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.

It’s flu shot time. How and why to get one | Los Angeles Times

Last year, experts feared a “twindemic” of flu and coronavirus that didn’t come to pass. But it’s still a possibility this time around, said Dan Uslan, a clinical professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the co-chief infection prevention officer at UCLA Health. “This is going to be a particularly challenging year because no one has any idea what to expect in terms of the flu season,” Uslan said.

California COVID cases dropping | Washington Post

“California, as compared to many other states in the nation, took rapid steps to recognize the extent of the problem and to apply more COVID control measures,” said Robert Kim-Farley, an infectious-disease expert at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. “I think if California had not taken these steps to curb transmission, we could have ended up with much higher levels.”

Newsom won big with Latinos | NPR’s “All Things Considered”

“Our research out of UCLA looking at the 2020 presidential found that Latino voters in California, at a 3 to 1 margin, voted for Biden. And now what we were able to ascertain through the data that has been released in the state of California regarding the 2021 gubernatorial is actually outstanding, one of the reasons being that Latino turnout was higher. And in terms of their vote choice, by and large they were against the recall,” said UCLA’s Sonja Diaz.

Controversy over vaccine “passports”  | CNN

“I think this issue of vaccine passports has become politicized, like everything else. We have many examples of this. The yellow fever vaccine has been required globally for decades. And that is a perfect example. We also require vaccinations in schools, for health workers — for many vaccines. So this is not a new concept,” said UCLA’s Anne Rimoin.

Can flying cars solve L.A.’s traffic problems?  | KCRW-FM’s “Greater LA”

“We have this technical term in transportation that I'm going to use. So if you need a definition, just let me know it: This sounds to me like bullshit.” That’s UCLA urban planning professor Michael Manville gently pointing out that the transportation industry is full of promises and timelines — self-driving cars, electric vehicles, high-speed rail. “It’s just the beauty of technology that doesn’t exist yet.”

MBA programs hope to improve diversity through case studies | Bloomberg Businessweek

Even with mandates such as Harvard’s to teach diverse cases, it’s unclear to what extent professors across business schools will embrace them, says Miguel Unzueta, senior associate director of the MBA program at the University of California at Los Angeles and a professor of management and organizations. The demand from students to hear from leaders who aren’t white men is a recent phenomenon, he says. “It has been a generational shift.”

Social media and the ‘oligarchy of speech’ | Washington Post

[Eugene] Volokh, law professor at UCLA, notes that the Internet, by making it possible for almost anyone to speak to many others, has radically reduced the importance of the “oligarchy of speech” that existed when large media entities acted as gatekeepers to the public forum. Says Volokh, “Oligarchy, how quickly many have come to miss you!”

What your doctor wishes you knew about pregnancy | CNET

When a pregnant patient comes to Dr. Aparna Sridhar’s office for the first prenatal visit, she usually spends a good chunk of time “degoogling” with the patient — that is, setting the record straight about pregnancy information they might have read online. Sridhar, a gynecologist and clinical professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, cautions against comparing your pregnancy to those you read about online (or hear detailed stories about from well-meaning others).

California commits $500m more to student housing | CalMatters

The plan — part of a commitment of $2 billion over three years if the Legislature fully funds it — may seem like a massive sum, but the amount of housing the money can build is likely a rounding error in the total need for the state’s students. “It’s a drop in the bucket, but every drop counts,” said Dana Cuff, a UCLA professor and director of CityLab, an urban design research center.

COVID fears fuel interest in home births | Los Angeles Daily News

Nurse midwife Shadman Habibi, who works at UCLA Health Birth Place in Santa Monica, said at least 25 women of 150 patients who were planning their deliveries there changed their birthing plans in the past few months. “They stopped coming to us and decided to have a home birth,” Habibi said. (UCLA’s Dr. Mya Zapata is also quoted.)

Too much free time isn’t actually bad for you | Vice

The new paper was inspired by work that senior author and UCLA psychologist Hal Hershfield and co-author Cassie Mogilner published five years ago, in which they found that when you asked people if they would rather have more time or more money, those who chose time were happier (even with the results adjusted for income).

Silver-infused bacteria improve efficiency of fuel cells | Scienmag

A UCLA-led team of engineers and chemists has taken a major step forward in the development of microbial fuel cells — a technology that utilizes natural bacteria to extract electrons from organic matter in wastewater to generate electrical currents … “Living energy-recovery systems utilizing bacteria found in wastewater offer a one-two punch for environmental sustainability efforts,” said co-corresponding author Yu Huang, a professor and chair of the Materials Science and Engineering Department at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. (UCLA’s Xiangfeng Duan is also quoted.)

Massive underground ‘tree’ brings magma to Earth’s surface | Quanta Magazine

Combining the data from the giant array with additional seismic data sets proved instrumental, as it allowed the team to precisely resolve an entire swath of the mantle, from its greatest depths to its highest reaches. “In terms of the seismology, it is a step forward,” said Carolina Lithgow-Bertelloni, a geophysicist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “In that sense, I think it’s great.”

Algorithms: From the ancients to the internet | BBC ‘s “The Forum”

“My understanding of the term ‘algorithm’ is it’s not necessarily the boogeyman. Or it’s not necessarily something that is inscrutable or mysterious to all people. It’s a set of instructions that you write in some mathematical form or in some software code. So it’s a repeated set of instructions that are sequenced, that are used and applied to answer a question or resolve a problem,” said UCLA’s Ramesh Srinivasan (approx. 1:10 mark).

No vaccine mandate for Beverly Hills schools | Beverly Hills Courier

Dr. Shira Shafir, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health associate professor of epidemiology and community health sciences, told the Courier that parents should be reassured by the extensive data available on the Pfizer vaccine’s safety in children 12 and up. “Pfizer conducted rigorous safety trials for their vaccines in 12- to 15-year-olds, and they are currently testing the vaccine in younger populations,” she said.