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.
The Southwest’s relentless heat wave | Los Angeles Times
There are other factors that may be behind July’s simmering heat, UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said. They include the Hunga Tonga volcano eruption of 2022, which shot record-breaking amounts of heat-trapping water vapor into the stratosphere. During a briefing this week, Swain said that the effects of the eruption are still being studied, but that it is conceivable it may have led to temporary planetary warming.
It’s been one of Earth’s warmest months | New York Times
Even so, when global average temperatures shatter records by such large margins, as they have been doing since early June, it raises questions about whether the climate is also being shaped by other factors, said Karen A. McKinnon, a climate scientist and statistician at the University of California, Los Angeles. These elements might be less-well understood than global warming and El Niño.
Removing shade in a heat wave is ‘climate violence’ | KCRW-FM’s ‘Greater LA’
Kelly Turner, an associate professor of urban planning and geography at UCLA, calls the act of intentionally removing shade in the midst of dangerously high temperatures “climate violence.” ”Heat is incredibly detrimental to the human body and standing outside all day long during a heat wave, like we’re having right now, can cause even healthy people to suffer heat stroke,” she says. “And that’s not to mention somebody who might have a comorbidity that makes them even more susceptible to heat.”
Sen. Mitch McConnell suffers ‘freezing’ episode | New York Times
Dr. Lee Schwamm, a neurologist and stroke expert at Yale, and Dr. Jeffrey Saver, a neurologist at the U.C.L.A. School of Medicine, said that the two most likely reasons for the episode were a transient ischemic attack — a sort of mini stroke — or a partial seizure … A seizure, perhaps resulting from a head injury, was also possible, Dr. Saver said. The neurologists said a migraine was another less likely possible cause of the episode.
Battle over face masks at In-N-Out | CalMatters
Because the [COVID] virus will continue to be around, public health experts say workplace rules, such as allowing workers to mask if they choose, make sense. “When we think of a broader public health perspective, measures that help us reduce transmission of any disease that are minimally impactful on other individuals are certainly things we should be interested in maintaining,” said Shira Shafir, an epidemiology professor at UCLA.
Abortion pill case could be sign of things to come | Time
There’s also been an increased focus on “accomplices” in a post-Roe world, says Sapna Khatri, a clinical teaching fellow at the UCLA School of Law. Texas was at the forefront of this legal trend with its 2021 abortion law, which allows anyone to sue anyone who performs, aids, or intends to aid in an abortion; that may include private citizens who help a family member or a friend to get an abortion.
The appeal of RFK Jr.’s scientific views | Bloomberg
As University of California, Los Angeles statistician Sander Greenland has reminded me, studies can’t prove something is perfectly safe — but scientific data can put some bounds on the risk and help people know whether it’s worth the benefit. Kennedy skates past these nuances when he criticizes pharmaceutical and chemical companies.
College admissions changes could affect U.S. workforce | BBC
The affirmative action ruling stands to have the greater impact of the two policy changes, agree both Katharine Meyer, a fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Brown Center on Education, a US-based think tank, and Miguel M. Unzueta, a professor of management and organisations at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. Unzueta says black and Latino people stand to feel the most significant impacts in their working lives from the changes to this policy.
Culver City to open ‘safe sleep’ site for homeless | LAist
The safe sleep site is a step in the right direction — and in a good location close to amenities like a grocery store — though the city’s housing needs are much larger, said Cathy Sweetser, a Culver City homeowner who lives near the site and directs the UCLA School of Law’s Promise Institute for Human Rights … “Although it’s really laudable that Culver City has done this to house 20 people, it’s not going to address the magnitude of the problem that we’re seeing,” Sweetser told LAist.
Protests continue over Israel’s legal overhauls | LAist-FM’s ‘AirTalk’
“No, nothing quite like it in Israel’s history. I mean, both the actions of the government are unprecedented and the protest movement that’s been curling through now nearly seven months on Israel’s streets is really unprecedented. The depths of divisions that this has exposed within Israeli society, as well. I think Israel is really at a new moment in its history,” said UCLA’s Dov Waxman (approx. 2:50 mark).
Hunter Biden’s ongoing legal problems | MSNBC
“In terms of how [the revised plea deal] played out, it’s dramatic and rare. It was an ‘oh my gosh’ moment when all of a sudden — especially as closely watched as it is — it seemed to break apart over a basic misunderstanding of what’s covered and what isn’t covered,” said UCLA’s Harry Litman (approx. 4:00 mark).
Improving suicide risk prediction among children | Scienmag
A new study from UCLA Health researchers finds that the typical ways health systems store and track data on children receiving emergency care miss a sizable portion of those who are having self-injurious thoughts or behaviors. The researchers also found that several machine learning models they designed were significantly better at identifying those children at risk of self-harm. (UCLA’s Dr. Juliet Edgcomb was quoted.)
