UCLA In the News lists selected mentions of UCLA in the world’s news media. Some articles may require registration or a subscription to view. See more UCLA In the News.
Supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy may have a friend | The Conversation
(Commentary written by UCLA’s Smadar Naoz) If indeed the supermassive black hole has a friend revolving around it in close orbit, the center of the galaxy is locked in a complex dance. The partners’ gravitational tugs will also exert its own pull on the nearby stars disturbing their orbits. The two supermassive black holes are orbiting each other, and at the same time, each is exerting its own pull on the stars around it. The gravitational forces from the black holes pull on these stars and make them change their orbit; in other words, after one revolution around the supermassive black hole pair, a star will not go exactly back to the point at which it began.
New discovery just changed our understanding of the source of Easter Island’s Moai | Science Alert
“This study radically alters the idea that all standing statues in Rano Raraku were simply awaiting transport out of the quarry,” says archaeologist Jo Anne Van Tilburg from UCLA. “These and probably other upright moai in Rano Raraku were retained in place to ensure the sacred nature of the quarry itself. The moai were central to the idea of fertility, and in Rapa Nui belief their presence here stimulated agricultural food production.”
Scientists are searching for a mysterious force to explain the universe’s anomalies | Vice
“Whenever scientists come up with one of these theories, they have to think about what other predictions it would make, and does it agree with every experiment that’s been done so far,” said Paul Hamilton, a physicist at UCLA, in a call. “If you come up with this new force, you better make sure that you don’t mess that up at all,” he noted.
What to consider when you’re deciding what time to announce your pregnancy | Business Insider
You may also want to share within the first 6 weeks if you work where there may be physical or occupational hazards — like work with harmful chemicals in a lab — you need to adjust for during your pregnancy. Or certainly, if you are “feeling really sick or having early complications which cause them to miss work or social engagements,” says Dr. Leena Nathan, MD, an OB-GYN for UCLA Health.
Miami janitors are using Art Basel excess to draw attention to low wages | New York Observer
The vast difference in income between janitors and the occupants of newly completed, glittering high-rises is particularly stark in Miami, according to a report published in November that was commissioned by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and completed by UCLA’s Center for Neighborhood Knowledge. The report shows that almost 60 percent of subcontracted janitors in Miami live at or below the poverty line, and that nearly 90 percent of large office buildings in South Florida outsource their cleaning gigs to the subcontractors who perpetuate low wages and job insecurity in the first place.
Zillow Offers begins moving into Los Angeles | KPCC-FM
“If you price the home right, it will sell quickly in this market, I think. How many people really need the money that desperately in 30 days, that they have to sell? I think it’s not very common,” said UCLA’s Eric Sussman.
Foiling epilepsy in a brain at risk | Science magazine
About 30% of people who suffer a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) like Parks’s — and a smaller percentage of people with a milder one — later develop epilepsy. TBIs can cause “a rewiring of the brain, going from normal to short-circuited,” says Paul Vespa, a neurologist and neurocritical care specialist at UCLA who cared for Parks. But the details are hazy. There’s “the brain injury, something happens in the middle, and then 20 years later, seizures,” Vespa says. “Nobody understands what the ‘middle’ is.”
UCLA legal clinic helps veterans get access to services | Federal News Network
“The UCLA Veterans Legal Clinic was founded in the fall of 2017, and it has a dual mission. One is to provide much needed legal services to the veteran community in Los Angeles County that seeks services on the West LA VA campus…. Our second mission is also to teach students how to be excellent lawyers, in particular when working with vulnerable clients and clients who experience poverty and criminal justice issues,” said UCLA’s Sunita Patel.
Coastal Commission approves 8 toad pools and habitat restoration at Crystal Cove State Park | Daily Pilot
The coastal development permit will allow the state to install the pools along Moro Ridge to create new breeding sites and increase the amount and duration of water available to the toads already in the area. The pools will allow for longer periods of larval development that are expected to result in larger juvenile toads with higher expectations for survival as adults. The pools will be monitored by UCLA and the U.S. Geological Survey, according to the staff report.
Targeted therapy drug helps women with aggressive breast cancer live longer | Medical Xpress
“Many people argue that the first type of treatment women with this type of metastatic cancer should receive is some other form of hormonal therapy and then wait to see if they respond to that treatment,” said senior author Dr. Dennis Slamon, chair of hematology-oncology and director of clinical and translational research at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. “But we found there’s a significant difference when you use the combination of ribociclib with hormone therapy as the first line of therapy. There is absolutely no reason to wait to give women this treatment. This should be the new standard.”
Yakima City Council pulls strong mayor question off February ballot | Yakima Herald-Republic
The council’s unanimous decision to pull the measure happened hours after two lawsuits were filed against the city regarding the proposal. Yakima voters Marguerite Wright and Leigh Kronsnoble filed separate lawsuits Tuesday in Yakima County Superior Court challenging the proposed change. Columbia Legal Services, the American Civil Liberties Union-Washington and the UCLA Voting Rights Project represent the women.
FDA gives expanded approval to prescription fish oil for health patients | HealthDay
In the study, Vascepa appeared to put the brakes on key aspects of plaque formation in vessels after nine months of use, lead researcher Dr. Matthew Budoff, a professor at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, said at the time. “We found significant slowing of progression among four different plaque markers, including total plaque,” Budoff noted in a presentation at the AHA’s annual meeting, in Philadelphia.
Saliva test shows promise for earlier and easier detection of mouth and throat cancer | Scienmag
“The saliva exosome liquid biopsy is an effective early detection and risk assessment approach for OPC,” said co-lead investigator David T.W. Wong, DMD, DMSc, of the Center for Oral/Head and Neck Oncology Research, School of Dentistry at the University of California Los Angeles, CA, USA. “The acoustofluidic separation technique provides a fast, biocompatible, high-yield, high-purity, label-free method for exosome isolation from saliva.”
