SoCal Minds

Net wonders: voyeur video, extreme and inspiring photos...

From Caltech, the Annenberg Space for Photography, the Getty & UCI

Gosh, some days there's just no getting around what the Internet can do, and, while these aren't exactly the highest marvels of the medium, it's worth checking out online wonders such as: from the folks in LaCanada-Flintridge, how about the 'curiosity cam,' a cyber video voyeur's dream glimpse into construction of the next Mars Rover? Course, also gotta hand it to the folks in Century City for the, as planned, hugely entertaining online video presentations on the photographers involved in the recently opened 'Extreme Exposure' photo exhibit. The final shots on display, of course, are artistic and technical marvels. But as experiences go, the backstory videos with the shooters rates up there, too.  If photography's the thing, by the way, it's worth checking out a blog post from the folks in that ginormous institution up on that Westside hill, as they offer a curator's choice of available documentaries 'inspired' by great photojournalism. And speaking of idiosyncratic takes on the world, try out the intellectual skew from a physics prof and sci fi writer in Irvine who finds much to mine about the zeitgeist in decades of predictions about the future recorded in the pages of Popular Science.

A catch-up lagniappe with a soupcon from all over

From Cal State Fullerton, RAND, CSUN, Loyola Marymount, UCLA, UCR, UCI, Claremont Graduate University, Chapman

Let's play fast catch up. With apologies that the press of fuller time employment for actual pay has cut into the posting here -- and may continue to do so -- here's stuff from around the area worth a gander:

The Bruins open their spiffy, new Terasaki Life Sciences building today, a major facility named after the emeritus surgery prof, transplant pioneer and key developer of tissue typing technology who also donated $50 million to the school.

Also of note in Westwood: a $2.9 million study on gum disease among diabetics with emphasis in new genetic techniques that will let researchers better understand whether changes in health affect body systems and allow certain types of bacteria to flourish. Bruin scholars also will join colleagues from five other schools in a major new scrutiny of climate change in the Southwestern United States, a region that experts predict will be among the most affected by issues related to global warming.

In Fullerton, a researcher has put together nearly $7 million in grants to study and boost the health of Asian Pacific Islanders, some 870,000 of whom live in Southern California and must deal with particular challenges with obesity and cancer. Other research on campus recently has targeted Asian American women and their reproductive health, particularly since some of the student-assisted work found that this group of females, while sexually active, used contraceptives less and were unlikely to undergo routine testing for disorders affecting women. And yet another Titan scholar has become a surprising expert for highly personal reasons on the topic of suicide among people, especially young women, of Asian descent; suicide is the second leading cause of death among Asian American women ages 15 to24 and women of Asian descent in this age group, joined by those older than 65, have the highest suicide rates across all racial-ethnic groups, experts say.  

In Santa Monica, the think tank folks have found thatGood Samaritans could get better, more cost effective results if only they would work harder to coordinate all those after-school programs aimed at helping kids; the full report available here details how, in principle, five cities have proved they can help more urban youngsters reach their fullest potential through the after-school programs if sponsors work together. Other researchers, meantime, have raised questions about the market for residential wind and flood insurance, coverages that were found tragically lacking and still have not been put back together five years after Hurricane Katrina.

In Riverside, itty-bitty guppies have told a tale of species' resilience after a poor, early start in life, while in Orange, little sea slugs, jolted by electricity and shocked by nasty lobster attacks, have provided intriguing insights into brain activity and memory.

In Claremont, researchers have created a computer model to help figure how to reduce public conflicts over the location of power lines and other transmission facilities for advanced but remote solar and wind power plants, while in Westchester, student broadcasters are celebrating the resolution of a frequency dispute so that campus radio station KXLU (88.9) can be heard without interference in eastern Los Angeles, including by underground hipsters in Silverlake, downtown and Pasadena.

