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.
Churches arm, train congregants in wake of mass shootings | Associated Press
Laws about carrying firearms in houses of worship vary from state to state. But as a general matter of liability, churches training members for security is not much different from a business hiring guards, according to Eugene Volokh, a professor at the UCLA School of Law. A church could be sued if people were harmed because its security was badly trained, Volokh said, but also if it generally failed to protect people on its grounds. Both can be insured against and either is unlikely, he said.
Surf’s up in the California desert as wave-pool attractions grow | Wall Street Journal
Some climate analysts also aren’t fans. They warn that DSRT SURF and other artificial-wave pools can place a heavy strain on resources. “In the long term, it’s not sustainable,” said Dr. Travis Longcore, an adjunct professor at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. “There are systematic issues about transforming literal deserts into lush, green recreational sites.”
The making of an emergency | U.S. News & World Report
Ann Carlson, an environmental law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, says the declarations don’t appear to hold much legal weight. She suggests they could be used to push back against policies that don’t line up with addressing climate change, like fossil fuel projects. Carlson says she doesn’t want to discourage the effort but adds that she is concerned that the term “emergency” could scare people and result in the very opposite of what supporters want.
How travelers can stay safe during times of civil unrest | Los Angeles Times
Avishek Adhikari, an assistant professor of psychology at UCLA, said situations such as the protest in Hong Kong can cause people to panic because they don’t know what’s going to happen next. “It’s damaging to ruminate over the problem,” Adhikari said. “If you’re scared, try to engage in other activities that take your mind off the scene.”
Top 25 public colleges 2019: The best education for $30,000 less | Forbes
Although many of the top public schools remain the same as the 2018 rankings, there is much movement within the list…. The University of California, Los Angeles, moved up two spots [to No. 6], bumping down the United States Air Force Academy one spot to No. 7.
California shows all states how to protect patients from Trump’s attacks on Obamacare | Los Angeles Times Column
“Covered California continues to be a leader in showing how a state marketplace can be effective,” says Gerald Kominski, a health policy expert at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. “It’s a beacon for the rest of the country.”
Fear of human voices can shape an ecosystem | KQED
People need to figure out how to experience the natural world more gently than we do, agrees Daniel Blumstein, who studies ecotourism at UCLA and led the mule deer experiment. He notes that in 2015, scientists reported that the world’s protected areas receive an estimated 8 billion human visits a year. “We want people going into nature and experiencing nature,” Blumstein says. He maintains that “the more people get outside, the more they protect … and value nature.” And yet studies like Suraci’s and Wilmers’ indicate that our very presence may profoundly affect other species, right down to what they eat.
Can California put cars in the rear-view mirror? | CalMatters
Brian Taylor studies transportation policy and planning as director of UCLA’s Institute of Transportation Studies. His cites a colleague’s metaphor comparing California’s lack of efficient transportation flow with the state’s electricity delivery: We would not accept power disruptions or rolling blackouts on a regular basis. Yet as a daily event in many of the cities up and down the state, traffic comes to a standstill and rush-hour motorists experience “brown-outs” as exurban commuters stream home. “If we can create environments where traveling by other means becomes easier and easier, people will drive less,” Taylor said. “The challenge is the transition.”
To make two black holes collide, try three | Quanta magazine
This suggests that any pair of large black holes must start their existence extremely far apart — so far apart that collisions will be extremely rare. And yet, such collisions are fairly common. “Us theorists, we really like it when there is a new puzzle around,” said Smadar Naoz, a theoretical astrophysicist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Everyone is jumping with new ideas.”
Virtual and augmented reality can save lives by improving surgeons’ training | Stat Opinion
Researchers at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, for example, recently validated VR-based surgical training using technology developed by my company for a procedure for repairing a bone break.
The limits of Trump’s white identity politics | The Atlantic
“I think the cost is he doesn’t attract anybody new,” says Lynn Vavreck, a UCLA political scientist and the co-author of ‘Identity Crisis,’ a book about the role of race in the 2016 presidential election. “And that could be a cost. The man won by 77,000 votes in three states. If African American turnout goes back to the [Barack] Obama levels, he needs more voters. He could be fighting the last battle.”
