As homeland security becomes increasingly important, UCLA researchers are developing technologies to protect civil infrastructures such as highways and water supplies. Researchers presented their technologies during a homeland security symposium hosted Friday by the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. There is a notion that technology develops independently from public policy issues, but […]
Category Archives: Science & Health
Chancellor chooses chemist to be CNSI director
A UCLA professor of chemistry will bring in a new wave of leadership at the California NanoSystems Institute. Last week, Chancellor Albert Carnesale appointed Fraser Stoddart the new director for CNSI. Stoddart is currently the Saul Winstein Professor of Organic Chemistry at UCLA. Roberto Peccei, UCLA vice chancellor of research, said he is pleased with […]
Tracing out a scientific discovery
The Fowler Museum of Cultural History’s “Ecce Homology” is one exhibit that has a science behind the art. A late addition to the Fowler’s multi-faceted exhibition called “From the Verandah: Art, Buddhism, Presence,” “Ecce Homology” uses Asia’s staple crop to explore the genomic relationships that give form and function to both humans and rice. But […]
Marine life conservation laws begin to show progress
It is a tragic tale of loving something to death. The white abalone, a creature that once blanketed the rocky waters of southern California, is now on the brink of extinction. The culprit? Humans. For decades, conservationists have struggled to implement programs that will work to protect marine life in an arena with a burgeoning […]
Fire effectively fights fire
After nearly a century of fire suppression, it turns out Smokey the Bear was wrong ““ we should not be preventing forest fire after all. On the contrary, science advocates fighting fire with fire ““ using intentional, controlled burning as a method of wildfire prevention. Controlled burns, also known as “prescribed burning,” target the dead […]
Bark beetles gobble up nutrients from trees
An insect no bigger than a peanut is partly responsible for the destruction of trees hundreds of years old in the Lake Arrowhead area. The bark beetle, native to the area, has been taking advantage of trees weakened by drought and high temperatures. Bark beetles burrow into a host tree and sap nutrients from it. […]
UCLA researcher finds asteroid Hermes to be binary
A UCLA researcher working with a team of astronomers has determined that the asteroid Hermes, recently spotted for the first time since 1937, is in fact two separate rocks travelling on an orbit around the sun. Jean-Luc Margot, a researcher for the department of earth and space sciences, used radar equipment rather than optical observations […]