to determine effectiveness and safety for humans, EPM’s results so far are “quite encouraging.”
Facebook tests doing away with ‘like’ counts | CBS News
Health advocates have long pushed Facebook to hide “like” counts, noting that the tool encourages attention-seeking and potentially extreme content on the platform. A 2016 UCLA study found that teenagers are heavily influenced by the number of “likes” on a post, and are more likely to engage with a post if many other people have already done so.
UCLA’s new building proves that sustainability doesn’t have to be high-tech | Fast Company
In Culver City, an industrial stretch of Los Angeles, a vintage, 21,200-square-foot wallpaper factory has been updated to house UCLA’s Margo Leavin Graduate Art Studios, a multipurpose gallery and classroom space for art, architecture, and design students. The graduate art program’s studios have existed in the Hayden Tract area of Culver City since 1986; this renovation of the space, unveiled this week, marks the expansion of the old building into a 48,000-square-foot campus.
Gum disease might raise your blood pressure | HealthDay News
A growing body of evidence shows an association between periodontitis and hypertension, along with hardening of the arteries, said Dr. Gregg Fonarow, a professor of cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. More than 50 studies have shown that periodontitis is associated with increased risk for heart disease and an association between tooth loss and stroke, cardiovascular death and death from any cause, he said. “However, it remains unclear whether gum disease is a marker or mediator,” Fonarow said.
UCLA Health Nurse-Midwife Program expands its services | Santa Monica Observer
The UCLA Health Nurse-Midwife Program, based at UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica, is expanding its services to provide well-woman health care — including annual checkups, Pap smears, and new birth control options — for women 35 and younger.… “We’re excited to now provide women with more gynecological services,” said certified nurse midwife Eyelle Sacher, one of the clinic’s five full-time nurse-midwives. “We have years of experience delivering babies, and providing pre-natal and post-partum care. The additional services we’re offering take our commitment a step further, enabling us to do more to promote women’s health overall.”
E-scooter riders are confused about where to ride and what regulations to follow | Business Insider
“Overall, we found 249 emergency-department visits that were associated with an electric-scooter use of some sort. Some other results that we found interesting were that almost no one was wearing a helmet. Approximately 30% of our injured patients actually had some sort of fracture, and 40% of them had some sort of head injury. Those stats are kind of alarming,” said UCLA’s Tarak Trivedi.
UCLA launches Bedari Kindness Institute | Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Funded by $20 million from the Bedari Foundation, the UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute will be a hub for research that will document the positive outcomes that result from acts of kindness. The UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute is a unique opportunity for cutting edge scientific research on how to create a more humane society, according to UCLA officials. Dr. Darnell Hunt, dean of social sciences at UCLA said that kindness is related to significant issues of the day, such as poverty, homelessness and immigration. At the core is empathy, he added, noting that interesting research is emerging around presence or absence of empathy for others. (Also: KTLA-TV, Beverly Hills Courier)
What’s behind the vaping-related lung illnesses? | KCRW-FM’s “Greater LA”
“With cigarette smoking, we’ve been able to study traditional cigarettes for more than 50 years now, to understand what those health harms are. With these new type of electronic smoking devices, which people know as electronic cigarettes and vaping devices, we really don’t know a lot about these new types of technologies,” said UCLA’s Michael Ong. (Approx. 1:10 mark)
