Latest news with #UCIrvine
The Hill
10 hours ago
- Science
- The Hill
Scientists show how smarter flight decisions could help fight climate change
A team of University of California researchers say they have developed a tool that could help steer the aviation sector toward making smarter decisions when it comes to climate-related impacts. The Global Warming per Activity tool, highlighted on Wednesdaay in Nature, measures how long and how strongly each aviation activity affects the atmosphere — whether that activity lasts hours or a century. The scientists also quantified uncertainty in every component, enabling users to assess risk by calculating the probability that a given tradeoff would help mitigate warming. 'This new decision tool uses the information to provide accurate risk quantification for climate tradeoff decisions,' lead author Michael Prather, a professor of Earth system science at UC Irvine, said in a statement. For example, airlines could decide to reroute flights to avoid conditions that generate contrails — the line-shaped vapor trails produced by engine exhaust — but in doing so, they might need to consume more fuel. If the contrails were reduced sufficiently, however, there could be a net positive gain for the climate, according to the study. In general, civil aviation contributes to global warming via carbon dioxide from fuels, nitrogen oxides that impact ozone and methane levels and the creation of lingering contrails. Although each pollution source plays a role in trapping atmospheric heat, efforts to reduce one offender typically increase another. Using the new metric, the scientists determined that if aviation choices led to even a 3 to 5 percent decrease in contrails or in nitrogen oxide emissions, these declines could outweigh a 1 percent surge in carbon dioxide emissions over a 100-year period. Careful strategies that might increase fuel usage, they observed, could therefore bring a potential reduction in the long-term climate impacts of flying. The researchers stressed, however, that they considered only climate change tradeoffs and not economic costs. Nonetheless, they touted their method for its abilities to empower airlines and regulators to make smarter decisions, with more accurate, activity-based comparisons. By quantifying the probability of a positive climate outcome, the authors said they aimed to provide a way to evaluate climate tradeoffs with confidence and equip policymakers with clearer insight into the consequences of their actions. The tool could also be applicable to climate-related decisions made in other industries, such as shipping, agriculture or manufacturing, the researchers noted. 'This is a win for both science and society,' Prather said. 'Our findings show that we don't have to choose between reducing carbon emissions and tackling other warming pollutants. We can find a balance that leads to meaningful progress.'
Los Angeles Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Lawsuit alleges O.C. deputies forced 2 Muslim women to remove their hijab
Two Muslim women arrested during a pro-Palestinian encampment protest at UC Irvine last year are suing the Orange County Sheriff's Department, alleging deputies wrongfully forced them to remove their hijabs while in custody. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group known as CAIR-LA, announced the federal lawsuit with Asian Law Caucus, during a Tuesday news conference at its Anaheim office. 'If this country means what it says about freedom of religion,' said Dina Chehata, CAIR-LA's civil rights managing attorney, 'then it must mean it for Muslim women, not just in theory, not just in court, but also in the fluorescent-lit backrooms of detention facilities when no one is watching and no cameras are rolling.' Salma Nasoordeen, a youth coordinator with CAIR-LA, and Hasna 'Shenai' Aini, a UC Irvine student, attended the protest on May 15, 2024 when personnel with the O.C. Sheriff's Department and other law enforcement agencies clad in riot gear swept through the encampment after an unlawful assembly declaration and arrested 47 people. Court documents allege that a deputy 'repeatedly and deliberately stomped' on Aini's hijab during her arrest, which caused it to unravel and exposed her hair to male officers and activists in the area. Fox 11 and KTLA 5 news channels also broadcast the arrest to a wider audience. 'My hijab, my hijab,' Aini pleaded, to no avail. Aini alleged that a woman deputy at the Orange County Intake Release Center demanded she remove her hijab during a search. The headscarf remained off when a deputy took her booking photo. Both incidents, lawyers allege, happened within the possible sight of male deputies. 'My hijab is the ultimate sign of my faith,' Aini said during the press conference. 'This was an attack, not only on myself, but every Muslim woman on that day.' Nasoordeen alleged that a woman deputy ordered her to remove her Adidas hijab and additional religious headscarf during a search in an area accessible to men. Like Aini, she said her booking photo was taken without the head covering, allegedly within the possible view of male deputies. 'When I was asked to remove my hijab, I was shocked,' Nasoordeen said. 'I felt helpless and embarrassed.' Filed on Monday, the complaint names the County of Orange, O.C. Sheriff Don Barnes and unnamed deputies as defendants. Carrie Braun, a sheriff's department spokesperson, called the claims made during the news conference 'misleading' and 'inaccurate.' 'No women were required to remove their hijabs in front of male employees or male members of the public,' she said. 'Women were asked to privately remove their hijabs only once while inside the jail facility for a booking photo, and this occurred with only female deputies present.' The department has a policy in place on religious head coverings that requires any search needing the removal of them be done by deputies of the same gender in a private area out of the view of the opposite gender. With regard to booking photos, the policy prohibits individuals from wearing religious head coverings but requires that the photographer be the same gender as the arrested person. 