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Los Angeles Times
4 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
Putting dirty air on notice in the Palisades
Families struggling to recover from January's Palisades fire worry about a long list of unknowns, from whether they can afford to rebuild to what their old neighborhoods will be like if they return. A project by the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health may help calm concerns over at least one other variable — the quality of the air in and near the burn zone. Researchers at the university announced this week they had finished installing 20 air quality sensors to measure pollution, stretching from the Palisades Highlands and Sunset Mesa (near the Getty Villa) to Santa Monica. The monitors sample the air every five to 10 minutes, checking for the kind of fine particles spewed out by fires and car exhausts, and the slightly larger dust-like particles that might be stirred up by debris removal. Microscopic detritus in the air will continue to be a concern during the months of cleanup, grading and construction still to come. The level of crud in the air can increase when building sites get particularly active, or when winds increase, as they tend to in the fall. UCLA translates the results into color-coded categories — from green for 'Good' to red for 'Hazardous' — and displays the results on an online dashboard. Those concerned about air quality, but who want to avoid clicking on a digital map all day, can sign up to be alerted by email when particulate pollution reaches an unhealthy level in their neighborhood. While the public previously may have relied on weather apps or sites like PurpleAir to get a sense of air quality, those often do not track the larger particles being measured by UCLA's monitoring stations. Around the site of the Eaton fire in Altadena, Caltech began tracking particulate pollution at 28 locations not long after the fires and continues to provide data. Its sensors find that pollution levels are generally low and do not exceed limits established by the Environmental Protection Agency. There's similar good news from the Palisades: Almost every day this week, the 20 monitors around the Westside showed mostly good air quality for both the fine and coarser particulate matter. That's welcome information, especially for those who suffer from respiratory problems. 'Air quality can change frequently, like when there is construction or debris removal without adequate migration,' said Yifang Zhu, a professor of environmental health at UCLA and director of the project. 'The whole purpose of this dashboard is to give people information, as close to real-time as possible, so they can make decisions to help protect their health.' Brian says, 'I cook food for him. Most recently ground turkey, a sweet potato, and some broth. This gets mixed in with his kidney friendly canned food. He is old and takes medication for his heart and thyroid along with the kidney diet.' Email us at essentialcalifornia@ and your response might appear in the newsletter this week. On July 24, 2023, Elon Musk began rebranding the social media platform formerly known as Twitter to its current identity, X. Since then, the site has introduced the artificial intelligence chatbot Grok, which has prompted concern among experts for its record of spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories — especially during vulnerable periods like natural disasters. Jim Rainey, staff writerDiamy Wang, homepage internIzzy Nunes, audience internKevinisha Walker, multiplatform editorAndrew Campa, Sunday writerKarim Doumar, head of newsletters How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@ Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
AI pen can detect Parkinson's disease through handwriting
(NewsNation) — The Parkinson's disease world may have just received its next big breakthrough. Scientists have developed a self-powered pen — with magnetic ink — that can potentially discover early signs of Parkinson's disease by analyzing handwriting. 'Detection of subtle motor symptoms unnoticeable to the naked eye is critical for early intervention in Parkinson's disease,' Jun Chen, PhD, an associate professor of bioengineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, told Parkinson's News Today. 'Our diagnostic pen presents an affordable, reliable, and accessible tool that is sensitive enough to pick up subtle movements and can be used across large populations and in resource-limited areas.' More than 130 Royal Caribbean passengers gets sick from stomach bug With an average accuracy of 96.22%, the pen recorded handwriting signals for patients with Parkinson's. It also successfully analyzed one-dimensional convolutional neural network-assisted analysis. 'This pen is diagnosing the problem with handwriting, which is just one of the many symptoms that we see in our patients,' Chrystalina Antoniades, University of Oxford, acknowledged to The Guardian. 'But it can be complementing what we already found, picking up something that might be difficult to see.' The pen's cost is significantly lower than commercial electronic pens for tablets and digital pens for writing pads. Parkinson's disease affects 10 million people worldwide. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Los Angeles Times
6 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
New network of air pollution monitors launches near Palisades fire
LOS ANGELES — UCLA researchers have launched 20 new air pollution monitors across northwest Los Angeles County to better understand how much fine ash and coarse dust are being kicked up in the Palisades fire burn area as reconstruction advances. The network stretches from Topanga State Park through Brentwood and Santa Monica, updating every five to ten minutes on an online map. 'We heard clear community needs — real-time data, user-friendly design, and granular neighborhood coverage,' said Yifang Zhu, a professor in the UCLA Department of Environmental Health Sciences and director of the project. Zhu had seen that Caltech had put up a similar network for areas affected by the Eaton fire. The new sensors track airborne particulate matter — a complex mix of substances such as soil, dust, and metals — in two main sizes: fine, PM 2.5, no larger than 2.5 microns, or roughly 1/30 the width of a human hair, and coarser particles, PM 10, roughly the size of a cotton fiber. All are small enough to be inhaled into the nose, throat, and upper airways and can cause a wide range of health issues. PM 2.5 is linked to asthma attacks, premature death as well as acute and chronic bronchitis. Although less studied, PM 10 has been tied to adverse health effects, especially among infants, children, and older people who have lung or heart conditions. The public already can see real-time air pollution levels on several websites, including those of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, Purple Air and IQAir. The problem, researchers say, is that these often do not track the larger PM 10 particles, the kind more likely to be kicked up into the air by construction. 'The January wildfires were massive and they highlighted gaps that we in the air pollution science community knew about, but the larger community wasn't necessarily aware of,' said Rima Habre, an associate professor of environmental health sciences at USC and collaborator on the project. After the fires, people were looking at air quality readings from the existing network, and couldn't tell how much of the dirty air was due to the larger particles. The new network, known as CAP AIR, was designed to provide hyperlocal and real-time data. The dashboard is color coded from green for good air to dark red for hazardous air to help residents quickly interpret the risk. 'You can see PM 10 levels spike if trucks are hauling debris nearby, and wait until they drop again to go out and jog along the road,' Habre said. Bill Magavern, policy director of the Coalition for Clean Air, pointed out that California has the worst air in the country. 'It's important for people to know how much particle pollution they're being exposed to. So we strongly support expanded monitoring and making the information available as widely as possible so people can make informed decisions about when and if they spend a long time outside, when they're doing strenuous activities like exercising, when they might want to not have their children be outside playing.' Residents can also sign up for email updates when sensors near their home show particle levels surge. 'Sometimes people are anxious or scared about what's going on — it's just because of a lack of information,' Zhu said. 'Now, this network can provide that information.'
