The San Francisco Chronicle reports that modeling data developed by UCLA’s Center for Climate Science and recently presented to the California Water Resources Control Board indicates that Mono Lake, the depleted saltwater body in the eastern Sierra watershed may not survive if Los Angeles continues to pump water from the basin into the city. UCLA’s Alex Hall told the board that even just reducing the amount taken could be beneficial for the lake. Read more about UCLA in today’s Los Angeles Times and NPR.
More highlights from UCLA in the News: March 18, 2026
In blow to Tehran, Iran’s top security official killed | Los Angeles Times
Benjamin Radd, a political scientist and senior fellow at the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations, said Larijani was perceived to be “the last of the competent bunch” within the Iranian leadership — an intellectual who had a complex understanding of the geopolitical reality on the ground, who had negotiated with the U.S. in the past, and who was “adept at maneuvering” all the various parts of the Iranian power structure. (Radd was also quoted in another Los Angeles Times story.)
Sparse data for cannabis use for mental health highlights research gap | NPR
Cannabis can have "vastly different physiological effects" depending on the compound, though some of that nuance gets lost in the Lancet Psychiatry study, says Ziva Cooper, a professor of psychiatry who directs the UCLA Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoids.
Colleges struggle to keep up with growing mental health problems | The Hill
“So, even though we are starting to see that there’s a little bit of improvement in this anxiety and depression and loneliness, it’s still so much higher in college and university student populations relative to if you were an adult not kind of in that setting,” said Leslie Rith-Najarian, a lecturer in clinical psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. … Some schools, such as UCLA, are creating screening programs to identify and connect students who need mental health support.
