In the News
— September 13, 2021 —
Silver Nanoparticles Enhance Efficiency of Microbial-Based Fuel Cells
Reviewed by Megan Craig
A team of engineers and chemists from UCLA has achieved significant progress in the development of microbial fuel cells. This is a technology that employs natural bacteria to extract electrons from organic matter in wastewater to produce electrical currents.
— September 13, 2021 —
LA Companies Give Renters More Ways to Charge EVs
by Elijah Chiland
Electric vehicles are touted as the future, especially in Los Angeles where the city’s climate goals call for 80% of vehicles sold to be electric by 2028 — seven years ahead of the state’s 2035 cutoff for gasoline-powered auto sales.
— August 24, 2021 —
Behind The Florida Condo Collapse: Rampant Corner-Cutting
by Konrad Putzier, Scott Calvert and Rachael Levy
A startling discovery awaited an engineer who drilled into the ground-level concrete slab at Champlain Towers South last year. He could find no waterproofing in two separate sections, the engineer wrote in a letter to the condominium board.
— August 11, 2021 —
Stretchy hydrogel mimics motion of living organisms
by Cordelia Sealy
A new heat- and light-responsive polymeric material could prove useful for soft robots that mimic the function and movement of living organisms, according to researchers at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Arizona State University, and University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix [Lo et al., Materials Today (2021), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mattod.2021.05.008].
— August 9, 2021 —
This company uses technology and nature to cut your air conditioning bill
by Rishi Iyengar
Heat waves are becoming more common in parts of the United States — and that means more people running their air conditioners for longer. But those air conditioners can make the problem worse, emitting greenhouse gases as they work that contribute heavily to climate change.
— August 5, 2021 —
This New Technology Could Help Cool People Down—Without Electricity
by Tim Folger
When Rebecca Sunenshine moved to Phoenix, Arizona, her first electric bill shocked her. “I called the utility and said, ‘You must have made a mistake.’ Because I think it was a $400 or $500 bill,” says Sunenshine, who is the medical director for Disease Control with the Maricopa County Health Department. “And they said, ‘Did you just move here?’”
— July 30, 2021 —
Engineers bend light to enhance wavelength conversion
by University of California, Los Angeles
Electrical engineers from the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering have developed a more efficient way of converting light from one wavelength to another, opening the door for improvements in the performance of imaging, sensing and communication systems. Mona Jarrahi, professor of electrical and computer engineering at UCLA Samueli, led the Nature Communications-published research.
— July 29, 2021 —
Deep learning improves image reconstruction in optical coherence tomography using less data
by UCLA Engineering Institute for Technology Advancement
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive imaging method that can provide 3D information of biological samples. The first generation of OCT systems were based on time-domain imaging, using a mechanical scanning set-up. However, the relatively slow data acquisition speed of these earlier time-domain OCT systems partially limited their use for imaging live specimen.
— July 27, 2021 —
This California company wants to make modern AC obsolete
by Andrew Zaleski
They look like mirrors: 32 rectangles neatly arranged in eight rows on the rooftop of a supermarket called Grocery Outlet in Stockton, California. Shimmering beneath a bright sky, at first glance they could be solar panels, but the job of this rig is quite different. It keeps the store from overheating.
— July 24, 2021 —
Forget About Interstellar Flights. Tiny Light Sails Could be Used to Explore the Solar System Today
by Andy Tomaswick
Solar sails have been receiving a lot of attention lately. In part that is due to a series of high profile missions that have successfully proven the concept. It’s also in part due to the high profile Breakthrough Starshot project, which is designing a solar sail powered mission to reach Alpha Centauri. But this versatile third propulsion system isn’t only useful for far flung adventures – it has advantages closer to home as well. A new paper by engineers at UCLA defines what those advantages are, and how we might be able to best utilize them.
— July 22, 2021 —
Prof. Richard Wirz interviewed by Al Jazeera regarding Jeff Bezos’ Sub-Orbital Flight
by Al Jazeera News
Prof. Richard Wirz of UCLA MAE was recently interviewed by Al Jazeera regarding Jeff Bezos’ sub-orbital flight. Prof. Wirz discussed the difference between orbital and sub-orbital launches as well as the importance of rigorous launch vehicle testing over high-profile launches.
— July 14, 2021 —
Scientists are hoping to fight climate change by turning carbon-dioxide into rock
by Liz Saint John
In an effort to combat climate change, scientists have figured out how to take carbon dioxide out of the ocean and possibly turn it into rock. For more on this, KCBS news anchor Liz Saint John spoke with Camly Tran, executive director of UCLA’s Institute for Carbon Management.
— July 1, 2021 —
Concrete makers face heavy lift on climate pledges
by Cassandra Garrison
Cemex, North America’s biggest concrete producer, has vowed to slash carbon dioxide emissions by 40% before 2030 and to eliminate them by 2050, ambitious goals reflecting growing pressure on the industry from regulators and investors.
— June 29, 2021 —
Miami-Area Condo Failure: Years of Warnings, but Mixed Signals
by Jon Kamp, Scott Calvert and Deborah Acosta
When warning signs flashed about structural and maintenance problems at Champlain Towers South, the information was muted and confusing, signaling that the condo owners didn’t need to remedy the situation urgently, according to a preliminary review by The Wall Street Journal of historical documents, eyewitness accounts and expert assessments.
— June 27, 2021 —
Building collapse in Miami: Multiple factors could have contributed, experts say
by Kyle Bagenstose, Elizabeth Weise, Erin Mansfield, Aleszu Bajak USA TODAY
“It’s almost always a series of things that build up,” said John Wallace, a professor of structural engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles who has participated in multiple forensic analyses of building failures. “Each item adds additional demands upon the building. These things cascade and then it reaches a tipping point where there is this type of collapse.”
— June 26, 2021 —
Inspection reports for collapsed Miami-area condo detail ‘major structural damage’ over garage
by Elizabeth Weise, Kyle Bagenstose USA TODAY
What caused the cracking isn’t known, said John Wallace, a professor of structural engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles. “It could be slow degradation over time, maybe the concrete wasn’t placed properly, it could be that the ground had moved somewhat causing it,” he said. ”It could be multiple different things.”