Virtual reality experiences can help ease severe pain | Reuters
“We found that VR helped reduce pain across many types of pain — gastrointestinal, cancer, orthopedic, neurologic, etc. — and that it reduced pain the most in people with the most severe pain,” said Dr. Brennan Spiegel, lead author of the study and a professor of medicine and public health at Cedars-Sinai Health System and the University of California, Los Angeles.
To help first-generation students succeed, colleges enlist their parents | The Hechinger Report
At UCLA, for example, the school’s office for first-generation students has started to work more closely with its office of parent and family programs, said La’Tonya Rease Miles, director of first year experience and strategic initiatives at UCLA and a national expert on the subject…. “We want to make sure [first-generation parents’] experiences here are more meaningful, and happen earlier and more often,” Miles said. “We want them to be part of the welcoming, to stay for a moment and come see your student move in and not feel rushed to leave campus.”
Five reasons it’s misguided to ask women candidates about their electability | Vox
Head-to-head candidate matchups might be a helpful data point, says UCLA political science professor Lynn Vavreck, but even those aren’t necessarily foolproof. “Is this person going to win the general election?” she says. “The only way to know that is if they win the general election.”
Instagram is hiding likes. You may be happier in the end | CNET
A 2016 study by UCLA showed that teens were significantly more likely to like a photo if other people liked it too. The researchers attributed the behavior to peer pressure. Viewing photos with lots of likes also activated a region of a teenager’s brain that’s triggered when people experience something pleasurable, like eating chocolate or winning money, the researchers found.
These are the 5 best universities to study literature, 2019 | CEOWorld magazine
No. 4: University of California, Los Angeles. The Department of Literature was established more than 40 years ago and has produced a well-established network of highly admirable alumni who have contributed immensely to the development of literature. The department does not claim that it is dedicated to English Literature. Instead, it claims that it engages in literature from all over the world.
Despite failed promises, stem cell advocates again want taxpayers to pony up billions | California Healthline
But Dr. J. Patrick Whelan, an assistant professor of Pediatrics at UCLA’s Geffen School of Medicine, said he thinks there is value in going back to voters and “checking their temperature.” While some private funding and philanthropy does support stem cell research, this type of work is expensive and requires more than a few wealthy donors, Whelan said.
S.F., Santa Clara first in nation to sue over Trump rule targeting low-income immigrants | KQED-FM
Up to 2.2 million people in California could drop Medi-Cal health coverage or CalFresh nutrition assistance out of fear or misinformation if the rule is implemented, according to a report by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. The researchers predicted most of those affected would be Latino children.
Developers set low-cost housing | Los Angeles Business Journal
But the two developments will only be a drop in the bucket in a city where the outstanding need for housing units is approaching 1 million, according to Paul Habibi, lecturer of finance and real estate at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. “There is an acute shortage of affordable housing in the region,” Habibi said. “That’s been around for several years. We have seen some policy initiatives aimed at alleviating that shortage, but we’re still at a deficit.”
The 15 top colleges with the most Hollywood stars | Forbes
The second public university on the list is no surprise. With its ideal location, the University of California, Los Angeles [No. 7] has played a part in the entertainment industry since Hollywood’s Golden Age, featuring names like James Dean and Francis Ford Coppola.
Drug accelerates blood system’s recovery after chemotherapy, radiation | Scienmag
A drug developed by UCLA physician-scientists and chemists speeds up the regeneration of mouse and human blood stem cells after exposure to radiation…. “We’re very excited about the potential medical applications of these findings,” said Dr. John Chute, a member of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA and a professor of medicine and radiation oncology in the division of hematology/oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Nanocapsule reaches cancer that has spread to central nervous system in mice | Phys.org
Cancer that has spread to the central nervous system is notoriously difficult to treat. Now, UCLA researchers have developed a drug delivery system that breaks through the blood-brain barrier in order to reach and treat cancer that has spread to the central nervous system.
Dementia care program improves mental health of patients, caregivers | Medical Xpress
The findings, based on data from the UCLA Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care Program, suggest that such programs are a promising approach toward improving the psychological health of patients and caregivers, said Dr. David Reuben, chief of the UCLA Division of Geriatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and the study’s lead author.