'Part of what we are arguing in our lawsuit as well is that the deputies are not being even properly trained on the policies on the books,' Chehata said. 'The policy that exists does not go far enough, because it compels them to be photographed without their headscarf, which we believe is a very profound violation of their sincerely held religious beliefs.' The lawsuit argued that other law enforcement agencies, like the New York Police Department, allow for photos to be taken with religious head coverings on. Attorneys for the two women also pointed to a lawsuit filed in 2007 against the O.C. Sheriff's Department for religious discrimination after jailers allegedly ordered a Muslim woman to remove her hijab, asserting it could be used to choke someone. The suit was settled in 2013 with an agreement from the sheriff's department that Muslim women detainees would not be ordered to remove their hijabs within view of men and be provided with temporary headscarves when needed. Belinda Escobosa litigated that case and she is an attorney in the current suit. Braun told TimesOC the booking photos can't be released under the California Public Records Act and that jail security video documented the booking process in question. 'False and divisive statements made to the public only serve to undermine trust and incite fear,' Braun said, adding that the sheriff's department actively works with various religious groups. Aini began wearing the hijab last year at UC Irvine while surrounded by a large Muslim community she didn't grow up with. She decided to file suit so that other Muslim women who wear the hijab don't have the same alleged experience with the sheriff's department. 'A year later, I am still deeply affected,' Aini said. 'I still hear my pleas to be covered, along with flashbacks reminding me that my religion was disrespected and I was spiritually harmed.'
Los Angeles Times
6 days ago
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
Hoag names Jack Sun its director of cardiovascular surgery
Jack Sun, who started as Hoag's director of cardiovascular surgery at the Jeffrey M. Carlton Heart & Vascular Institute last month, spent nearly seven years as chief of cardiac surgery not too far away, at UC Irvine. 'At UCI, I had always known about Hoag, and you never know what's going on over there,' Sun said with a smile. 'It's kind of like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. You hear great things about it, but you're not really sure what's going on inside of it.' Sun said he had always known Hoag's heart program had a good reputation. Now he seeks to elevate it further, into an academic, university-level program. When he heard the hospital was on the same page with that goal, he said it was like music to his ears. 'That's what I have always wanted to continue doing, to build out and expand advanced heart surgery programs and have accessibility for patients,' Sun said. 'Hoag is not only doing that at Newport Beach, but there's a big $1 billion expansion of the Hoag Irvine campus and they're planning to expand heart surgery and other cardiovascular services at Irvine as well. We want to reach as many patients as possible, and expand in areas where we feel like there's just not enough access right now to high-level cardiac services.' He gave examples of a heart transplant or a ventricular assist device, which is like a planted mechanical pump for the heart. Typically, those services are only available at academic or university level programs. Sun, 46, is a native Canadian who now lives in Costa Mesa. He earned a medical degree from the University of Toronto and completed an advanced fellowship in cardiac surgery at the Harvard University-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He also has worked at the University of Washington, and has spent just over a decade enjoying the Southern California sun since moving here in 2014. 'Dr. Sun's arrival marks a new chapter for cardiac care at Hoag,' said Robert Braithwaite, Hoag president and chief executive, in a statement. 'At Hoag, we are never satisfied with the status quo and continually strive to raise the bar for our patients. Dr. Sun's dedication to clinical excellence and his forward-looking vision will ensure that Hoag continues to deliver the highest level of cardiac care to our community — so ultimately no patient needs to leave Orange County for the most complex heart treatment.' Sun has authored or coauthored more than 60 publications, presentations and book chapters in leading medical and cardiology journals, so he is well versed on the academic side of healthcare. He joins Hoag at a time when it was ranked high-performing in several cardiac specialties in 2024-25 by U.S. News & World Report, including aortic valve surgery, heart bypass surgery, heart attack and heart failure. According to Hoag, the Jeffrey M. Carlton Heart & Vascular Institute was the top cardiothoracic program in Orange County in 2024, handling more than 440 cases. 'When I was in high school I learned about the heart, and the physiology and anatomy of the heart, and I just thought it was the most amazing thing in the world,' Sun said. 'It's this one organ in your body that is like the engine of your body, but also from an art standpoint, emotionally we connect it with how we feel and it has a romantic side. I've always loved that part of the heart, and I always wanted to work with my hands.' Now he is leading a top program at Hoag, where he said he appreciates the philanthropic side as well with programs like Hoag Innovators. A 19th century scalpel with a wooden handle sits on his desk. Sun said it's a gift from his program director at his residency in Boston. 'He said, 'It's great that you're using all of these new technologies, these catheter-based techniques and how to use wires, but at the end of the day you're a heart surgeon,'' Sun said. 'You have to hone your technique … your role to be a surgeon, that's where you hold the most value to the patient.' It's a reminder that Sun has taken, well, to heart. 'A patient's life is in your hands,' he said. 'You've got to really master your techniques and be very deliberate and meticulous in the operating room.'
