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.
Fake Mexican pharmaceuticals laced with fentanyl | NPR’s ‘Morning Edition’
Mexican pharmacies that cater to U.S. tourists are selling medications that appear safe but are frequently laced with deadly fentanyl and methamphetamine. That’s the conclusion of new research that examined medications purchased legally in four cities in northern Mexico where travelers from the U.S. often seek low-cost health care and pharmaceuticals. “For pills sold as oxycodone, we tested 27 and found 10 or 11 of them contained either fentanyl or heroin,” said Chelsea Shover, a researcher at the UCLA School of Medicine. (Also: United Press International, the Hill and KTLA-TV.)
UCLA’s humanoid robot is ready for action | KTLA-TV
A humanoid robot created by UCLA engineers has earned a spot at this year’s RoboCup soccer competition. The robot is now undergoing intense training in Westwood to prepare for its big match.
Sleep affects immunity after vaccination | CNN
If you’re scheduling an appointment for a vaccination — whether for Covid-19, the flu or for travel to another country — make sure you’re getting a long, restful night’s slumber before you head to the doctor … “Research that used objective measures of sleep deprivation, such as that of a sleep lab, found a decrease in the ability to respond to the vaccine that was particularly and statistically significant in males, but not females,” said study coauthor Dr. Michael Irwin, distinguished professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine. (Also: Forbes.)
The next stage of COVID is starting now | The Atlantic
The manageable infections that strike toddlers and grade-schoolers may turn serious when they first manifest at older ages, landing people in the hospital with pneumonia, brain swelling, even blindness, and eventually killing some. When scientists plot mortality data by age, many curves bend into “a pretty striking J shape,” says Dylan Morris, an infectious-disease modeler at UCLA.
Global floods, droughts worsening with warming | Associated Press
“It’s incredible that we can now monitor the pulse of continental water from outer space,” said Park Williams, a bioclimatologist at the University of California, Los Angeles who was not involved with the study. “I have a feeling when future generations look back and try to determine when humanity really began understanding the planet as a whole, this will be one of the studies highlighted,” he said.
Flood problems grow as new storm moves in | Associated Press
Last week’s atmospheric river carried warm subtropical moisture that caused melting at lower elevations of California’s Sierra Nevada snowpack, adding to runoff that has swelled rivers and streams. But the snowpack is so deep and cold that it mostly absorbed the rain, resulting in an even greater snowpack in the southern and central Sierra, said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles. (Swain was also quoted by the Washington Post and CNN.)
UCLA expert to address El Segundo’s sewage spill odor | Daily Breeze
Michael Stenstrom, a UCLA civil and environmental engineering professor who has worked on more than 200 wastewater treatment plants since 1977, will work with El Segundo on all issues related to the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant … “Once you eliminate hydrogen sulfide, which the Hyperion plant is designed to do,” the professor said, “you can have other odors that aren’t so pungent initially, but have longer term effects.”
Gun cases hinge more on history than today’s threats | New York Times
Adam Winkler, a University of California, Los Angeles, law professor who has written widely on gun rights, said that inconsistency in the way the appellate courts interpret history will likely force the Supreme Court to eventually clarify or revise the Bruen test, but the bar will be high for firearm restrictions. “The fact of the matter is, a large number of our gun laws are 20th century inventions,” he said.
House majority will be dependent on courts | Politico
Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court directed parties in the federal case to submit briefs on how the rehearing and “any subsequent state court proceedings” would affect the court’s jurisdiction — suggesting that the justices could consider dismissing the case as improvidently granted … Rick Hasen, a well-known election law professor at UCLA Law, said he was “uncertain” if the high court would do that, given that the underlying issue of the independent state legislature theory is something “I think almost everybody recognizes the court has to resolve before the 2024 elections.”
What does it mean to be ‘nonbinary’? | Yahoo Life
The term “nonbinary” is one of many identities that’s been gaining popularity in recent years, largely due to a sharp rise of young people embracing the label. In fact, a 2021 report from the Williams Institute, a research center at the University of California, Los Angeles, noted nearly 1.2 million nonbinary people between 18 to 60 living in the United States. Of that total, three-quarters were under the age of 30, suggesting that younger folks have explored gender identity to an extent that older folks have not.
