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.

More than 90% of streaming shows created by white people | The Guardian

Popular scripted series on streaming services showed a marked decrease in cultural diversity both behind and in front of the camera last year as Hollywood inclusion programs waned, a new study from the University of California, Los Angeles, concluded. (UCLA’s Darnell Hunt, Nico Garcia and Michael Tran were quoted. Also: KABC-TV and KTTV-TV.)

Major cannabis study finds little proof for popular medical claims | Fox News

A major new analysis published in JAMA examined more than 2,500 scientific papers from the last 15 years, including other reviews, clinical trials and guidelines focused on medical marijuana. “While many people turn to cannabis seeking relief, our review highlights significant gaps between public perception and scientific evidence regarding its effectiveness for most medical conditions,” Dr. Michael Hsu of [UCLA], author of the study, said in a press release.

Interoception may be key to good mental health | Scientific American

Sahib Khalsa, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, and his colleagues think a disrupted interoception system might be one of the driving forces behind anorexia nervosa. So they decided to repurpose a decades-old therapy called flotation-REST (for “reduced environmental stimulation therapy”) and launched a trial with it in 2018. (Khalsa was quoted.)

A ‘positive school climate’ can adversely affect some | Phys.org

As concerns rise about the mental health of American adolescents, schools have worked to create an atmosphere where students feel physically, emotionally and socially safe, connected and respected. But a positive campus climate does not provide the same benefits for all students — and in some cases may even deepen feelings of isolation and despair, according to new research co-authored by UCLA professor Ron Avi Astor. (Astor was quoted.)

A teenager processes life after disaster | Los Angeles Times

This is a time of “intense identity building” for people transitioning from children to adults, said Gregory Leskin, a psychologist and program director with the National Child Traumatic Stress Network at UCLA. Fire victims experienced something of such magnitude, they might believe, that it overshadows other, carefully honed parts of their identity — such as being a good friend or student or athlete, Leskin said.

The recipe for L.A.’s fire disaster | Los Angeles Times

All of that heat has alarming implications for California’s wildfire risk — namely, drawing out the moisture from vegetation, according to a blog post by UCLA scientists on climate and weather factors leading up to the recent wildfires. The summer and fall of 2024 were some of the hottest since at least 1895 in coastal Southern California, the scientists wrote, and high heat in the summer of 2024 “appears partly responsible for the steep summertime decline in dead fuel moisture.”  

Rob Reiner’s legacy as a democratic power player | The Hollywood Reporter

Reiner became the key force behind Proposition 10, a 1998 California ballot measure that levied a tax on tobacco products to pay for a variety of early childhood programs across the state, many of which are still in existence today. “Nobody had ever proposed something of this magnitude before,” says Zev Yaroslavsky, a former Los Angeles County supervisor who now runs a policy institute at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. “That was his baby, and it’s made a huge difference that’s helped hundreds of thousands of kids.”

The mental health challenges facing cancer survivors | Iowa Public Radio

When it comes to treating cancer, the field of oncology often neglects mental health, said Patricia Ganz, an oncologist and professor at the UCLA School of Public Health, who has spent decades working with cancer survivors. “We know how to give pills. We know how to give pain medicine, sleep medicines, but we’re not really schooled in the antidepressants,” she said.