UCLA in the News lists selected mentions of UCLA in the world’s news media. Some articles may require registration or a subscription. See more UCLA in the News.
U.S. prison deaths skyrocketed during pandemic | New York Times
“Clearly the pandemic is the story, but it is just a part of the story,” said Aaron Littman, an assistant professor and the acting director of the [UCLA] Law Behind Bars Data Project. … The project is among various efforts trying to fill that void. Researchers used public records requests and other means to collect data — which included the tally of deaths, and in many cases, information like the cause of death and the age of the inmate — from 49 states and the federal government.
Lack of bus stop shade affects minorities most | KTLA-TV
Public transit riders in Los Angeles County who want to escape direct sunlight on the hottest days of the year don’t find much relief at Metro bus stops, according to a new study from UCLA. Only 26% of the more than 12,000 Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus stops provide any shade, the study from UCLA’s Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies found. Researchers say the lack of shade disproportionately impacts lower-income residents and people of color, who comprise the majority of Metro riders. (Also: Spectrum News 1 and KCRW-FM.)
Heat waves killing more of L.A.’s unhoused | Los Angeles Times
Heat-related illness and death are “notoriously” undercounted because patients in emergency rooms are frequently diagnosed with other medical conditions, such as dehydration and kidney failure, without any mention of their high temperatures and exposure to heat, according to David Eisenman, a professor specializing in climate change at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. (UCLA’s Edith de Guzman was also quoted.)
Investment south of border won’t slow immigration | Los Angeles Times
A better way to direct U.S. funding would be to incentivize public-private partnerships that build community banking infrastructure in remote villages so people can save money they get from relatives in the U.S. “We’re overlooking the most important source of investment available to address the root causes of immigration: remittances from immigrants,” Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda, founding director of UCLA’s North American Integration and Development Center, told me.
Trump still pushing bogus ‘stolen election’ claims | Associated Press
Trump has announced he’s running for president again in 2024 and continues to repeat the lie that he lost in 2020 only because of fraud and irregularities. “It demonstrates a profound cynicism about the political process and the gullibility of Trump’s supporters,” said Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has followed the election falsehoods closely since 2020.
Nikki Haley calls for competency tests for older politicians | Slate
The experts I spoke to also said that designating 75 as the age when tests become mandatory was arbitrary and not rooted in science. “Maybe she should talk to my patient who’s 95 years old and published a book a year and a half ago,” said David Reuben, division chief of geriatric medicine at University of California, Los Angeles Center of Health Sciences.
Californians keep leaving the state | KNBC-TV’s ‘NewsConference’
“If you look at some of the statistics that are available for 2021, California ranked fifth in terms of median household income. And that’s great. But, it ranked second in terms of the highest housing crisis, and second in terms of median rent. And because of this disparity between income and housing, California now has the highest housing burden,” said UCLA’s Paul Ong (Ong was interviewed.)
Public opinion and presidential decision-making | LAist 89.3-FM’s ‘AirTalk’
“In a lot of policies that presidents are trying to gauge public opinion, they ironically will often do something called a trial balloon, which is a term that comes from the early days of ballooning, where you’d send a small, cheap, disposable balloon up to see which way the wind was blowing,” said UCLA’s Tim Groeling (approx. 7:35 mark).
Quakes: Comparing Turkey and California | KCAL-TV
In the days after the event, one California-based earthquake research group headed to the epicenter of the quake to gather data and compare the similarities between the region and the Golden State … “Essentially, we’re trying to design for a condition in California that we haven’t seen,” said Jonathan Stewart, a civil engineer and professor at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. “So, the ability to go see what that looks like and learn from it is really once in a lifetime.”
Startups look to ocean to fight climate change | Southern California News Group
“We can be more efficient with fossil fuel usage. We cannot completely stop using it,” said Dante Simonetti, a chemical and biomolecular engineering professor at UCLA who is helping to spearhead ocean carbon capture pilot programs along the Los Angeles and Singapore coasts. “We need every technology because every technology does indeed have benefits and downsides. That’s what makes the problems complex.”
Shortage of Black doctors in U.S. harms public health | CNN
“The more surprising thing to me was for Black men,” said Dr. Dan Ly, an author of the study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine and assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. Data on only Black men who were physicians over the years showed that they represented 1.3% of the physician workforce in 1900, “because all physicians were pretty much men in the past,” Ly said.
How to support a child with test anxiety | U.S. News & World Report
Children with test anxiety often have an irrational fear of failing their exams, experts say, but they may not share those worries with their parents. “Often, parents can be pretty in the dark – teachers may see it well before a parent is aware,” says Kate Sheehan, managing director of the UCLA Child Anxiety Resilience Education and Support Center.
Helping stroke patients regain hand movement | New York Times
“It’s a first step among hundreds,” said Dr. Daniel Lu, a professor and vice chairman of neurosurgery at the University of California Los Angeles, who co-authored a 2016 study that showed that spinal stimulation from implanted electrodes improved hand strength and control in two spinal cord injury patients.
Cut calories and (maybe) add years to your life | Bloomberg
Another data point came from Roy Walford, a University of California, Los Angeles doctor and medical researcher who founded the modern calorie restriction movement. In 1991, he joined a crew of six bionauts, sealing themselves into a dome in the Arizona desert where they were supposed to grow all their own food. When production quickly fell short, he turned the fiasco into a calorie restriction experiment, and reported lots of markers of improved health among his hungry crewmates.
Bruce Willis diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia | LAist 89.3-FM
UCLA neurologist Keith Vossel says education and counseling can be beneficial to families and caregivers when early symptoms are recognized. “There are some ways that we can address those symptoms, with speech therapy for language problems and occupational therapy. So, getting the right resources early on for the family is really important,” [said Vossel.]
