New evidence shows you are only slightly hotter than a T. rex — and more UCLA media

The Los Angeles Times covered a UCLA study that measured Tyrannosaurus rex’s temperature for the first time and found it to be 97 degrees Fahrenheit, similar to humans. Scientists used a new method to measure body temperature using the remains of “Thomas,” the resident T. rex at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Study co-author Robert Eagle, an associate professor at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, said the technique provides a direct window into physiology that researchers haven’t had before.   (Also: New York Times, CNN, Associated Press (1,2), Reuters, ABC News, CBC News, The Independent, Scientific American, Popular Science, New Scientist, CNET and KTLA-TV.) Read more about UCLA in today’s Associated Press, HuffPost and others.

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

It’s move-in day at UCLA | KTLA-TV

Students are moving into campus living facilities as they get set to start the fall quarter. (UCLA’s senior executive chef Joey Martin was also interviewed on KTLA-TV.)

NASA spacecraft discovers a huge new crater on the moon | Associated Press

A separate study identified a 4-mile-wide (7-kilometer-wide) cold spot around the new crater, consistent with a loosening of the moon’s top soil. Co-author David Paige of the University of California, Los Angeles, likens it to gardening. “We’re now thinking of impacts as a way to garden the regolith — churning the sediments and putting stuff above that’s usually below the surface,” Paige said in a statement.

These cars are most likely to be stolen this year, experts say | New York Post

Researchers warn that owners of a Hyundai Sonata, Kia Optima and 18 other common car models could be stolen for another 25 years due to a lack of safeguards — and because on TikTok, “hacks” for stealing the cars abound. “We live in one of the safest times ever recorded, yet crime is still incredibly common,” said study lead Jeffrey Brantingham, a UCLA anthropologist. (Also: KNX-AM.)

Young Latinas want to fight Trump harder than Latinos, study finds | Los Angeles Times

Young and working-class Latina voters in California care more about protecting immigrant communities and fighting President Trump’s agenda than their male counterparts, according to a UCLA study. The findings from researchers at the university’s Latino Policy and Politics Institute illustrate how gender can correlate with differences in policy views among California Latinos, who account for about a third of the state’s eligible voters.  

State eyes prison heat protections that fall short of other workplaces’ | Capital & Main

“Say you’re working in a warehouse or an agricultural field. It can be really hard to walk away because you need the money for yourself or for your family. But you can, right? It’s an option,” said Bharat Venkat, director of the UCLA Heat Lab, which studies the unequal effects of extreme heat. “If you’re incarcerated, you can’t really say no.”

Regents weigh reinstating SAT | Los Angeles Times

Gary Clark, UCLA’s associate vice chancellor for enrollment management, said first-year retention at UCLA has risen since 2019 and now stands at 97%, and the four-year graduation rate has grown from 85% to 88%. Clark said the figures left him wondering, “would a reintroduction of standardized testing solve concerns over academic preparation, or are there broader forces at play in K-12 education and AI, for example, that will persist” whether UC uses the SAT or not.

For students’ sake, universities must change approach to math instruction | EdSource

(Commentary by UCLA’s Kyndall Brown) As a leader of the UCLA-based California Mathematics Project for the past 27 years, I have spent my career making sure more students can learn meaningful math. So I usually celebrate news coverage of math education. But recent messages coming from some university math faculty are downright disturbing.

Fed officials raise interest rates | KCAL-TV

“One of the Fed’s most important jobs is to control inflation. Inflation is now running about 3 to 3.5% per year, which is quite a bit above their 2% inflation target. So, yesterday’s decision to increase the interest rate on overnight lending was intended to reduce inflation,” said UCLA’s Lee Ohanian.

Experts warn scrutiny against mail voting is causing this overlooked issue | HuffPost

Richard Hasen, an election law expert at the University of California, Los Angeles, said Trump’s online furor “reflects his feeling that those he appoints should make personal loyalty their priority, rather than their commitment to the Constitution or to act in the best interests of the country.”

California’s once-thriving vegan scene is quickly disappearing | SFGate

Kayla de la Haye, a public health professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, has researched plant-based food and can see the challenges a vegan restaurant might face.  In one of her recent studies of a national sample of adults, participants were shown two food baskets, one with meat and cheese and the other with plant-based foods like hummus and olives. When the basket was labeled as “vegan” or “vegetarian,” only about 20% of people selected it as the one they wanted. When it was labeled “healthy” or “sustainable,” that figure doubled. (de la Haye was quoted.)