— June 24, 2021 —
The desperate search for survivors of Florida’s deadly condo collapse nearly a 100 people are missing experts trying to figure out how it happened.
by KTLA-TV
The search is on tonight for survivors and answers after a 12 story condominium complex collapses without warning nearly 100 people still unaccounted for somewhere beneath the mounds of concrete and debris. search teams aren’t giving up hope looking for any signs of life tonight.
Could It Happen Here? Expert Weighs In On California Building Codes In Wake Of Condo Collapse In Florida
by CBSLA Staff
With the deadly collapse Thursday of a 12-story high-rise condo building in Surfside, a Miami-Dade County, in which 55 of the 136 units crumbled, some residents of the southland wonder whether a similar catastrophe could happen here.
Summer heat brings new challenge to electric grid
by Rachel Frazin
After this year’s winter storm in Texas resulted in power outages that ultimately killed dozens, grid issues there and elsewhere are flaring up again in the summer heat.
Experts told The Hill that more needs to be done to prepare the grid in both the summer and the winter as climate change will continue to exacerbate extreme weather conditions and lead to more issues.
— June 23, 2021 —
Cloud spraying and hurricane slaying: how ocean geoengineering became the frontier of the climate crisis
by Amy Fleming
Tom Green has a plan to tackle climate change. The British biologist and director of the charity Project Vesta wants to turn a trillion tonnes of CO2 into rock, and sink it to the bottom of the sea.
Green admits the idea is “audacious”. It would involve locking away atmospheric carbon by dropping pea-coloured sand into the ocean. The sand is made of ground olivine – an abundant volcanic rock, known to jewellers as peridot – and, if Green’s calculations are correct, depositing it offshore on 2% of the world’s coastlines would capture 100% of total global annual carbon emissions.
— June 3, 2021 —
This Carbon-Capture Tech Removes CO2 From the Ocean By Making Seashells
by Adele Peters
Even as renewable energy and zero-emissions transportation scale up and the rest of the global economy slowly decarbonizes, it’s likely that the world will still need to suck an enormous amount of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere to tackle climate change—10 billion metric tons per year by the middle of the century, by one estimate. Some startups are turning to machines that suck CO2 directly from the air. Others are betting on trees. But a team of scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles, is turning to the ocean instead.
Giving Robots a Sense of Touch
by Mission Unstoppable
Some people said robots don’t have feelings. But, our next guest is figuring out how to give them feelings.
— June 1, 2021 —
Soft Focus: A Flexible Future for Robots
by UCLA Newsroom
Picture a robot. In your mind’s eye, do you see a shiny protocol droid from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away? Perhaps a large, moving steel arm from our industrial present? Or even an ambassador from the future, such as the mighty THOR (tactical hazardous operations robot), UCLA’s own walking, talking, soccer-kicking bot from the lab of engineering professor Dennis Hong?
— May 21, 2021 —
Is This Concrete’s Breakthrough Moment?
by Paola Rosa-Aquino
The blue planet is becoming grayer by the day, as Earth is paved over with concrete. The world churns out about 4 billion tons of cement, the glue that holds concrete together, every year, and the appetite for concrete is expected to balloon as humanity continues to move from rural areas into cities.
— May 20, 2021 —
The Rise of the Climatarian
by Danielle Braff
Torben Lonne, a 34-year-old scuba diver in Copenhagen, never eats without considering the carbon footprint and the emission level of the food he’s about to consume. For that reason, his diet revolves around locally sourced fruits and vegetables, and pizza. He avoids avocados, however.
— April 22, 2021 —
UCLA Engineering Team Wins $7.5M Prize For Developing Eco-Friendly Concrete That Absorbs Carbon Dioxide
by CBSLA Staff
A group of UCLA engineers were awarded the $7.5 million NRG COSIA Carbon XPrize for creating a near carbon dioxide-neutral version of concrete.
— April 19, 2021 —
A Big Step Towards Decarbonization – The Carbon XPRIZE
by James Conca
Extracting CO2 from the air is one of the best ways to reverse climate change without resorting to expensive technologies, convoluted tax schemes or preventing billions of people from getting the energy they need to have a good life.
Team Led by UCLA Professor Wins $7.5M Engineering Prize
by KFI AM 640
A group of UCLA engineers has become the first university team to win the $7.5 million grand prize in the NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE global competition, it was announced today. The UCLA CarbonBuilt team, led by Gaurav Sant, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, won the prize in the competition’s track for technologies related to coal-fired power generation.
— April 12, 2021 —
Startup Creates Concrete That Reduces Carbon Emissions
by Howard Fine
Westwood-based startup CarbonBuilt Inc. has a concrete plan for reducing carbon emissions. The company, which was spun off in late 2019 from a UCLA research team led by civil engineer professor Gaurav Sant, has developed a process for injecting concrete with carbon dioxide emissions from power plants or other industrial facilities.
— April 10, 2021 —
Guggenheim Fellows For 2021 Announced. Here Are The Universities With The Most Winners.
by Michael T. Nietzel
The Guggenheim Fellows for 2021 were announced this week. This year’s winners include 184 scholars, artists, scientists and writers selected via a rigorous peer review process from more than 3,000 initial candidates. The full list of winners can be found here.
— April 9, 2021 —
NASA Teases A Mars Base Made Of Mushrooms, A Swarm Of Spacecraft To Venus And A Giant Dish On The Moon
by Jamie Carter
CubeSat solar sails for exploring deep space
Space missions take decades of development, years of flight and cost billions. So why not explore the solar system and interstellar space using CubeSat solar sails? Proposed by Artur Davoyan, an assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, this research project will study ultra-lightweight metamaterials that could withstand extreme environments.
It’s thought that super-light CubeSat solar sails could travel 60 times the Earth-Sun distance in a year, which is 20 times the velocity of Voyager 1—currently the farthest spacecraft of all—and could reach Jupiter in five months. That journey currently takes five years.
— April 5, 2021 —
UCLA prof says racial bias in medical devices is based in physics
by Nancy Crotti
The laws of physics may be making medical devices biased against people of color, according to a UCLA engineering professor.