 

SoCal has fashionable displays all stitched up

From UCI, the Getty & LACMA

The fascination with how fine we all look all the time -- uh, huh, we are good looking, aren't we -- can so dominate life in Southern California that it might seem like gilding the lily to devote any more attention to fashion, its appointments and details. Fugghedaboutit. This is, after all, Hollywood, where, as the folks in Irvine note in a new exhibit, style and dress rule. It's amply illustrated with costumes from the drama department collections (such as a lavishly ruffled gown worn by Joan Crawford in the 1932 fashion-shaping film 'Letty Lynton) as well as books, magazines, photos, videos, posters and other materials that show how Hollywood from the 1930s foward became nothing less than a giant cultural force. The show in the school 's Langson Library launches tonight and runs until April 2011. And for those who wish to grasp better how details like drapery can make and break not only the wearer but, indeed, a sweeping artistic scene, well the terrific blog from the folks at the monument up on that Westside hill offer a diverting post. Fashion and the fashionable of Europe, of course, are just part of what's on display in what the cognoscenti are calling a fabulous new art space in Mid-City; might be a good reason to go and catch up on the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Pavilion.

In Irvine, fall exhibit focuses on film, fashion

An artistic explanation of why drapery matters

Catch up on new art space, details of hundreds of years of European finery

 

In Irvine, a scientific view finds a health favor in curry

From UCI

There's more than just yummy in the delectable cuisines of South Asia, a researcher in Irvine says, noting that evidence builds by the day that a crucial ingredient commonly found in lip-smacking curries may carry health benefits. While much of the expert conversation about food turns toward nutrition, caloric content and consumption excesses, the scientists involved with integrative medicine also examine the value and therapeutic benefits of what people eat and how. And, while institutional experts also warn against the hype in natural remedies, Mahtab Jafari, an associate pharmaceutical sciences prof (shown in Joey Skibel photo at right) offers a rundown on the attributes of turmeric -- the pungent spice that lends color and zing to curries --  and herbals in a post from the folks in Irvine.

Integrative medicine experts consider attributes of comestibles like turmeric in curry

 

It's uh-oh for the Colorado, even as river flows found to rise

From UCI & UCLA

Ah, the vagaries of the weather: The Los Angeles high hit a thermometer-busting 113F on Sept. 27, and now, barely a few days later, metropolitan residents shiver and complain about the drizzly gray skies and October highs that barely are breaking the 70s. That's life and it's easily grasped, right? So try this climate-related information: In Irvine, scientists have analyzed for a period of roughly a dozen years an array of weather records, evaporation rates and NASA satellite data on the levels of the seas to conclude that greater amounts of fresh water are flowing from rivers around the world into the ocean -- and that's not a good thing. They say that a classic water cycle is working. But that evaporation-precipitation cycle also is getting cooked by global warming, pouring more rain and causing higher river runoff in places like the Arctic and the tropics where it is least needed, and, slowly, upping the ocean levels. OK, so in Westwood, scientists have studied global climate data and the growth rings of fragile pinon pines and concluded that, at least for a short term, there's grim news about the flow of  the Colorado River, especially as it feeds the critical water storage in Lake Mead. The Colorado -- and the 27 million or so of us who depend on its supplies -- appears to be headed to a triple-whammy convergence of depleting climatic conditions that include La Nina and two longer arid cycles tied to ocean temperatures. Bruin experts also reported recently that human-stirred desert dust over decades has caused an earlier snow melt that reduces the Colorado's runoff and the amount of available water downstream.

In Irvine, a new finding on how global warming increases river flows into oceans

In Westwood, a warning of a triple-whammy that could crimp supply in the Colorado

Man-stirred desert dust found to harm crucial run-off, flow of mighty river

Can post-hospital care snuff out a nasty superbug?

From UCI

OK, OK, get that breakfast, lunch or dinner down before reading this item because it covers a worrisome but not so appetizing dilemma -- how to ensure that millions of Americans don't spread that nasty, drug-resistant  infection that's come to be known as MRSA (it's pronounced like mer-sah and refers to a superbug that can't be snuffed out with the usual antibiotics, aka methicilin resistant staphylococus aureus). An estimated 1.8 million people in the country now carry this strain of staph, which now flourishes in local health clubs, gyms and locker rooms at levels from high school to the pros. Many folks find themselves fighting bad MRSA infections soon after undergoing care in hospitals or health care facilities where the bug also happens to thrive. But after a period of trying with mixed result to combat and treat these costly incidences, health officials hope to explore other alternatives, including a $10 million, three-year Irvine study to see whether those who test positive for MRSA can benefit, after their release from health facilites, from a regimen of antibacterial body washes, mouth rinses and nasal ointments to try to stomp out the staph bacteria they carry.  

