LAist spoke with Gary Blasi, UCLA professor emeritus of law, about Mayor-elect Nithya Raman’s ambitious plan to reduce street homelessness by 50% before the 2028 Olympics. Blasi expressed skepticism about past promises to reduce homelessness but said the approaching Games could provide an opportunity to develop lasting solutions, including expanding access to permanent housing. Read more about UCLA in today’s Popular Science, NBC News and other outlets.

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More highlights from UCLA in the News: November 12, 2026

A wobbly exoplanet vanished — but astronomers aren’t worried | Popular Science

For the first time, astronomers witnessed a gigantic exoplanet dramatically vanish from view. But the “hot Jupiter” located about 1,000 light-years from Earth didn’t evaporate into the vacuum of space. Instead, the gravitational pull from an uncomfortably close neighbor is causing TOI-2535 b to wobble in its orbit thanks to the same dynamics dictating solar and lunar eclipses … “We think of the universe as resembling clockwork, where everything is regular, but that’s not true,” Samuel Yee, a University of California, Los Angeles, astronomer and study co-author, explained in a recent profile. “If there are multiple planets in a system, they can affect each other’s orbits.” (UCLA’s Erik Petigura was also quoted. Also: Futurism and BBC Sky at Night Magazine.)

How combining cells from different people can help measure health | The Conversation

(Commentary by UCLA’s Michael Wells) A family of five is exposed to the flu virus, but only two of them get sick. A lifelong chain-smoker lives 100 years, while a professional athlete in their prime dies of an unexpected heart attack. A drug fails a clinical trial due to harmful side effects in a subset of patients despite showing good results in others. Could any of these scenarios have been predicted? The simple answer is not yet — but perhaps soon with the help of biomarkers.

November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month | KNBC-TV

“Not all those who develop lung cancer have smoked, and we are seeing rising cases in those who are never smokers. So what we want to do is help you figure out if you are at risk, and if you are to detect that lung cancer earlier, so that we can offer you these hosts of treatment options,” said UCLA’s Dr. Ashley Prosper (approx. :25 mark).

The effect of the Nvidia scandal on the economy | CBS LA

“The most important thing for people to learn, to understand, is that the index is still very well diversified. Don’t let yourself be misled into thinking like, ‘We’re doomed, let’s get the heck out of the market as soon as possible.’ That’s really not the right way to react,” said UCLA’s Avanidhar Subrahmanyam. (approx. 1:25 mark. UCLA’s William Yu was also featured —approx. 1:55 mark).

California voters pass Prop. 38, authorizing state bonds for research | CBS LA

Zev Yaroslavsky of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs explained that supporters want to continue medical research in hopes of finding cures. “We have some of the finest universities in the world here that are doing research on that. Some of it right here in Los Angeles, UCLA, UC Berkeley up north,” Yaroslavsky said, noting that he believes that if the proposition does not pass, it would “gut the research momentum.”

Colorado ballot measure could designate biological sexes to sports teams | The Hill

Data from the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law estimated in 2025 that there are around 300,000 young transgender individuals (ages 13 to 17) in the country in total, with a separate roughly 400,000 transgender people aged 18 to 24 years old in the U.S. in total. 

What the blue wave could mean for future of tuition equity laws | Insider Higher Ed

Ahilan Arulanantham, a law professor and co-director of the Miñana Family Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law, said the answer depends on whether the settlement is final, whether any part of the case has been appealed, and whether there was a motion to intervene.  

The best water flossers that help remove plaque from your teeth | NBC News

A water flosser earns the American Dental Association’s Seal of Acceptance if a brand submits data to the organization showing that its device is safe for teeth and effective at reducing plaque and gingivitis. This doesn’t mean water flossers without the ADA Seal are ineffective — it just means brands haven’t submitted their products for the organization to review, says Dr. Edmond Hewlett, a professor at the UCLA School of Dentistry.