Achuta Kadambi, an assistant professor at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, published a column in the journal Science about how dataset representation is not the only factor leading to bias in medtech.
— March 22, 2021 —
Conspiracies: The Secret Knowledge
by BBC Radio
Electrical Computer Engineering Prof. Vwani Roy Chowdhury’s latest interview re conspiracy theories on BBC Radio 4. 11:54-18:45 mark.
Phil Tinline explores what conspiracy theory – and conspiracy fiction – claim to tell us about how power really works, and how that compares with reality.
— March 14, 2021 —
Breakthrough in electronic display fabrics could help pave the way for smart clothing
by Charles Q. Choi | INSIDE SCIENCE
A wearable interactive display made of a flexible, breathable electronic fabric can display simple maps and text messages, potentially for use in future smart clothing, a research group reports in its latest paper.
— March 12, 2021 —
New Technology Captures Carbon To Create Cement
by Ashley Piccone
Cement production makes up eight percent of man-made carbon emissions. But a new technology developed by the University of California, Los Angeles might change that.
— March 11, 2021 —
Tough, yet tender: Scientists firm up research on durable hydrogels
by Mutian Hua
A research team led by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has developed a new method to make synthetic biomaterials that mimic the internal structure, stretchiness, strength and durability of tendons and other biological tissues.
— March 10, 2021 —
This Chip for AI Works Usig Light, Not Electrons
by Will Knight
Aydogan Ozcan, a professor at UCLA who works on photonic computing, believes the rise of AI could bring technology like Lightmatter’s to the fore. He suggests that a shift toward new forms of photonic computing might even unlock new ways of doing AI. “We might see major advances in computing speed, power and parallelism, which will further feed into and accelerate the success of AI,” he says.
—March 9, 2021 —
Let’s Redesign the Laptop for a Work-From-Home Era
by Dan Weil
With remote work here to stay, a lot of focus has turned toward the key work-from-home technology tool: the laptop. But relying so heavily on the laptop has raised all sorts of issues—from camera and sound quality to security and privacy.
— February 23, 2021 —
KNX In Depth: A California variant of COVID-19 worries scientists—Wealthy people find a new way to skip vaccine lines—The pandemic creates a shortage of research monkeys
by KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO
Doctors and scientists have talked a lot about the coronavirus variants we’re dealing with. Researchers at U.C. San Francisco have been tracking one of the California variants. They say it spreads more easily and evades antibodies generated by vaccines. So how worried should we be? It seems the wealthy have found a new way to game the system and get a vaccine before others. Researchers are having trouble finding monkeys.
— February 22, 2021 —
Dr. Dennis Hong on Achieving the Impossible With Robotic Inventions
by LA Stories Staff
When Dr. Dennis Hong was 7 years old, he saw a movie that shaped the rest of his life. The movie was Star Wars: A New Hope, and it was the robots — or “droids” in the film — that caught his eye. “The humanoid robot and the R2-D2 that looks like a trash can just captivated me,” he said. “I thought it was so cool.”
— February 17, 2021 —
CAL-ISO Urges Residents To Help Conserve Power After Historic Storm Hits Texas, Midwest
by News, KCBSTV, Top Story
The California Independent System Operator (CAL-ISO) is urging residents to conserve energy to help ease stressed grid conditions in Texas, the Midwest and other parts of the country.
Sloan Research Fellows For 2021 Announced
by Michael T. Nietzel
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation announced on Tuesday the 128 researchers who’ve been selected for a 2021 Sloan Research Fellowship. The highly prestigious fellowships have been awarded annually since 1955 to early-career, scientific scholars who appear destined to become leaders in their academic fields.
— February 9, 2021 —
50 years ago, the Sylmar earthquake shook L.A., and nothing’s been the same since
by Doug Smith
How close Los Angeles came to what would have been — many times over— the deadliest disaster in U.S. history remains a matter of historical conjecture.
— January 11, 2021 —
Diffractive networks improve optical image classification accuracy
by UCLA Engineering Institute for Technology Advancement
Recently, there has been a reemergence of interest in optical computing platforms for artificial intelligence-related applications. Optics is ideally suited for realizing neural network models because of the high speed, large bandwidth and high interconnectivity of optical information processing.
— January 7, 2021—
Optical network shapes pulses of light
by UCLA Engineering Institute for Technology Advancement
A team of UCLA engineers and researchers has developed a new method to shape light pulses by creating physical networks that are composed specially engineered layers. These layers are designed using deep learning and then fabricated using 3-D printing and stacked together, one following another, forming an optical network that is capable of performing various computational tasks using optical waves and diffraction of light.
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— December 24, 2020 —
Artificial Intelligence Separates Conspiracy Theory From Conspiracy Fact
by Dave Stoelk UCLA
George Boris has some interesting opinions about the origin of the COVID-19 virus. It was, he said, a conspiracy between the World Health Organization and a foreign power to undermine the Unites States by weaponizing the Corona virus.
— December 23, 2020 —
Experts say SolarWinds hack could impact Kern County businesses
by Kallyn Hobmann, 23 ABC News Bakersfield
“It has the ability to attack thousands of corporations all at once, so it’s very powerful,” said UCLA Samueli School of Engineering professor Carey Nachenberg, describing a fictional cyberattack in his book “The Florentine Deception.”
— December 17, 2020 —
This Tech Can Cool the Planet Without Electricity
by Now This
UCLA Professor Aaswath Raman and his team developed a thin, mirror-like film that can lower the temperature of objects by more than 10 degrees without using any energy.
— December 15, 2020 —
Cryptographers Unveil Breakthrough In Achieving Indistinguishability Obfuscation
by Tony Bradley
Is it possible to encrypt a computer program such that the code is completely unintelligible while retaining all of its intended functionality? The concept of indistinguishability obfuscation (iO) was theorized in 2001—but over nearly two decades cryptographers have failed to actually achieve it. Earlier this year, however, that changed with the publication of a paper titled, “Indistinguishability Obfuscation from Well-Founded Assumptions.”