In Irvine, $10 million grant will fund study of a new, MRSA-fighting regimen

A helping hand for aged, nonprofits, Haiti, First Ladies

From UCI, USC, RAND & Pepperdine

Oh, sure, there's plenty of it out there. Look around and there's certainly no lack of academic projects that only can be described as head-scratching fodder, leading to plenty of queries about the cost of various esoteric studies and research efforts. Then, again, look and the valiant, broad and deep good deeds that Southern California intellectual institutions undertake also can be inspirational, particularly on a scorching fall Monday when positive motivation might be sorely needed.

• So, dig in and consider, for example, how a prof's informed editing  of an experts' journal can offer a glimpse into the long, hard fight to identify, prevent and combat the sickening abuse of the aged, with the considerable assistance of generous, committed foundation's support of projects affecting the old.

• Or consider a lesson reinforced in the Haiti relief efforts for a Trojan emergency response expert about the need for perpetual vigilance and preparation, especially in a crisis-prone area like Southern California.

• It's also worth noting how folks from the think tank in Santa Monica have reached out to assist First Ladies and their aides from across Africa to help them address health and social concerns. Former First Lady Laura Bush also has lent her support to this program that will include chiefs of staff and other advisers to first ladies from Angola, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zambia.

• And because the world changes by the instant, especially due to the advent of new technologies, the folks out in Malibu will be assisting participants from the nonprofit world today and Tuesday in learning to demystify, simplify and boost their efforts to fund-raise with potential donors via smart phones and other mobile devices.

• Finally, in Exposition Park on Tuesday night, several different campus groups will join to sponsor an experts' conversation on charitable deed-doing under the rubric of 'Entrepreneurs Changing the World,' an initiative to bolster interest in and the Good Samaritan efforts of social entrepreneurs in the region. 

Photo at top (from left): Cora Neumann, RAND, and First Ladies, Madame: Penehupifo Pohamba, Republic of Namibia; Mathato Sebonoang Mosisili, Kingdom of Lesotho; Sia Nyama Koroma, Republic of Sierra Leone; Laura Bush; Ross Anthony of RAND / James Roderick, RAND

New advances in detection, care of women's cancers

From USC, UCLA & UCI

While cancer remains a fearsome killer, researchers across the region continue to make strides in combating and treating the disease that remains the No. 2 cause of death among Americans. In Exposition Park, Trojan researchers joined in an international campaign to better track down possible genetic regions that may be linked to ovarian cancer. The hope is that by finding and identifying women with detectable gene variations that potentially could heighten their risk that there could be earlier diagnosis and treatment for a cancer that now is too often found late, and, thus, claims more American women's lives than all other gynecological cancers combined. Meantime, researchers in Westwood have warned women recently that stress can accelerate breast cancer significantly. The scientists also say that they have found that exercise, stress-reduction programs and beta blocker drugs may help reduce this harm. And, in Irvine, experts say they are honing new techniques in imaging technology that will improve the diagnosis and detection of breast cancer.

Migration? Opera? L.A. River? Please discuss...

From ALOUD, Zocalo, UCI& UCLA

Get out that PDA, pull up the computer calendar or slide out that pocket planner: Whether it's opera loving, a fancy for dodge ball, wonder about one of the great American migrations or worry about the future of the Los Angeles River, there's a smart chat ahead to be scheduled. All the talks are free, open and require reservations. As soon as issues die down with the Library Foundation of Los Angeles web site (are they getting hacked this mornin?), we'll post the info on their two programs -- with Isabel Wilkerson, a onetime New York Times correspondent and author of a new, much acclaimed account of the giant migration of blacks from the rural south to the urban north, and a session with MacArthur genius grant winner Lewis Hyde and renaissance character and festival presenter Peter Sellars. On the Westside on Wednesday night, work on operas like 'Il Postino' will be the topic of Chilean novelist Antonio Skarmeta and Mexican composer Daniel Catan. In downtown on Wednesday night, the LA River will be the focus of Mike Woo, the former LA councilman and now Cal Poly enviro design dean, and a panel of experts who will discuss how to transform a now concrete channel into a unifying element of the metropolis. And for those seeking new student orientation escapades, organizers in Irvine have gathered up 600 balls and hope to attract 2,000 or more participants as they seek to set a new Guiness record for the world's largest dodge ball game.

