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.
Squirrels doin’ the ‘sploot’ to beat heat | Los Angeles Times
Akvile DeFazio noticed the squirrels in her La Verne neighborhood acting weird: “just plastered on the sidewalk,” she said, not moving … “Bears do it, squirrels do it, rabbits do it, dogs [too],” said Daniel Blumstein, a professor at UCLA’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. “They get really flat when they’re trying to shed heat.”
Road still rocky for Latinos in Hollywood | NPR
Latinos have been a part of Hollywood since the silent movie era. But they continue to be underrepresented in front of and behind the cameras. USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative and UCLA’s latest Hollywood Diversity Report show that Latino actors get just 7% of film leads.
Romania’s abortion ban killed women, tore at society | Washington Post
(Commentary by UCLA’s Gail Kligman) Romania’s experience warns us about what happens when abortion is banned: When women cannot control their fertility, their physical and emotional well-being suffers, often with fatal consequences. Surveilling women’s reproductive lives contributes to the creation of a culture of fear that erodes not only social relationships and sexual intimacy but also the broader society itself.
Why are monkeypox cases falling in U.S.? | Wired
Researchers say it’s far too early to know. “We’re always trying to make these calls very, very early in the game,” says Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist and professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. “But the truth is, there’s still a lot that has to play out before we can make that kind of assessment. We’re in the to-be-determined phase.”
Getting COVID booster, flu shot at same time | NBC’s “Today”
It’s important to get a booster because the vaccines’ protection against infection seems to wane more quickly now, Dr. Otto Yang, professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases and of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, told TODAY.
Fear of promiscuity and anti-abortion sentiment | Los Angeles Magazine
Anti-abortion beliefs could be caused by a fear of promiscuity, according to the authors of a newly published paper in academic journal The Conversation. In “What really drives anti-abortion beliefs? Research suggests it’s a matter of sexual strategies,” Dr. Martie Haselton, a UCLA social psychology professor who specializes in evolution and human behavior, and Dr. Jaime Arona Krems, an assistant professor of psychology at Oklahoma State University, argue that “sexually-restricted people” are likely to unconsciously oppose abortion in order to make casual sex more costly for those who engage in it. (Haselton is interviewed.)
Brushing, flossing may reduce risk of dementia | Healthline
Experts say this research adds to a growing body of evidence that links oral health with systemic health. “One of the hypothesize mechanisms by which these connections are formed, is that when you have inflammation in the gums … that then allows an ingress of, say, the bacteria that causes disease into systemic circulation. And then these components find their way through the circulation and see organs throughout the body, including the brain,” Yvonne Hernandez-Kapila, DDS, Ph.D., the associate dean of research at the University of California Los Angeles School of Dentistry, told Healthline.
Theater production explores trauma of school shootings | Yahoo Life
The lingering trauma of what these kids go through, says Melissa Brymer, Director of the Terrorism & Disaster program at the UCLA-Duke University National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, is a part of the school violence conversation that isn’t often addressed in the media. “There’s a perception for those who haven’t experienced an incident like this that the reactions are short lived,” she tells Yahoo Life. “But when the media goes away, so doesn’t the impact to the community … A proportion of community members are going to have longer-term reactions, and we need to provide support and resources for them.”
Water managers see promise in recycling sewage | KUNC-FM
David Jassby is an associate professor of civil environmental engineering at UCLA. He explained that treated wastewater already flows through streams and rivers across the country and pointed to major utilities’ track record of very few water-borne disease outbreaks as a testament to the capacity of treatment technology. “The level of treatment that wastewater reuse entities use to recycle wastewater is far higher than what we apply to a river or groundwater,” Jassby said. “It’s orders of magnitude more intense and extensive.”
REM sleep and animals’ body temperature | Scienmag
Warm-blooded animal groups with higher body temperatures have lower amounts of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, while those with lower body temperatures have more REM sleep, according to new research from UCLA professor Jerome Siegel, who said his study suggests that REM sleep acts like a “thermostatically controlled brain heater.” (Also: ScienceDaily.)