— December 2, 2020 —
30 Under 30 – Science, Yuzhang Li
Forbes Profile
Li’s lab is dedicated to finding new materials to enable portable and reliable sources of electricity using next-generation batteries. His research captured the first atomic photos of growths in batteries which can lead to fires, which helped guide ways to make safer and better batteries. He has also developed a patent pending way to use graphene to improve battery stability, which has been commercially licensed.
— December 1, 2020 —
Start Spreading The (Good) News About Cybersecurity
by Kazuhiro Gomi
Bad news in cybersecurity gets a lot of attention. Headlines about data breaches and new forms of malware tend to outweigh any good news that comes from the field of cryptography.
— November 19, 2020 —
A Bedsore Solution. Provizio SEM Scanner by Bruin Biometrics
by Time, The Best Inventions of 2020
Lying in bed for days or weeks is deceptively hard on the body. It places pressure on the skin and underlying tissues, and can result in injuries known as bedsores. Every year, these pressure wounds cost the U.S. medical system roughly $10 billion and contribute to complications like infections that kill about 60,000 Americans.
— November 16, 2020 —
STEPS FORWARD: Math geniuses strive to make a pivotal advance — by obfuscating software code
by Byron V. Acohido
Most of time we take for granted the degree to which fundamental components of civilization are steeped in mathematics.
Everything from science and engineering to poetry and music rely on numeric calculations. Albert Einstein once observed that “pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.”
— November 15, 2020 —
Computer Scientists Achieve the ‘Crown Jewel’ of Cryptography
by Erica Klarreich
In 2018, Aayush Jain, a graduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles, traveled to Japan to give a talk about a powerful cryptographic tool he and his colleagues were developing. As he detailed the team’s approach to indistinguishability obfuscation (iO for short), one audience member raised his hand in bewilderment.
— November 13, 2020 —
Researchers create armored emulsions as tiny test tubes for parallel reactions
by University of California, Los Angeles
If you have ever shaken a salad dressing bottle mixed with oil and vinegar, you have temporarily created an emulsion. However, that state is temporary, and the two components soon separate. But, what if you could create a stable emulsion in which all of the tiny droplets stay at a uniform size for a long time? UCLA bioengineers and mathematicians have done just that, inventing the first-ever ‘armored’ emulsions.
— November 10, 2020 —
Computer Scientists Achieve ‘Crown Jewel’ of Cryptography
by Erica Klarreich
In 2018, Aayush Jain, a graduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles, traveled to Japan to give a talk about a powerful cryptographic tool he and his colleagues were developing. As he detailed the team’s approach to indistinguishability obfuscation (iO for short), one audience member raised his hand in bewilderment.
Team of Researchers Improves Fuel Cell Technologies to Exceed DOE Targets
by Emily Holbrook
A team of UCLA, Caltech, and Ford Motor Company researchers has improved fuel-cell technologies to exceed the US Department of Energy targets in efficiency, stability, and power. No other reported fuel cells have reached all these milestones simultaneously.
— November 1, 2020 —
The Spark Guide to Civilization, Part Two: Ventilation
by Nora Young
Past pandemics have been a huge influence on the way we design our cities and our homes. So what can the history of this relationship between public health and public spaces teach us during the COVID-19 pandemic? Sara Jensen Carr explores these lessons in an upcoming book, The Topography of Wellness: Health and the American Urban Landscape.
— October 21, 2020 —
Superwhite paint can cool buildings even in hot sunlight
by Adam Vaughan
A new superwhite paint is so reflective that it can cool a surface to below the surrounding air temperature, even under sunlight. It could help reduce the use of energy-intensive air conditioning in hot countries.
— October 20, 2020 —
Power/Performance Bits: Oct. 20
by Jesse Allen
Computer scientists at the University of California Los Angeles found that current compilers for quantum computers are inhibiting optimal performance and argue that better quantum compilation design could help improve computation speeds up to 45 times.
New Catalyst Makes Ethylene From CO2
by New Energy and Fuel
UCLA scientists have developed nanoscale copper wires with specially shaped surfaces to catalyze a chemical reaction that reduces CO2 gas emissions recycling the CO2 while generating ethylene – a valuable chemical simultaneously.
— October 15, 2020 —
It’s Time To Fix Diversity Training, Part 1
by Ilana Redstone
At this point, it’s clear that traditional diversity training programs are a source of controversy. This is probably both a cause and an effect of the September 2020 Executive Order on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping. The order states that, “…training that promotes race or sex stereotyping or scapegoating…promote[s] divisiveness in the workplace and distract[s] from the pursuit of excellence and collaborative achievements in public administration.”
— October 12, 2020 —
Weaving earthquake risk into city resiliency plans
by Adina Solomon
The Ridgecrest earthquakes in Southern California shook most of the state, as well as parts of Arizona, Nevada and Mexico, when three initial shocks of magnitudes (M) 6.4, 5.4, and 7.1 reverberated through the Garlock fault area in July 2019.
— October 8, 2020 —
UCLA Health scientists pioneer faster, cheaper COVID-19 testing technology
by Mufid Majnun/Unsplash
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted emergency use authorization for scientists at UCLA Health to begin using a new method of COVID-19 detection using sequencing technology called SwabSeq. The method is capable of testing thousands of samples for coronavirus at the same time, producing accurate, individual results in 12 to 24 hours.
— October 7, 2020 —
UCLA’s new $10 COVID test can process thousands of results in a day
by James Laggate
A new COVID-19 testing method could help get results out faster.
The FDA authorized on Wednesday emergency use of the SwabSeq COVID-19 diagnostic platform developed by doctors at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The test can turn around results within 12-24 hours, according to the team that developed it.
SkyCool Energy Efficient Panels In Stockton, CA.
by Sarah Kaplan
Long ago, in lands that were always warm, people got ice from the heavens.
At sunset, they poured water into shallow earthen pits or ceramic trays insulated with reeds. All through the night the water would radiate its heat into the chilly void of space. By morning, it turned to ice — even though the air temperature never dropped below freezing.