Struggles with economic, racial, gender, religious divides

From UCLA, the Autry, Cal Poly Pomona & UCI

Poof. Shazam. Woo-hoo. It didn't happen, folks. Contrary to the weird, dream idealism that somehow conjured the twisted notion that the election of a gifted, mixed race president of African origin would somehow, by itself, eliminate all the deleterious inequities and cure the deep economic and religious divisions in U.S. society -- well, it hasn't happened. That's not occurring. And the realities of this crop up all over campuses and research, to wit:

How U.S. standards can impoverish California seniors

In Sacramento this morning, Bruin researchers will present their work showing the inadequacy and flaws of federal guidelines that help determine whether seniors are poor and need government assistance. It's a sadly familar comparative calculation conundrum that, unfortunately, leaves the Golden State's old in a vulnerable spot: because the U.S. sets its elderly poverty measures based on national averages, this data fails to account for the high cost of living in California and locks seniors in this state out of help that might be available elsewhere. L.A. seniors, for example, might need almost $23,000 on average to cover annual rent on a one-bedroom unit and to cover other basic living expenses, while the Social Security max payment is $10,440 and the poverty guideline is set at $10,830. Researchers from Westwood have proposed alternative standards that they deem more fair.

A push in Westwood, Sacramento for a new economic index for the elderly

Click here for full report, comparative data on elder index

Daily racial slights for Latinos, Asians; soaring suspensions for blacks

Two separate groups of researchers in Westwood find disturbing levels still of racial discrimination against Latino, Asian and African American youngsters harming their grades, health and leading to more suspensions, particularly in middle school, of black kids. Daily, race-based slights were experienced with a surprising frequency by Latino seniors in high school, while those of Asian descent had more negative such experiences than did their peers of European parentage, researchers found in examining the lives of more than 600 teens on the brink of adulthood. Meantime, in scrutinizing random samples of data from more than 9,000 middle schools, other researchers saw a disturbing increase in the rate of suspensions for black youngsters.

Latino, Asian teens found to experience daily race bias with harmful effect

Big gap discovered in rate of suspensions for black middle schoolers

Click here for full report on 'suspended education'

Actor George Takei speaks out about his 'human rights' activism

He's not just a familar face from a cult-popular television science fiction program. And he's certainly not the character he played there, the inscrutable Mr. Sulu. No, actor George Takei (shown at left in traditional garb at the Oscars with his husband, Brad Altman, who courteously provided the photo) long has been a progressive activist, he notes, pushing for social change to remedy the injustices he says he has seen as a Japanese American interned with his family during World War II, as an Asian American and now as an openly gay man. Here's a blog post that hits on his longtime activism as a curtain-raiser for his weekend public conversation on these topics in Griffith Park.

Don't mistake Star Trek star for famed character or recent conversion to causes

A weekend chat with George Takei about 'One Man's Journey'

A million reasons to unwind mystery of an academic gender gap

There are, of course, myriad scientific mysteries to be unwound and decoded. But for contemporary scholars one of the currently elusive of these continues to be why there aren't more young women flocking to study science, technology, engineering and math. Why is this so and why do some women succeed in these male-dominated fields? That's now a million-dollar issue in Pomona, where a federal grant will let researchers folow 400 male and female students for two years to get a better grip on the gender divide in these crucial areas of scholarly endeavor.

In Pomona, a two-year scrutiny on why more women don't study science, engineering, math

A timely tome asks tough questions on media coverage of religion

For all the yelling, screaming and sick public attention paid to a Florida pastor who proposed to burn Korans or to the incessant bickering over a plan to build an Islamic community center near New York's 'Ground Zero' site, well, does it all provide cause to wonder about the media's capacity to cover religion and matters religious? The folks in Irvine, with some key contributions from some terrific one-time Los Angeles Times scribes like Jack Miles and Stephen Burgard, have their timely take on this topic in a quick q-and-a. It includes the intriguing argument that, by its lack of any coverage at all, is Buddhism -- not Islam -- the world's least understood faith?

A fast Q-and-A on a burning topic in today's headlines: religion and society