CBS News HealthWatch reported on the rising use of pricier laser-assisted cataract procedures, despite studies showing they do not outperform traditional surgery. As Medicare reimbursements for cataract surgery continue to decline, laser procedures can provide ophthalmologists with an additional source of revenue while potentially reducing patients’ reliance on eyeglasses. “It’s a win-win for patient and doctor,” said Kevin Miller, professor of clinical ophthalmology at UCLA. “Doctor makes a little more money on top of the Medicare reimbursement; the industry gets money to develop new technology; and society benefits because these patients are not going for eyeglasses anymore.” Read more about UCLA in today’s The Guardian, LAist and other outlets.
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More highlights from UCLA in the News: August 12, 2026
Are ‘cooling herbs’ your secret weapon in the next heat wave? | Los Angeles Times
“You have to, of course, make sure you have enough fluid first — water is key,” says Dr. Ka-Kit Hui, director of UCLA’s Center for East-West Medicine. “But many of the cooling herbs, like chrysanthemum and honeysuckle, which are anti-inflammatory, and peppermint, for sure, are used for heat symptoms. Some of the chemicals in the herbs are helpful in maintaining the metabolism so that it’s not superfast and generating more heat in the system.”
Rescuers search for survivors after powerful Colombian earthquake | KCAL-TV
“Why do certain bridges remain essentially undamaged and passable, and other bridges are not? Can we explain the good performance and the poor performance, and therefore identify the conditions that lead to the poor performance?” asked UCLA’s Jonathan Stewart (approx. 1:38 mark).
Trump’s vaccine order is about feelings, not facts | The Guardian
(Commentary by UCLA’s Dr. Robert Shpiner) Four decades in intensive care have taught me what a feeling costs once it becomes national policy. Children will be hospitalized who did not need to be. Some of them will die. No one can name those the vaccine has saved, because prevented harm is invisible by definition, and that invisibility is what makes preventive medicine easy to dismantle and hard to defend.
Cop recorded colleagues’ remarks. Will his prosecution chill whistleblowers? | LAist
“These laws do, I think, interfere with people’s ability to gather information, including information that might be seen as misconduct by the people that they are recording,” said UCLA School of Law Professor Eugene Volokh. “This is what I sometimes call the dark side of privacy.”