— October 1, 2020 —
What Will Cold-and-Flu Season Mean for the Coronavirus Pandemic?
by Carolyn Kormann
The other day, as I was driving across the Brooklyn Bridge, the brakes of my car, a twenty-one-year-old Toyota, stopped working. I pressed the pedal. The car kept rolling. I was going slowly enough that I didn’t hit anyone, or anything, but the feeling was nauseating. The emergency brake, thankfully, still worked, and I inched into Manhattan with my hazards on.
Alder-ene-catalyzing enzymes discovered
by Celia Henry Arnaud
Pericyclic reactions, which involve concerted electron movement and a cyclic transition state, have long been a part of the synthetic chemist’s tool box. But finding enzymes that catalyze such reactions, particularly a class called Alder-ene reactions, has been difficult.
Researchers discover first enzymes to catalyze a classic organic reaction
by Penny Jennings, UCLA
The Tang, Garg, and Houk research groups have discovered nature’s natural protein catalysts (enzymes) that catalyze the Alder-ene reaction.
All groups are part of the UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry. Professor Yi Tang is the Chancellor Professor at the UCLA Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and also holds a joint appointment in the Department of Bioengineering.
In the age of coronavirus, a 95-year-old World War II hero is honored very carefully
by Hailey Branson-Potts
Eldon Knuth was trapped.
It was November 1944, and U.S. forces were fighting to liberate the heavily fortified French city of Metz from the Nazis.
When Knuth’s battalion attacked the German-held Fort Jeanne d’Arc, he and about 30 other soldiers with the Army’s 95th Infantry Division got stuck behind enemy lines, in the bitter cold, with meager supplies.
— September 30, 2020 —
Trapped behind enemy lines: 95-year-old T.O. man receives Bronze Star for WWII actions
by To Kisken
Nearly 76 years after he was trapped behind German lines in World War II in weather so bitter he still feels it, Eldon Knuth was given his long overdue Bronze Star on Tuesday.
Can a computer program be unintelligible yet still work?
by Ian Murphy
Is it possible to make a computer program unintelligible to anyone trying to disassemble it yet still retain its functionality? It’s a key question that has been around for decades. Now, three cryptographers say they have solved the problem of Indistinguishability Obfuscation (iO).
— September 29, 2020 —
Common antioxidant enzyme may provide potential treatment for COVID-19
by UCLA
Researchers from UCLA and China have found that catalase, a naturally occurring enzyme, holds potential as a low-cost therapeutic drug to treat COVID-19 symptoms and suppress the replication of coronavirus inside the body. A study detailing the research was published in Advanced Materials.
Naturally occurring enzyme holds potential as low-cost therapeutic to treat COVID-19
Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.
Researchers from UCLA and China have found that catalase, a naturally occurring enzyme, holds potential as a low-cost therapeutic drug to treat COVID-19 symptoms and suppress the replication of coronavirus inside the body. A study detailing the research was published in Advanced Materials.
— September 22, 2020 —
Using Dirt to Clean Up Construction
by Jackie Rocheleau
The construction industry is one of the world’s largest emitters of carbon dioxide. Whether it can reduce those emissions depends on replacing its most common building material.
— September 14, 2020 —
Life-Saving Smartwatch
by Talk Zone Internet Talk Radio
A prototype smart watch has been developed, that will monitor drug levels in your body, in real time. Sam Emaminejad, PhD, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, says it’s wearable technology that will allow doses to be tailored to individual needs.
— August 24, 2020 —
Bridging the gap between biologists and physicists
by Josie Glausiusz
Quantum engineer Clarice Aiello aims to discover how laws of quantum mechanics affect vision and other functions. I work as a laboratory leader in the emerging field of quantum biology, which examines how the laws of quantum mechanics might mediate biological processes such as photosynthesis, respiration and vision. Migrating birds, for example, are thought to use proteins that act as sensors for detecting Earth’s magnetic field, enabling them to navigate by it, and quantum mechanical effects might underlie metabolic regulation in cells.
— August 17, 2020 —
Yang Yang: Challenges and opportunities always go hand-in-hand
by Anna Troeger
Born in Taiwan, Yang Yang was inspired by the challenges of the scientific method from an early age. After pursuing his undergraduate education in physics from the National Cheng-Kung University and serving in the Taiwanese military service for two years, Yang made a huge leap and moved to the United States to pursue his graduate studies in physics at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell.
— August 11, 2020 —
Models used to predict how coronavirus will spread in San Diego County, statewide
by Brandon Lewis
California is using several forecast models to predict how coronavirus will spread on a state and county level. Six projection models are averaged to look between two and four weeks out including one developed by the University of California – Los Angeles.
UCLA professor receives grant to develop coronavirus vaccine booster
by Priscilla Guerrero and Shruti Iyer
A UCLA professor received a grant to develop a new treatment that could make COVID-19 vaccines more effective. Song Li, the chair of Samueli School of Engineering’s bioengineering department, received a $149,916 grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to create a vaccine booster that could help the body defend against the coronavirus.
Custom smartwatch tracks sweat to personalise mental health treatments
by Staff
The advance could help doctors choose the right drug at the right dose for the right person, paving the way for a more personalised approach to medicine.
Glove developed by UCLA researchers translates American Sign Language to speech
by Noah Danesh
UCLA researchers have developed a smart glove that converts American Sign Language into spoken English. The glove uses stretchable sensors and a circuit board to wirelessly send signals to a smartphone app – also developed by the researchers – which translates hand gestures into English. The glove can analyze up to 660 different gestures, has a recognition rate of over 98% and is able to translate gestures into speech in less than a second.
— August 10, 2020 —
Tracking Medication Levels with a Smartwatch
by MDDI Staff
Can a smartwatch track medication levels help personalize treatments? Researchers from UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and Stanford School of Medicine have demonstrated this in a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
— August 7, 2020 —
Custom smartwatch tracks drug levels inside the body in real time
by Emily Henderson
Engineers at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and their colleagues at Stanford School of Medicine have demonstrated that drug levels inside the body can be tracked in real time using a custom smartwatch that analyzes the chemicals found in sweat.
— August 3, 2020 —
EV fast charger technology floors it
by Laurence Iliff
In the middle of the Mojave Desert, between Southern California and Las Vegas, lies the future of electric vehicle charging.
