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.

UCLA Rowat Lab creating alternative proteins | Spectrum News 1

Production of meat is a large portion of that total, but understandably, it may be hard to get the entire population to stop eating meat. Therefore, to address this problem, the future of food could come out of a lab. And the research is happening right at the Alternative Protein Project at the University of California, Los Angeles. At the Rowat Lab, graduate student researcher Stephanie Kawecki is working on improving food sustainability through alternative proteins. (Kawecki was quoted.)

Top election official embraces conspiracy theories | NBC News

“It is problematic when you have a chief election officer of a state embracing conspiracy theories that undermine people’s confidence in the election process for no good reason,” said Rick Hasen, a professor of election law at the UCLA School of Law. (Hasen was also quoted about the Voting Rights Act by Politico.)

Sierra’s ‘snow drought’ fears overturned in a flash | Los Angeles Times

“It is noteworthy how different Southern California’s situation is from the rest of the state. We are now at roughly 125% of what we normally get in the whole water year. And the wet season isn’t over yet,” said Alex Hall, a UCLA climate scientist. “It’s another very wet year in Southern California. This is a classic El Niño pattern — where Southern California has an exceptionally wet year,” Hall said.

What can quasi-stellar objects tell us about the birth of galaxies? | Forbes

Another Colombian astronomer, Sofía Rojas Ruiz, used the James Webb Space Telescope to study the first-born bright galaxies and quasars that contributed to the process of illuminating the universe from complete darkness about 13 billion years ago. Rojas, who is now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, working in the team of [UCLA’s] Tommaso Treu, says these galaxies, from the Epoch of Reionization, are the fore-runners of our Milky Way but were able to grow a powerful bubble around them, breaking the clouds of neutral hydrogen that were submerging the universe into darkness. (Ruiz was quoted.)

Uptake of HIV prevention meds, digital health interventions | Medical Xpress

A UCLA Health-led study found a combination of interventions of one-on-one telehealth coaching, peer support forums, and automated text messages more than doubled the use of the HIV prevention strategy, called PrEP, among younger, at-risk Americans, a group that historically has had low use of the medication. (UCLA’s Dallas Swendeman was quoted. Also: Scienmag.)

California’s indoor heat protections for workers five years late | CalMatters

Workers in factories and even libraries in Southern California were petitioning the state for a general heat standard — indoors and outdoors — as early as the 1980s, said Kevin Riley, director of the Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program at UCLA. ”The library branches didn’t have air conditioning yet, and (librarians) got sick in the stacks,” he said. “Then in the subsequent decade or two, a lot of those spaces became air-conditioned.”

6 myths about menopause doctors want you to stop believing | Well + Good

But this shouldn’t be the case, says Rajita Patil, M.D., an OB-GYN and director of the new Comprehensive Menopause Care program at UCLA Health. “Not all menopause symptoms have to be severe to warrant treatment,” she says.

Analysts warn of spread of AI-generated news sites | Voice of America

UCLA researcher Shazeda Ahmed says inaccurate information is potentially harmful if people act upon it. “I also worry about what this will mean for media literacy,” said Ahmed, a UCLA Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow who focuses on AI safety. “When a person reads one of these articles that is AI generated, do they realize it? And if not, there’s no recourse and there’s not really anyone that’s being held accountable for that,” she said.