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.
Supergravity snags super award: $3-million Special Breakthrough Prize | Scientific American
A Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, worth $3 million, has been awarded to three researchers who devised a theory in the 1970s called supergravity, which attempts to unify all of the four fundamental forces of nature. Daniel Freedman, now at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sergio Ferrara, now at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Peter van Nieuwenhuizen of Stony Brook University collaborated on this approach to resolving the apparent conflicts between the two most fundamental theories of physics: quantum mechanics, which describes the microscopic world of atoms and particles, and general relativity, which describes the force of gravity and its influence on cosmic scales. (Also: Gizmodo)
From the archives: 1949 UCLA humor study | Los Angeles Times
During a humor study, UCLA researchers photographed a select audience using infrared light. The photographs recorded audience reactions to a comedy motion picture…. “The films were then processed by a new technique which, developed at UCLA, promised to expand the uses of infrared photography. “An initial study of facial expressions revealed wide variations in reaction to different humor situations. Those among the group who laughed longest and loudest were the undertakers and riveters. “Dr. Fearing, to his surprise, discovered that teen-agers and persons over 40 laughed less than those in the 20-40 year-age class.
Using gender-neutral pronouns may reduce sexism | Pacific Standard
“This shift is associated with people expressing less bias in favor of traditional roles and categories,” write political scientists Margit Tavits of Washington University in St. Louis and Efrén Pérez of the University of California–Los Angeles. They write that this reduced level of prejudice is “manifested in more positive attitudes toward women and LGBT individuals in public affairs.” (Also: Fortune, Inverse, Guardian (U.K.))
Toni Morrison, whose soaring novels were rooted in black lives, dies at 88 | NPR
Morrison was grounded in the black cultural liberationist art of the 1960s, said Richard Yarborough, who teaches African American literature at the University of California, Los Angeles. She and others in that generation “expressed their mission” by focusing on black lives, he said…. “Morrison is such a monumental figure, that there is no way you could write about black women’s experiences without taking her into account,” he said.
What is socialism? And how is it different than Democratic socialism? | O the Oprah Magazine
According to Mark A. Peters, a professor of public policy, political science, and law at UCLA, Democratic socialism is "a call for the democratically-elected to use the public sector to promote greater equality and opportunity." Those who identify as Democratic socialists believe in giving everyone the chance to find equal economic footing, and see free or low-cost health care, tuition-free public education, and universal child care as means to that end.
Where the U.S. stands on background checks in relation to gun policy | NPR
“Effective gun policy will be policy that makes it harder for criminals and the mentally ill, and those who shouldn’t have access to guns, to get guns. And part of that is universal background checks, making it very difficult for anyone who wants to purchase a gun to be able to go buy one. Make it so that you have to pass a background check to get your hands on a gun,” said UCLA’s Adam Winkler. (Winkler was also interviewed by Bloomberg and KPCC-FM’s “AirTalk”)
The correlation between how late bars stay open and number of car crashes | Spectrum
“The evidence is really clear and consistent from a number of countries — and not just here but a number of high-income countries. When you extend those hours, you end up with end up with increased problems of more crashes, you end up with more violence, you end up with more emergency room visits. It’s not a pretty picture,” said UCLA’s Jonathan Fielding.
Sisolak’s campaign vow to ban assault weapons came up empty | Las Vegas Review-Journal
It’s impossible to say whether a ban on assault weapons in Nevada would have prevented the suspect in the Gilroy shooting from purchasing a weapon, said Adam Winkler, a UCLA law professor who studies constitutional law and gun policy. “You can’t take any one particular act and say this law would have definitely prevented it,” Winkler said.
UCLA to lead $10 million California conservation project | Santa Monica Daily Press
“This project has the potential to revolutionize how we manage our land,” said Bradley Shaffer, who leads the project and is a UCLA distinguished professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and director of UCLA’s La Kretz Center for California Conservation Science. “We will apply state-of-the-art techniques to California’s most pressing conservation problems and provide government agencies with the best scientific data to make informed decisions as California’s climate continues to undergo rapid change.”
How to tell if your nasty cold is actually the flu, according to doctors | Prevention
The flu is like a cold on steroids,” says Joseph Ladapo, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. “I’ve heard patients say, ‘This is worst I’ve ever felt in my life.’”
Researchers forecast failure in disordered materials | Scienmag
In collaboration with UCLA mathematician Mason Porter, the researchers used a computer algorithm to calculate the GEBC [for “geodesic edge betweenness centrality”] for the lattice and found that edges with a higher centrality value than the mean were the most likely to fail.