— July 22, 2020 —
UCLA team nabs $2.9M grant to turn CO2 into concrete
by Jenn Goodman
Sant, who is also the director of UCLA’s Institute for Carbon Management, said the product will have a carbon footprint 50% to 70% lower than that of regular concrete used in construction.
Why Gulf Standard Time is far from standard: the fascinating story behind the time zone’s invention
by Ashleigh Stewart
Gulf Standard Time, in reference to the time zone adopted by the UAE and Oman, is far from standard.
— July 10, 2020 —
Let our international students study in peace; reverse the decision by ICE
by Jayathi Y. Murthy
When I read the new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement guidance on the Student Exchange and Visitor Program, a familiar feeling of dread washed over me.
— July 9, 2020 —
Ways to keep buildings cool with improved super white paints
by Science Daily
A research team led by UCLA materials scientists has demonstrated ways to make super white paint that reflects as much as 98% of incoming heat from the sun.
High-tech glove to translate sign language into speech in real time
by HappyMag.tv
A breakthrough in the world of sign language is on its way, with the development of a glove that translates sign language into speech in real-time.
— July 2, 2020 —
UCLA Scientist Develops Gloves That Translate Sign Language
by NPR
Jun Chen is an assistant professor of bioengineering at UCLA who just developed a wearable sign language interpreting glove. He hopes it can be used by the deaf community to communicate with anyone.
— July 1, 2020 —
New glove can translate sign language instantly through an app, researchers say
by Katie Camero
California researchers developed a glove embedded with electronic sensors that can translate American Sign Language into English in real time through an app on your smartphone.
— June 30, 2020 —
This new high-tech glove translates sign language into speech in real time
by Rob Picheta
A glove that translates sign language into speech in real time has been developed by scientists — potentially allowing deaf people to communicate directly with anyone, without the need for a translator.
This Glove Can Translate Sign Language into Speech in Real Time
by NBC Colorado
UCLA researchers made a system including a pair of gloves and a smartphone app that’s able to translate American Sign Language (ASL) to English speech about one word per second.
New glove translates American Sign Language into speech in real time
by ABC Washington, D.C.
The glove was created by scientists at UCLA. Sensors running along the glove and read movements to identify letters, words and phrases. The movements are then sent to a corresponding app, and it reads them aloud.
— June 29, 2020 —
How the internet is regulated
by CNBC
The U.S. does not have one agency tasked with regulating the internet in its 21st century form. The Trump administration is calling for a reexamination of Section 230, the law that shields internet companies from being liable for the content posted on their sites.
Sign language helps the hearing impaired communicate
by KNX1070
Sign language helps the hearing impaired communicate. Now researcher at UCLA has found a way for those who don’t read sign language to be a part of the conversion.
Wearable-tech glove translates sign language into speech in real time
by KNX1070
Bioengineers have designed a glove-like device that can translate American Sign Language into English speech in real time though a smartphone app.
— June 19, 2020 —
This adhesive film for smartwatch can detect metabolites and nutrients in sweat
by Shane McGlaun
We can thank Apple for bringing the medical and health-related functions of wearables to the forefront with its Apple Watch, which can detect heart arrhythmias in the latest version.
— June 9, 2020 —
These Companies are Turning CO2 into Concrete.. Could it be the Solution to Construction’s Emissions Problem?
by Dean Oliver
Innovative companies and universities are successfully converting CO2 into building products. If the concept can be scaled commercially, emissions produced from concrete production could be drastically reduced.
— May 28, 2020 —
UCLA Engineering Dean Leading Efforts to Address Shortage of PPP, Other Medical Supplies
by India-West Staff Reporter
Jayathi Murthy, dean of the University of California, Los Angeles Samueli School of Engineering, is leading efforts to address the shortage of personal protective equipment and other medical supplies badly needed by frontline health care workers fighting to flatten the curve of COVID-19 globally.
United Against a Common Foe
by Howard Fine
The Covid-19 pandemic has put L.A.’s health care sector in an unprecedented spotlight. The scores of hospitals providing critical care for L.A. County’s 10 million residents are now at the center of a financial storm.
— May 27, 2020 —
New Facility for Bioengineering Research Opens in Los Angeles
by Vanesa Listek
In a world eager to solve the problem of rejection in organ transplantation, a young American scientist developed a breakthrough test in 1964 that would help establish the compatibility of tissue types between organ donors and patients in need of transplants.
— May 26, 2020 —
UCLA researchers develop Breathalyzer-like diagnostic tool to test for COVID-19
by KTLA Digital Staff
A team of researchers from UCLA and other universities is developing a Breathalyzer-like tool that would rapidly test for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
— May 23, 2020 —
UCLA Professor Leading Team to Develop Breathalyzer-Like Tool for Rapid COVID-19 Test
by City News Service
A research team led by a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering won a grant to develop an inexpensive and fast breathalyzer-like diagnostic tool to test for the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, according to the university.
— May 22, 2020 —
UCLA team compiles coronavirus-related data, creates statistical modeling tool
by Keaton Larson
A UCLA professor and students created an artificial intelligence-based tool to collect and correlate data related to the COVID-19 pandemic easily.
— May 21, 2020 —
Team to develop breathalyzer-like diagnostic test for COVID-19
by UCLA
Aresearch team led by Pirouz Kavehpour, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, is developing an inexpensive and fast breathalyzer-like diagnostic tool to test for the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
— May 12, 2020 —
UCLA Scientists Say They Have Developed More Accurate COVID-19 Test
by Ted Chen
Federal health official announced today that as many as 50 million Americans will be able to get tested for COVID-19 by the fall. But how accurate will those test be and what are the chance for false results.
— May 11, 2020—
Diabetes management: How researchers are looking at new approaches from insulin patches to an artificial pancreas
by Jo Best
For some diabetics, keeping blood sugar at the right level means several injections a day, every day. Injecting insulin is no fun, but for type 1 diabetics, it’s the difference between life and death. Could technology be poised to offer a way to take some of the pain and stress out of managing diabetes?
