In a time of perpetual transition, this issue looks toward the challenges and opportunities the future brings. Featuring research on housing, traffic, labor and immigration in Los Angeles.
UCLA’s iconic Royce Hall and Powell Library were bathed in a peaceful blue light as part of Los Angeles’ memorialization of Angelenos’ experiences with COVID-19 during the past year and a half.
Under the plan, a portion of the street would be blocked off to vehicular traffic and be converted into a space for pedestrians to walk around, sit at tables and chairs, and enjoy community events. The space is already reserved weekly on Thursdays for the Westwood Village Farmers’ Market, providing an example of how this plaza could be utilized.
Colleen Callahan, deputy director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, spoke to the Washington Post about federal funding for new infrastructure projects and the future of rail transit in the United States. President Biden has signed a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill into law, and $65 billion is earmarked for rail projects. However, Callahan expressed doubt that the new package will go toward high-speed rail. “This package is not the silver bullet for the bullet,” Callahan said. “We won’t see much of it go to high-speed rail.” Bullet trains are popular around the globe and can unite cities hundreds of miles apart without excessive carbon emissions. However, the federal funding for
rail projects is expected to go largely to the federally owned Amtrak. Many transportation experts predict that Amtrak will use the funding to address problems on its traditional lines instead of investing in new high-speed rail projects.
UCLA climatologist Park Williams was interviewed on a PBS NewsHour segment to discuss the megadrought and the Colorado River.
The Colorado River is a critical resource for the western U.S. But a megadrought, one significantly exacerbated by climate change, is jeopardizing the river's future and threatening to upend how its water is used and longstanding agreements between states. Miles O'Brien reports on how climate change is creating a "Tipping Point" for the U.S. and around the world.
Dr. Paul Adamson, assistant clinical professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, led a study that found vaccinated health care workers with breakthrough COVID-19 infections shed less virus than those who are unvaccinated and infected.
A group of researchers from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and UCLA Samueli School of Engineering developed technology that dermatologists can use to take a picture of a suspicious-looking lesion and quickly produce a detailed, microscopic image of the skin instead of surgically removing a sample of skin, sending it to a lab and waiting several days for results.
