National Public Radio reported on heavy smoke over parts of the Northeast this week, as over 900 wildfires burn in Canada following a week of high temperatures and dry conditions. Data has shown that the pollution from wildfires has many health effects, according to Dr. David Eisenman, a professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Eisenman, who is also the co-director of the Center for Healthy Climate Solutions at UCLA, points to studies showing an increase in heart attacks, heart failure, stroke and respiratory illness. “Even if the sky is not brown, it still might be toxic for you.” (Eisenman was also featured by Axios.) Read more about UCLA in today’s CNN, Los Angeles Times and others.

More highlights from UCLA in the News: July 17, 2026

Lettuce served at Taco Bell linked to cyclosporiasis outbreak | CNN

“The bottom line is, is that we have foodborne outbreaks all the time. So, we now have good news here. We know that that many of these cases are linked to shredded lettuce, from what we understand. And that’s there’s now something to be done about it. So they’re pulling the produce,” said UCLA’s Anne Rimoin.

The multiple factors impacting California’s wildfires | Los Angeles Times

UCLA professor and climate scientist Alex Hall joins host Kate Cagle to talk about how we can better prepare ourselves for the next mega-fire, including a proposal to create a classification system — and a standardized response — for Santa Ana wind storms, similar to the one we use for hurricanes in the U.S.

New process turns mixed plastic waste directly into hydrogen fuel | Phys.org

Now, a team co-led by researchers at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and Ewha Womans University in South Korea has demonstrated a new chemical approach that converts a mixture of the three most common plastics directly into high-purity hydrogen fuel at temperatures far below conventional gasification. The process locks carbon dioxide away as a solid mineral without releasing the greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. (UCLA’s Ah-Hyung “Alissa” Park was quoted.)