River riddle solved! The Colorado River disappeared from the geological record for 5 million years. Scientists now know where it went: Into vanished Bidahochi Lake, before eventually spilling over on a course to the Grand Canyon. ucla.in/4dO9niX 🧪

Using atomic nuclei could allow scientists to read time more precisely than ever – what this research could mean for future clocks Atomic clocks undergird modern timekeeping. A nuclear clock could be even more precise.

UCLA physicist Eric Hudson's team is working toward a clock based on a nucleus rather than an atom’s electrons, which could keep a steadier rhythm because it would be less sensitive to environmental disturbances such as temperature changes. They've found an answer in Thorium-229. 🧪

City animals act in the same brazen ways around the world Cities breed smart wildlife because it takes savvy to survive there.

UCLA biologist Dan Blumstein writes that animals living in urban environments around the world exhibit common sets of behaviors. These urban animals are losing traits they would need in the wild. This “behavioral homogenization” accompanies the loss of species diversity with urbanization. 🧪

Contributor: The results are in, and same-sex marriage was a win for children and society Two decades ago, fears about same-sex unions were baseless. Now the claims against marriage equality are demonstrably incorrect.

After 20 years of legalized marriage for same-sex couples, 96 independent studies confirm there is no evidence for the harms critics predicted, writes UCLA psychology professor Benjamin Karney.

A photograph of UCLA's Dr. Donald Kohn wearing a blue shirt and tie with a white lab coat. There is a quote overwriting the image. The quote reads, "I saw a marked improvement across all patients in terms of restored immune function. Witnessing that these patients no longer battle life-threatening infections has been incredibly meaningful." Attribution is: Distinguished professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics Dr. Donald Kohn

How does the FDA-approved LAD-I gene therapy work?

Doctors take the patient's OWN stem cells, add a healthy copy of the mutated gene, and return them. No donor needed. No transplant rejection risk.

All 9 trial patients: restored immune systems.

🔗 lnkd.in/gDJzjgvx

#GeneTherapy #StemCells

I am excited to share our latest paper, Uniform bacterial genetic diversity along the gut, now out in Nature Communications! www.nature.com/articles/s41.... (1/n)

Noticing more lizards running around? Here's the likely reason Alligator lizards and other Southern California species are showing up about a month early thanks to the heat. And that carries some risks for these reptiles.

What happens when an alligator lizard walks into a UCLA biology building to escape the #heatwave? Professor Brad Schaeffer tells the @laist.com how this affects the #reptiles. 🧪

In praise of mid-sized planets - ABC listen Erik Petigura is a professor of physics and astronomy at UCLA who specialises in discovering planets smaller than giants like Neptune and bigger than Mars and Earth. Our Solar System has none of thes...

Planets smaller than giants like Neptune but bigger than Mars and Earth are the most common type of planet. Why doesn't our Solar System have any of these? UCLA astronomer Erik Petigura talks about planets that are mid with Robyn Williams for The Science Show. 🔭🧪

Think you can pick a perfect #MarchMadness bracket? Let UCLA mathematician Deanna Needell and Spectrum's Ariel Wesler explain to you why you're more likely to get attacked by a shark and hit by lightning at the same time.

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover discovers even older lost rivers at Jezero Crater By plying its ground-penetrating radar in the depths of Mars’s Jezero Crater, this rover has found even older deltas buried beneath those seen on the surface from space

UCLA researchers have found that rivers in Mars' Jezero Crater delta go back at least 4.2 billion years, suggesting that the window of habitability stretches even further back in time than many scientists had imagined, write Joseph Howlett and @leebillings.bsky.social for @sciam.bsky.social. 🧪

Do We Need New Math to Understand the Universe? With Terence Tao YouTube video by StarTalk

Friday fun: UCLA mathematician Terence Tao answers StarTalk fans' questions about mathematics with @neildegrassetyson.com 🧪

🥳 Congratulations to Prof. Anne Andrews, who has been selected to receive the 2026 American Chemical Society Analytical Chemistry Division Award in Electrochemistry in recognition of her accomplishments and service! www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/anne-an...

A sealed jar of chemicals bathed in blue light that stimulate catalytic reacionts. Credit: Flora Fan

The discovery by UCLA organic chemists that phosphine can act like precious metals in catalytic reactions might not trickle down to catalytic converters anytime soon, but will be useful for phamaceuticals and could bring down the cost of some drugs. ucla.in/4b88BeL 🧪

Bruin at the Olympics: How did Alysa Liu do in Milan? Part of Team USA's self-dubbed “Blade Angels,” Alysa Liu returned to the ice this week, competing in the women's figure skating competition at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

Bruin brings home GOLD! 🥇💙💛

ICYMI, Alysa Liu, the charismatic Team USA figure skater who today earned a gold medal in women's free skate at the 2026 Winter Olympics, is a UCLA student and Bay Area native!

UC PROUD!!!

https://bit.ly/4cB67Xo

UCLA and UCSD astronomers have detected hydrogen sulfide gas in the atmospheres of four distant gas giants. The sulfur came from evaporated solid matter from the star's disk, proving that they are planets, not brown dwarfs. The method could help identify Earthlike exoplanets. ucla.in/4arfq9A 🔭 🧪

I literally howled with excitement when I read this!