Eater
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Eater
Queer Bar Style Is Going Way Beyond Pride Flags
I think one of my favorite bars knew I was queer before I did. After Singers opened in Brooklyn in 2022, I made a habit of going with friends — all queer, which should have been my first sign — and I couldn't put my finger on what felt so right about the space. It had low wood ceilings and antique lace curtains, but also touches of chrome, Clocky from Pee-Wee's Playhouse , and flattering lighting shining on all kinds of hot people in Puppets and Puppets sipping tiny martinis . It was only when I saw some retro gay cop porn projected in a separate room that I asked, 'Is this a gay bar?' to which one friend said, 'It's a queer bar. But it's also just a vibe.' With nary a Pride flag in sight, this was not the homosexual watering hole I was promised in my youth. As a teenager during the 2000s, I grew up with concepts of 'gay' or 'straight' bars that felt clearly demarcated in clientele and aesthetics. Straight bars could look however they wanted (as usual), while gay bars were stamped with rainbow decor, No on Prop 8 stickers, images of the Stonewall Inn, Human Rights Campaign posters, and other visual reminders of the fight for equality. While seeing bar walls dressed for activism felt good (and these bars remain essential fortifications against threats from the Trump administration and in rural, conservative towns with less visible queer communities), it also made me wonder if the Culture at Large would ever be interested in understanding queer people outside of our trauma or preconceived notions of 'looking gay.' 'This idea of 'a gay bar' was really a function of a time in the 1970s when it was the only public space for queer people,' says UC Irvine professor Lucas Hilderbrand, author of The Bars Are Ours: Histories and Cultures of Gay Bars in America . 'It was very codified with either men's bars and women's bars as separate spaces, and there weren't very many transgender bars' — although, he's quick to elaborate on the ways in which these communities intersected and came together for support and survival. Since then, self-identifying labels of 'queer,' along with nonbinary, transgender, and AFAB/AMAB, have become mainstream (partially why I realized I was not only queer but genderfluid in my late 20s). As the vernacular around gender and sexuality has broadened, so too has the need for bars whose aesthetics speak to their specific visions and purposes. Often, a Pride flag — the go-to visual marker of queer spaces for decades — isn't quite enough to reflect all of these shifts, or the ways Pride has been co-opted by corporate interests. 'In theory,' Hilderbrand says, 'the Pride flag is about inclusivity, but it connotatively can also mean a corporatization of Pride or [lack of] fluidity.' It's something the team at Singers has worked on too. 'I think we all thought, 'We don't just want a big gay Pride flag on the wall,' says Erik Escobar, social media and events coordinator who helped design the space. 'Sometimes that feels performative, especially at a time when so many random bars will have a shitty little flag in a cup without actually practicing [allyship].' These conversations have really built up over the last five years. '[The post-lockdown landscape has] become this kind of reset,' Hilderbrand says. 'And there's this sort of new opportunity that emerges with the reopenings to reimagine what a gay bar or event looks like.' Today, new, eclectic LGBTQ bar and nightlife spaces have developed diverse aesthetics to respond to the shifting needs and desires of their communities, providing queer people spaces to exist simply as, well, the people they are. Escobar and co-owners Brooke Peshke and Michael Guisinger had never started a bar before Singers. 'That was an asset, I think, because you will sometimes enter bars and nightlife spaces that don't feel authentic,' Guisinger says. 'For Singers, we were all making decisions on the hip. It felt really personal.' Initially, Peshke had envisioned some kind of project upstate, but after chatting with Guisinger, a bar concept emerged from the parties the latter threw in an apartment adjoining the bar space. To help define Singers's structure and social calendar, Guisinger brought on Escobar, who used his DIY event experience to produce prom nights, tarot readings, a steam room-themed party featuring an actual sauna, and the now legendary Twinks vs. Dolls Cigarette Race (where prizes have included vouchers for botox and fillers). They all stress the importance of implementing their personal design tastes, but the space also remains flexible enough to encompass their spontaneous, ambitious programming. In that sense, Singers takes cues from Elaine's, a now-shuttered, dark-wood-and-tiny-lamp Upper East Side bar. '[Elaine's] went through all of these phases as a writers bar, then a showbiz bar, and then a movie industry bar,' Guisinger says. 'It had shifting creative lives. But [the owner, Elaine] was the center of it. The aura.' Much like Elaine's, Singers ebbs and flows to the whims of its stewards, without ever compromising on their intentions to create a bar as queer people, instead of simply marketing a space for queer people. 