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.
How to be mindful while stuck in traffic | Los Angeles Times
Mindfulness, or paying attention to present experiences with openness and curiosity, has become an important skill during the pandemic, when nothing has been certain and everything changes in an instant. “We’re undergoing a pretty severe mental health crisis,” says Diana Winston, director of mindfulness education at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center. “And a lot of those challenges have been exacerbated by the pandemic.”
L.A. spring: A break from climate catastrophes | Los Angeles Times
Daniel L. Swain is a climate scientist at UCLA and a California climate fellow at the Nature Conservancy; you’ve met him here before. “Spring was kind of a reprieve. It’s as if climate and weather and natural hazards can take a breather,” Swain explains. “You do have fires, but not as bad as in summer and autumn. You can see floods, but usually not as bad, and heat waves, not as bad as summer and autumn.”
Biden: Contradictions on immigration policies | Time
The two cases hinge on separate statutory questions — so legally, they don’t contradict. But logically, they do, says Ingrid Eagly, professor of law at the University of California, Los Angeles. The government is asking to use its authority to end [Migrant Protection Protocols] in part due to its “unjustifiable human costs,” yet it is asking in separate litigation to continue expelling all asylum seekers in the name of preventing the spread of COVID-19.
Avoiding ‘terrible news’ burnout | Washington Post
“It’s really important for us to give ourselves permission to set boundaries about our news consumption and social media,” says Kristen Choi, an assistant professor of health policy and management at UCLA and a psychiatric nurse who works with kids and adults. “That constant influx of traumatic images and content can really wear on our minds.”
The Academy and the Will Smith incident | Forbes
(Commentary by UCLA’s Tom Nunan) Why wasn’t there better security at the event, and how could the Academy allow anyone, let alone a disgruntled actor, to storm the stage and accost someone? What would have happened if the perpetrator had been a seat-filler, or someone less “A”-list than Smith? Why would there be one set of rules for an Oscar nominee of Smith’s stature, and likely an utterly different set of restraints and guidelines, for others?
Migrating newts meet death on highways | Guardian
Researchers have found that southern California newts’ body condition — a measure comparing weight and length — declined by 20% between 2008 and 2016. It’s a sign that temperature extremes and drought — exacerbated by global heating — are already affecting Pacific newts, according to Gary Bucciarelli, a conservation biologist at UCLA who led the 2020 study. Newts in northern California are likely to suffer the same consequences in coming years, he says.
How college campus tours can achieve more | Inside Higher Ed
Ffiona Rees, chair of the board at the National Association for College Admission Counseling, explains that the draw toward virtual — in tours and other admissions events — is not just about COVID safety but also about equity. “Providing more online programming is a huge benefit to equity — it really opens the doors,” says Rees, who is also deputy director for undergraduate admission at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Are humans the only animals that lie? | Discover
Greg Bryant is a cognitive scientist at UCLA who specializes in animal communication and social behavior. He points out that biologists make a distinction between functional deception and intentional deception. “The idea is that sometimes animals can act in a way that functionally deceives others, but they’re not aware of it or intending to do that,” he says.
COVID caused Black, Latino students to cancel college plans | The Hill
A new report published by the Latino Policy & Politics Initiative at University of California, Los Angeles, used Census Bureau data to understand how the coronavirus pandemic impacted American households. The results found that during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic and even a year later, many students of color planned to cancel all their plans for postsecondary education.
Mental decline can follow a heart attack | HealthDay News
Dr. Gregg Fonarow, director of the Ahmanson–University of California, Los Angeles, Cardiomyopathy Center, said that earlier studies have suggested there may be an acceleration in thinking declines in people with heart disease. “The mechanisms contributing to the cognitive decline identified require further study,” Fonarow said. He noted that past studies have suggested that exercise can reduce global cognitive decline.
The ‘whole foods’ diet | WebMD
“Whole grains are rich in a myriad of vitamins, minerals and phytochemical compounds that, alone or in combination, are likely to have significant health benefits that are beyond that from dietary fiber,” notes Simin Liu, MD, ScD, a researcher and professor of epidemiology at the University of California–Los Angeles.
Rising costs hurt families with kids fighting illness | Spectrum News 1
Rising costs because of inflation are affecting people differently, said Dr. Jerry Nickelsburg, a UCLA professor of economics. “Those who are on fixed income, or those whose wages don’t rise at least as fast as the rate of inflation, they are hurt by this inflation in that they have to do belt tightening,” Nickelsburg said. “Their budgets are less than they were before.”
Oscars fight highlights alopecia | WebMD
Rock’s comment can be triggering to the millions who have been affected by hair loss, says Carolyn Goh, MD, a dermatologist at UCLA Health. “As someone with alopecia myself, I consider it a microaggression,” Goh says. “I’ve experienced many similar comments. These build up over time and wear us down.”
Death of carbon star plays out like six-ring circus | ScienceDaily
Mark Morris, an astronomer at UCLA and a co-author on the research added, “V Hydra has been caught in the process of shedding its atmosphere — ultimately most of its mass — which is something that most late-stage red giant stars do. Much to our surprise, we have found that the matter, in this case, is being expelled as a series of outflowing rings. This is the first and only time that anybody has seen that the gas being ejected from an AGB star can be flowing out in the form of a series of expanding ‘smoke rings.’”
UCLA’s teaching kitchen part of new food studies program | Spectrum News 1
Los Angeles is already one of the best cities to enjoy food, but now students at UCLA can actually study it. The university just recently launched an entire institute dedicated to food studies, an interdisciplinary program open to both undergrad and grad students that covers a wide range of subjects, including food justice. One course included in the food studies colloquium is the teaching kitchen. It’s being launched, in part, as an effort to clear up the widespread misinformation around food.
Hollywood’s efforts to improve diversity: 2022 | CNBC
Women are making some gains in writing and directing roles but are still vastly underrepresented, according to UCLA’s 2022 Hollywood Diversity Report.
After Echo Park Lake eviction, few found stable housing | KQED-FM’s “The California Report”
A new UCLA report shows that a year after a sweep of homeless camps around Echo Park Lake in Los Angeles, most of the unhoused who were uprooted haven’t found permanent housing. Even more concerning, many have fallen off the map of the city’s Homeless Department and are no longer being tracked. (UCLA’s Ananya Roy is interviewed.)
Is a fourth COVID vaccine dose needed? | KNX-FM
“There are two sets of data available right now. The first is a study of Israeli health care workers, where they looked at over a thousand health care workers, about 275 who have gotten a fourth dose, or a second booster. And what they found was, in fact, in giving young, healthy health care workers a fourth dose, you could increase the level of neutralizing antibodies about nine-, tenfold,” said UCLA’s Dr. Timothy Brewer (approx. 0:35 mark).