— April 28, 2020—
A step toward a better way to make gene therapies to attack cancer, genetic disorders
by UCLA
A UCLA-led research team today reports that it has developed a new method for delivering DNA into stem cells and immune cells safely, rapidly and economically. The method, described in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could give scientists a new tool for manufacturing gene therapies for people with cancer, genetic disorders and blood diseases.
— April 22, 2020 —
A new way to cool down electronic devices, recover waste heat
Using electronic devices for too long can cause them to overheat, which might slow them down, damage their components or even make them explode or catch fire. Now, researchers reporting in ACS’ Nano Letters have developed a hydrogel that can both cool down electronics, such as cell phone batteries, and convert their waste heat into electricity.
— April 21, 2020 —
Students learn to adapt to wins and woes of online laboratory classes
by Inga Hwang
Christina Gallup was excited to learn common biological lab techniques during her introductory bioengineering lab course because her past lab courses had taught chemistry lab skills.
— April 14, 2020 —
California Set the Tone on Coronavirus Shutdowns. What’s Its Next Move?
by Thomas Fuller and Tim Arango
SAN FRANCISCO — California has been ahead of the rest of America in confronting the coronavirus pandemic, locking down its citizens early and avoiding, so far, the worst-case scenarios predicted for infections and deaths.
— April 10, 2020 —
COBOL, a 60-year-old computer language, is in the COVID-19 spotlight
by Mark Sullivan
Some states have found themselves in need of people who know a 60-year-old programming language called COBOL to retrofit the antiquated government systems now struggling to process the deluge of unemployment claims brought by the coronavirus crisis.”
— April 9, 2020 —
With diving gear and plumbing supplies, California labs fashion Covid-19 masks and ventilators
by Usha Lee McFarling
Glen Meyerowitz, a first-year electrical engineering graduate student at UCLA, had been closely tracking the new coronavirus since January because his brother is an infectious disease fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
“He mentioned physicians and clinicians in hard-hit areas were needing to triage care and said he was tremendously worried about physicians having to make those decisions here,” Meyerowitz said. “So I started looking into ventilators and how they work and why they’re so complicated and expensive.”
— April 7, 2020 —
“Like a sneeze guard at the salad bar.”
by David Grossman
Masks aren’t enough. That’s the realization medical workers across the country are starting to realize in their war against Covid-19, an enemy with no need to sleep or eat.
It spurts out of infected patients like pollen from a flower, instituting dry coughs that send microscopic water droplets into the world. Face shields offer the next level of production to medical workers fighting off infection, and Jacob Schmidt, a bioengineering professor at UCLA, is part of a team electronically fabricating these shields.
— April 6, 2020 —
Inventors Are Whipping Up Homemade Ventilators to Fend Off a Shortage. Some Doctors Are Wary
by Jamie Ducharme
A mechanical ventilator can cost a hospital tens of thousands of dollars up front, and even more money each day it’s used to keep oxygen flowing into a sick patient’s lungs. It’s unsurprising, then, that some small U.S. hospitals can count theirs on one hand.
— April 1, 2020 —
Keeping It Cool to Create Power
by Sarah Williams
Aaswath Raman, a UCLA assistant professor of materials science and engineering, was a graduate student when he stumbled across a handful of papers on radiative cooling — the process by which heat radiates upward from objects on Earth all the way to the cold depths of outer space.
— March 31, 2020 —
Grad Student Builds Ventilator Using Home Depot Supplies
by NBC Los Angeles
UCLA Biodesign Fellow Glen Meyerowitz built the device in a few hours and is hoping it can serve as a proof-of-concept for a low-cost ventilator that could help hospitals with ventilator shortages amid the coronavirus pandemic.
— March 29, 2020—
Column: If Trump alone can fix our coronavirus crisis, then why the hell hasn’t he?
by Robin Abcarian | Columnist
In 2016, as Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination, he said the “system” was broken. “I alone can fix it,” he darkly proclaimed.
— March 26, 2020 —
Coronavirus: UCLA Engineers Developing Surgical Face Shields For Area Hospitals
by CBSLA
Engineers at the University of California Los Angeles have started using 3D printing and laser cutting equipment to produce surgical face shields in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
UCLA engineers using 3-D printing in race to get coronavirus face shields to hospitals
by City News Service
Engineers at UCLA have begun using 3D printing and laser cutting equipment to produce surgical face shields in an effort to meet the rapidly growing demand for personal protective equipment for health care workers in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
— March 11, 2020 —
Internet Inventor Helps UCLA Celebrate its Centennial
by Ariel Wesler
Inside UCLA’s engineering school, there is a special room that has transformed all of our lives. It’s the birthplace of the internet.
“That’s the main attraction over there. That machine is the first piece of internet equipment ever,” said Dr. Leonard Kleinrock, whose research laid the groundwork for the internet.
— March 9, 2020 —
«Инъекция» углекислого газа
by Смотреть комментарии
Студенты Калифорнийского университета в Лос-Анджелесе придумали, как использовать CO2 в производстве кирпичей
— March 6, 2020 —
This coin-sized insulin patch could improve diabetes treatment
by Chris Newmarker
Could treating diabetes someday be as simple as slapping on a patch? A UCLA-led research team thinks so, and it’s seeking FDA permission to prove it.
A research team led by UCLA bioengineering professor Zhen Gu claims to have overcome some of the technological hurdles around creating a patch that releases insulin based on the level of glucose in a person’s body.
— February 28, 2020 —
A New Study Finds People Prefer Robots That Explain Themselves
by Mark Edmonds and Yixin Zhu
Artificial intelligence is entering our lives in many ways – on our smartphones, in our homes, in our cars. These systems can help people make appointments, drive and even diagnose illnesses. But as AI systems continue to serve important and collaborative roles in people’s lives, a natural question is: Can I trust them? How do I know they will do what I expect?
— February 27, 2020 —
Engineers develop miniaturized ‘warehouse robots’ for biotechnology applications
by UCLA
UCLA engineers have developed minuscule warehouse logistics robots that could help expedite and automate medical diagnostic technologies and other applications that move and manipulate tiny drops of fluid. The study was published in Science Robotics.
