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.

Bird alarm calls might help rhinos avoid poachers | National Geographic

Taken together, the results show that “black rhinos are able to eavesdrop on oxpecker alarm calls and by doing so, detect approaching humans at substantially greater distances,” says Daniel Blumstein, an ecologist at the University of California Los Angeles, who wasn’t involved the paper, in an email interview. Blumstein was also fascinated by what he called the “dose-response” — the fact that each additional oxpecker on a rhino increased the distance at which it detected an approaching human.

Feeling scatterbrained? Here’s why | New York Times

Goofs like getting into the shower with glasses on happen when multiple stressors rupture the normal mechanisms of attention and memory formation. And that feeling when your chest is tight and you’re certain you’re experiencing the early stages of Covid-19 — that’s stress, too, said Emanuel Maidenberg, a clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Janitors and other nonclinical hospital workers feel forgotten | Los Angeles Times

Nonclinical hospital staffers “likely face similar to higher risks as others who still have to report to work,” said Steven Wallace, a professor in the community health sciences department at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. “Almost everyone in a hospital comes into contact with someone who has patient contact,” Wallace said in an email.

Physical distancing may be here for a while | KTTV-TV

“The fall sounds like and seems plausible, but we’ll know more in the coming weeks. This is a novel coronavirus and that means it’s a new virus. It’s new to humanity. We haven’t seen it before and we’re still learning a lot about it, and I think over the next weeks and months, we’ll know a lot more about it,” said [UCLA’s Dr. Anne] Rimoin. 

America’s big-city rent bubble could burst | NBC News

Housing and homelessness experts continue to argue over the solution, from building more housing to fighting gentrification, but the halted economy could end up being the ultimate down force. “Rents will fall,” said David Shulman, a senior economist with the Anderson Forecast at UCLA. “But income is going to drop.”

California fast-tracks plans to house homeless residents | NBC News

“As a humanitarian issue and to protect emergency room resources, it is essential that we do everything we can to help homeless people find safety,” said co-author Randall Kuhn, an associate professor of community health sciences at the University of California-Los Angeles’ Fielding School of Public Health.

Extra uncertainty for DACA students | Diverse Issues in Higher Education

In many ways, the coronavirus is “exacerbating societal disparities and inequities and creating a new level of vulnerability for marginalized communities,” said co-director for the Institute for Immigration, Globalization and Education at the University of California, Los Angeles, Dr. Robert Teranishi, in an email.... “For undocumented students – a population with high levels of stress and anxiety – there is an even greater level of uncertainty about themselves and their families.”

UCLA, UCSF to study coronavirus effects on pregnancy | City News Service

Within two weeks of going live, the registry had received more than 400 patient referrals from around the country, according to Dr. Yalda Afshar, an obstetrician/gynecologist at UCLA Health and a UCLA Biodesign Fellow, who is co-principal investigator of the study. (UCLA’s Johnese Spisso is also quoted.)

Are COVID-19 mortality rates accurate? | KPCC-FM’s “AirTalk”

“And what I see, and what we found at UCLA… there are issues at the moment. One is testing, getting reliable numbers. And the second issue is the math. What do you actually do with these numbers at the end?” said UCLA’s Lucas Böttcher (approx. 4:25 mark).

Tiniest bit of air pollution makes COVID-19 deadlier | Grist

“This is a very strong indication that air pollution is associated with death from COVID-19,” said Zuofeng Zhang, a professor of epidemiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved in the Harvard study. Part of the explanation, Zhang said, was that polluted air is linked to some of the underlying conditions that make COVID-19 more fatal.

Coronavirus got rid of smog. Can electric cars do so permanently? | Wall Street Journal Column

In Southern California, levels of particulate matter dropped 40% between March 16 and April 6, according to UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health.