Category Archives: Science & Health

By Jeyling Chou BRUIN SCIENCE SENIOR STAFF jchou@media.ucla.edu Midwives refused to touch Chang and Eng Bunker on the day they were born in 1811, horrified that the twin brothers were joined at the abdomen by a single band of flesh. Chang and Eng would have been easily separated by modern surgical techniques, but the five-inch […]

When penicillin was discovered in 1945, doctors hailed it as the miracle drug that would finally put humans ahead in the battle against bacterial infections like syphilis and cholera. U.S. Surgeon General William Stewart declared in 1969 that with the power of antibiotics, humans would never again be bothered by the microscopic bugs. Victory, however, […]

SARS cases have been contained worldwide The World Health Organization has declared that the severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic has been contained after Taiwan, the last affected region, had not reported a new case since June 15. Since the first known case occurred last November in southern China, SARS has killed 812 people around the […]

“Forever young” is still science fiction, but researchers are introducing a different, more feasible alternative: forever healthy. “Because of advances in medical technique, people are living longer,” said Dr. Gary Small, director of the UCLA Center on Aging. “The problem is, they’re not always living better.” Opened in 1991, the Center on Aging has been […]

Guatemalan twin Maria Teresa Quiej Alvarez, formerly conjoined at the head to her sister, was to be released from Mattel Children’s Hospital July 3, but doctors decided against that action when a fever was detected. Her release date has yet to be determined by doctors. The 23-month-old twin underwent an operation to replace a shunt […]

The construction of the building for the California NanoSystems Institute won’t be completed until around May 2005, but collaborative efforts between institute members are already well underway. Nanotechnology ““ working with materials at this miniscule atomic and molecular level ““ can influence everything from agriculture to the aerospace industry. Such a broad span of influence […]

UCLA’s incoming freshmen can expect to enroll in and attend a class along with hundreds of fellow classmates. The grades for these large classes, particularly those in the sciences, will sometimes be graded according to a curve. The decision to curve grades rests upon individual professors though departments recommend grade curving for a large class […]