— February 20, 2020 —
Mysterious ‘ghost’ populations had multiple trysts with human ancestors
by Ann Gibbons
The story of human evolution is full of ancient trysts. Genes from fossils have shown that the ancestors of many living people mated with Neanderthals and with Denisovans, a mysterious group of extinct humans who lived in Asia. Now, a flurry of papers suggests the ancestors of all three groups mixed at least twice with even older “ghost” lineages of unknown extinct hominins.
— February 13, 2020 —
Mysterious ‘ghost population’ of ancient humans discovered
by Emma Reynolds
A mysterious population of ancient humans lived in West Africa about half a million years ago, and scientists believe their genes still live on in people today.
— February 12, 2020 —
Scientists find evidence of ‘ghost population’ of ancient humans
by Ian Sample
Scientists have found evidence for a mysterious “ghost population” of ancient humans that lived in Africa about half a million years ago and whose genes live on in people today.
Ghost DNA Hints at Africa’s Missing Ancient Humans
by Carl Zimmer
Scientists reported on Wednesday that they had discovered evidence of an extinct branch of humans whose ancestors split from our own a million years ago. The evidence of these humans was not a fossil. Instead, the researchers found pieces of their DNA in the genomes of living people from West Africa.
Bioengineers Testing Smart Insulin Patch
by News Staff
A team of U.S. bioengineers has developed a glucose-responsive insulin patch that could one day monitor and manage glucose levels in people with diabetes. The researchers have successfully tested the patch in insulin-deficient diabetic mice and minipigs, and are now applying for FDA approval of clinical trials in humans.
— February 7, 2020 —
Capture Carbon in Concrete Made With CO2
Caroline Delbert
A team from the University of California, Los Angeles, has developed a system that transforms “waste CO2” into gray blocks of concrete. In March, the researchers will relocate to the Wyoming Integrated Test Center, part of the Dry Fork power plant near the town of Gillette. During a three-month demonstration, the UCLA team plans to siphon half a ton of CO2 per day from the plant’s flue gas and produce 10 tons of concrete daily.
— February 2, 2020 —
New Anti-Ice Coating Could Prevent Frozen Cars and Pipes
Caroline Delbert
Scientists in California and China have collaborated on an anti-ice coating inspired by Antarctic fish. In February in the northern hemisphere, it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to understand how useful this could be—but the more important applications include things like de-icing airplanes and preventing engines from freezing up.
— January 31, 2020—
Hydrogel coating is first to prevent ice formation in 3 different ways
by Matthew Chin
Materials scientists at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and colleagues in China have developed a coating that prevents ice from forming. The way it works is inspired by a natural mechanism that keeps blood from freezing in several species of fish that live near Antarctica.
— January 14, 2020 —
U.S. News Releases Its Rankings Of The Best Online College Programs For 2020
by Michael T. Nietzel
U.S. News & World Report announced its 2020 Best Online Programs rankings today, the ninth edition of these rankings. This year more than 1,600 programs were ranked — up from 1,545 last year and 677 in the first edition in 2012.
— January 16, 2020—
Turning carbon into concrete could win UCLA team a climatevictory — and $7.5 million
by Julia Rosen
Gabe Falzone and his teammates had been up since 5 a.m., anticipating the arrival of theconcrete mixer. When the truck pulled into the alley behind UCLA’s Boelter Hall,hundreds of narrow red cylinders stood ready. The engineers scrambled to fill thecontainers with roughly 8 tons of wet sludge before hustling them into giant ovens in thebasement.
— December 18, 2019—
A Robot That Explains Its Actions Is a First Step Towards AI We Can (Maybe) Trust
by Evan Ackerman
In a paper published in Science Robotics, researchers from UCLA have developed a robotic system that can generate different kinds of real-time, human-readable explanations about its actions, and then did some testing to figure which of the explanations were the most effective at improving a human’s trust in the system. Does this mean we can totally understand and trust robots now? Not yet—but it’s a start.
— November 8, 2019 —
Tiny Solar Collectors That Track The Movement Of The Sun Could Power Your Home One Day
by Kevin Murnane
Imagine your roof covered in tiny sunflower-like solar collectors that provide all the energy you need to run your home. Sound farfetched? Yesterday, maybe; today, not so much. Researchers at UCLA and the California Nanosystems Institute have developed technology that could make a roof of tiny sunflowers a reality.
— November 6, 2019 —
Leonard Kleinrock & Vint Cerf on the Invention of the Web
by Amanpour & Company
Professor Leonard Kleinrock and his former student Vint Cerf – now Vice President of Google – are known as the founding fathers of the internet, after they pioneered the technology that underpins it. It’s changed the world and the very way we live, yet at the time, they had no idea just how big their work would become. Miles O’Brien sits down with them both to reflect on those early days.
Sunlight-Tracking Polymer, Inspired by Sunflowers, Could Maximize Solar Power
by Jason Daley
In recent decades, solar cells have gotten better and cheaper, leading to a boom in the solar energy industry. But most solar panels have one major drawback—they don’t move. That means the sunlight reaching them often comes in at an angle, which hinders maximum power production.
— November 5, 2019 —
The first artificial material that follows sunlight may upgrade solar panels
by Sofie Bates
As the sun moves across the sky, sunflowers continually orient themselves to soak up the most light. Now a type of human-made material can do that, too. This is the first artificial material capable of phototropism, researchers report November 4 in Nature Nanotechnology.
— November 1, 2019 —
The Internet at 50: ‘We Didn’t See the Dark Side Emerging’
by Jill Cowan
On Oct. 29, 1969, in a windowless room at U.C.L.A. a message was sent to the Stanford Research Center from a very large machine. It was supposed to be “login,” but only the first two letters transmitted. So, the message was, simply, “lo.”
The Rising Threat of Digital Nationalism
by Akash Kapur
Fifty years ago this week, at 10:30 on a warm night at the University of California, Los Angeles, the first email was sent. It was a decidedly local affair. A man sat in front of a teleprinter connected to an early precursor of the internet known as Arpanet and transmitted the message “login” to a colleague in Palo Alto.