Marmotology (GROUNDHOGS) with Dr. Daniel Blumstein — alie ward Tongue twisters. Frosty holidays. Scandals. Big ol’ rodent butts. Let’s talk groundhogs with UCLA conservationist, field biologist, professor and Marmotologist, Dr. Daniel Blumstein. We cover what bro...

Find out how much wood a woodchuck could chuck if it could chuck wood, why you shouldn't take parenting advice from a marmot, and what it's like to touch a hibernating marmot in this delightful episode of @ologies.bsky.social with UCLA marmotologist Daniel Blumstein. 🧪

Scientists are inventing treatments for devastating diseases. There’s just one problem. Gene therapy treatments for rare diseases are being developed, but getting them out of the lab has proved challenging.

Rarity Public Benefit Corporation is trying to turn a UCLA cure for a rare disease into a medicine. The bottleneck now is not showing that it works, but another key part of the drug approval process — developing the commercial manufacturing. Great story by @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social 🧪

Marmotology (GROUNDHOGS) with Dr. Daniel Blumstein — alie ward Tongue twisters. Frosty holidays. Scandals. Big ol’ rodent butts. Let’s talk groundhogs with UCLA conservationist, field biologist, professor and Marmotologist, Dr. Daniel Blumstein. We cover what bro...

WHAT IS A GROUNDHOG?
What's their deal?
Why do they have their own holiday?

Beloved UCLA marmot expert Dr. Dan Blumstein chats large rodents, dens, scandals, butts, parenthood, romantic advice you should *not* take, why their blood boggles science, and aliases.

www.alieward.com/ologies/marm...

Two pine siskin birds at a bird feeder. Credit: Cephas/Wikimedia Commons

UCLA researchers are developing a tool that can predict when winter salmonella outbreaks are likely to happen in wild songbirds like pine siskins so people can take down their feeders to prevent the epidemic from starting. #addBirder ucla.in/4sVM6ki 🧪

Are Raccoons On The Road To Domestication? Recent studies on raccoons and dark-eyed juncos investigate how urban wildlife is evolving.

UCLA biologist Pamela Yeh joins Raffaela Lesch on Science Friday discuss how living alongside humans is changing wild animals' bodies, from raccoons to urban juncos. 🧪

Artist rendering of the four planets in the V1298 Tau system. Four blue planets with fuzzy atmospheres swirl around a blazing sun. Credit: Astrobiology Center, NINS

UCLA astrophysicist Erik Petigura studied four baby planets in the V1298 Tau system that are becoming super-Earths and sub-Neptunes. Despite being 5 to 10 times Earth’s radius, the planets have masses only 5 to 15 times Earth’s, meaning they are about as dense as Styrofoam. ucla.in/4aPC8Kz 🧪🔭

Yellow mysterious swirl pattern etched on a metal surface. Credit: Yilin Wong

Weird and wonderful science: How elephant poop leads to guitars and 12 other unusual UCLA research findings from 2025: ucla.in/4p8tXfY 🧪

The image shows a laser (purple arrow) illuminating the electrodeposited thorium (orange) and the electrons (yellow arrows) hitting a detector (the detector front face is made to look like a clock as an artistic liberty). Credit: Richard Elwell and Christian Schneider

UCLA-led research has found that by electroplating thorium onto stainless steel, they can excite its nucleus with a laser and measure the electric current it produces. The achievement can be used to miniaturize the nuclear clock. ucla.in/48L8iFL 🧪

A wineglass of water on an empty plate with a fork and knife on either side. Credit: Dr Jean Fortunet/Wikimedia Commons

You might know that if you're reading this on the internet, you can thank UCLA. But did you know that UCLA also brought you the nicotine patch and cleaner drinking water through reverse osmosis? 10 Bruin discoveries that are changing the world: ucla.in/4aSQbPl 🧪

A pile of orange cheese puffs. Credit: AbbieImages/iStock

Gut bacteria have evolved rapidly to digest starches in ultra-processed foods. UCLA study finds gut microbes are evolving differently in industrialized and non-industrialized parts of the world. ucla.in/4aWigp5 🧪

I had a joke about Ariadne but you probably couldn't follow the thread.

Gene therapy helps Virginia 12-year-old battle rare ‘bubble boy' disease A rare disease that has cut off children from the outside world now potentially has a cure. News4’s Erika Gonzalez spoke to a Virginia family about how gene therapy changed their daughter’s life.

A gene therapy co-developed by UCLA's Donald Kohn has restored immune function in 59 children born without the ability to make immune cells, a disease that typically gives them only a few short years of life. With the therapy, they qre now living normal lives. 🧪

Organic chemistry is as simple as piano keys | Changing Key and Chemistry YouTube video by Chemistry Shorts®

This video featuring UCLA organic chemist Neil Garg helps explain why a dreaded college class is a wildly popular crowd favorite at UCLA. 🧪

UC professors censor their own classes waiting for Trump’s crackdown, court filings show New court filings reveal University of California professors are altering lessons, canceling talks and avoiding sensitive topics as the Trump administration’s crackdown intensifies.

"More than 60 professors and others up and down the state say they are suppressing their work and feel anxious about causing political problems for their campus, or that their own teaching will lead to hostility against themselves. Some say it’s already happened." www.sfchronicle.com/california/a...