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.
Pollutants from Aliso Canyon gas leak cause health risks, according to UCLA study | KTTV-TV
Air quality samples collected near the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility during the 2015 blowout that led to the largest-known human-caused release of methane in U.S. history showed elevated levels of pollutants known or suspected to be associated with serious health problems, according to a UCLA Fielding School of Public Health-led study… “Our findings demonstrate that uncontrolled leaks or blowout events at natural gas storage facilities can release pollutants with the potential to cause not only environmental harm, but also adverse health consequences in surrounding communities,’’ said the study’s principal author, Diane A. Garcia-Gonzales, a postdoctoral scholar at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and UCLA Institute of Environment and Sustainability. (Also: KABC-TV, KPCC-FM, KCRW-FM, Associated Press)
A climate-focused presidential debate? Here’s what moderators should ask | Washington Post Perspective
“These cities are suing oil companies under nuisance law,” said UCLA’s Ann Carlson. “(I’ve provided pro bono legal advice for several of them.) They argue that the oil companies have together emitted a huge percentage of the total greenhouse gases in the past half-century, that the companies have known about the harms and causes of climate change for decades, and that they have concealed those harms and funded a campaign to convince the public that climate change isn’t happening. The oil companies argue that the problem of climate change shouldn’t be solved in the courts and that fossil fuels have created enormous economic benefits that outweigh any environmental harms.”
UCLA physician has given 50 years of service to Southern California patients | KCBS-TV
Dr. Richard Allen Williams is in his 45th year as a professor and cardiologist at the UCLA School of Medicine. “I’m really proud of our institution for what they have done for increasing diversity,” Williams said…. Dr. Williams is best known today for introducing the concept that African Americans need special attention in health, noting once size doesn’t fit all.
Babies know the difference between the laughter of friends and strangers | Scientific American
Greg Bryant, a cognitive scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, and his colleagues previously found that adults from 24 societies around the world can distinguish simultaneous “co-laughter” between friends from that between strangers. The findings suggested that this ability may be universally used to help read social interactions.
The war on Southern California smog is slipping. Fixing it is a $14-billion problem | Los Angeles Times
“Our geography is perfect for forming ozone, and that’s what makes it such an intractable problem,” said Suzanne Paulson, a professor of atmospheric chemistry who directs the Center for Clean Air at UCLA.
Staying mum on strike, union keeps VTA riders in limbo | Bay Area News Group
According to Kent Wong, director of UCLA’s labor center, the ATU, made up of “highly skilled workers who perform critical functions,” will be hard to replace during a strike, giving it greater leverage during a negotiation. The VTA has already said it would cease all light rail service because those operators are too highly skilled to be easily replaced. “There is no normal contract negotiation,” said Wong. “The key part is to secure the best agreement for members.”
Who’s behind the law making undocumented immigrants criminals? An ‘unrepentant white supremacist’ | Washington Post
That Section 1325 got airtime on Wednesday indicates its significance in American political history, according to Kelly Lytle Hernández, a professor of history at the University of California at Los Angeles and the author of a 2017 book that exposes the explicit racial motivations for the statute. “I’m thankful to hear it’s being brought to the surface,” Hernández, author of “City of Inmates: Conquest, Rebellion, and the Rise of Human Caging in Los Angeles, 1771-1965,” said in an interview with The Washington Post. (Also: Vice, Quartz)
Reducing consumption to impact climate change | CBS News
Jared Diamond is a professor at UCLA and a Pulitzer Prize winning author. He said people used to believe population rates were one of the biggest global issues. But he said what counts it the total consumption rate. “There’s enormous variation between people’s consumption rates in different parts of the world,” Diamond said. “One American citizen has the impact on the world of 32 Kenyans.”
Democrats clash over ‘Medicare for all’ in first debate | CNBC
The issue over health insurance marked the first stark divide among the candidates, and sparked a heated back-and-forth between many of the candidates on stage. “I think this is potentially the most important point so far,” said Lynn Vavreck, an American politics professor at UCLA. “There is some disagreement here on what was asked of them, but I think this will generate a lot of coverage which will be good for Warren.”
The unfortunate ‘catch-22’ that might be holding back full inclusion in Hollywood | CBC
The 2019 Diversity Report from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) analyzed 167 of the top-grossing films in 2017. About one in 10 directors were people of colour. That number would have to more than triple to reach proportional representation in the U.S. The level of diversity was marginally higher for TV productions.
Here are some surprising benefits of holding your lover’s hand | Times of India
A study done at the University of California Los Angeles suggests holding hands also helps in increasing the secretion of the love hormone oxytocin, that is proven to improve empathy, trust and even sexual activity in couples.
The demographics that drive America’s partisan divide | U.S. News & World Report
The growing Hispanic population could be damaging to the GOP if the party does not reach out more — especially since the Trump administration has alienated many Latinos with its aggressive immigration and border control policy, said panelist Angela Gutierrez, a fellow at UCLA’s Latino Politics and Public Policy Initiative. “The change needs to come from the top,” she said. But “I really don’t think the Republican Party is going to come around any time soon.”
New tests may help those with persistent urinary tract infections | Washington Post
“It is possible that [DNA testing] will change the way UTIs are managed, as the current approach of dipstick urinalysis and urine culture are not comprehensive enough to identify all microbes that require treatment. However, we are not there yet,” says David Fishbein Yao, a urologist and researcher at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. So for now, “the standard testing for UTI with urinalysis and urine culture if the urinalysis is abnormal is the best method for diagnosing UTI.”
Dallas Morning News wins Loeb award for investigating deadly home blasts linked to Atmos gas line | Dallas Morning News
Gerald Loeb, a founding partner of the brokerage firm E.F. Hutton & Co., established his namesake awards in 1957, and the University of California, Los Angeles, began administering them in 1973. The recognition is intended to "encourage and support reporting on business and finance that would inform and protect the private investor and the general public," according to its website.
Hawaii sees wettest June on record | San Francisco Chronicle
UCLA climatologist Daniel Swain, who writes the Weather West blog, offered an explanation for the freak storm on Twitter, sharing that ocean waters around Hawaii are about 3.5 degrees warmer than usual. This “raises the ceiling on precipitation intensity by increasing the amount of potential evaporation/water vapor in atmosphere,” he explains.