'Elaine's gave artists and writers support and patronage. That's also our approach. We're collaborative,' Guisinger says. 'If there's something you want to do, we want you to feel like you can come up to us and we'll help make it happen.' Bars have always been a means for LGBTQ survival; historically, it made sense, Hilderbrand says, for gay men to gather incognito in a space like a bar where large groups of men gather anyways. But, Hilderbrand says, 'We keep seeing statistics that younger people also aren't drinking alcohol in the same way. And so that becomes the question of, 'Well, is a bar always the right business model for [queer spaces today]?' Singers's flexibility has allowed the founders to jettison the bar space altogether. Last year, they went full circle, returning to Peshke's original idea for an upstate concept with picturesque Camp Singers, which is entering its second season helping people patrons in nature. You're likely to see a Pride flag (or five) in the Sports Bra, but they're tucked among dozens of athletic jerseys, bunting, scarves, and posters for women's sports teams. When it opened in Portland, Oregon, in 2022, it became the country's first bar dedicated to women's sports. While it wasn't designed solely as a queer, gay, or lesbian space, founder and owner Jenny Nguyen identifies as queer, and her business has naturally become a place where all kinds of people — especially LGBTQ — find community. 'I just wanted to make a space where I felt comfortable,' Nguyen says. 'And it turns out that, with my lived experience, there's a lot of intersectionality in just me.' She grew up playing basketball competitively, until she blew out her ACL during college, around when she began appreciating her mother's Vietnamese home cooking. She went on to train as a chef and worked in restaurants for about 15 years. Reevaluating her career during the COVID-19 pandemic jumpstarted the Sports Bra. 'It was just 1,000 percent this fantasy, an imaginary place we would reference whenever we were disgruntled with your typical sports bar,' Nguyen says. The idea gained traction within Portland's tight-knit pickup basketball league, which Nguyen says includes a lot of queer and trans players. When it came time to 'put pen to paper,' Nguyen says, 'the Portland lesbian network really pulled through. People who I had never met were contacting me, saying, 'I heard this is going to be a lesbian sports bar,' which also goes to show how few lesbian spaces there are [in the country] as well,' Nguyen says. She soon received calls from national LGBTQ organizations asking if her bar should be on their registers. 'I'd say the first three months [we were open, the patrons] were 95 percent queer folks and women.' Over time, the clientele broadened. 'Now it's also families. Or a table of construction workers having a bros lunch and watching women's soccer.' The food menu, described as 'familiar, unpretentious and delicious,' is also intentionally broad, featuring the staple Aunt Tina's Vietnawings alongside options for vegans, vegetarians, and gluten- and dairy-free customers. The bar has also served as inspiration for more bars focused on women's sports, and the Sports Bra opened a second location in Long Beach, California, in 2024. Nguyen insists she simply wanted to create a space where she and her friends could watch women's sports in peace. 'That resonated, I guess,' she says. As a metaphor for a queer nightlife gathering, Hot Pot founder Jordyn Sun says a communal cooking method with eclectic, simmering ingredients was perfect. This approachable flexibility applies to the physical space as well; the monthly, queer BIPOC-centered dance party began as a pop-up at LA's Love Hour, before roving around to other K-Town dive bars like Apt. 503, Escala, or Red Room. 'I love my neighborhood,' says Sun. 'I don't want to party with the boys in [West Hollywood]. I don't want to be in Silver Lake around mostly queer white people. I see queer BIPOC in K-Town all the time, so I wanted to make a space in the densest neighborhood of LA that put transgender and queer people of color first.' Since Hot Pot doesn't have a permanent home, it shines a light on the small businesses it inhabits, while proving queer communities can and should exist in places that don't feel Pride flag-branded. But the party does have its own low-key chic vibes. 'The main ways we communicate aesthetics is through design (graphics, merch) and sound,' Sun says. Some fliers for parties tap into neo-Y2K nonchalance and the silly, joyful, queer chaos that unfolds on the dance floor. When Sun mentions streetwear and surf apparel as important inspirations, I sense a Proustian memory about Michelle Rodriguez's soft-masc outfits from the 2000s movie Blue Crush . Another flier for Habibi Pot, a queer Arab-centered gathering on the 77th anniversary of the Nakba, featured 2000s-nostalgic, Arabic lettering-inspired graphics. Sun also says the event's aesthetic organically evolves through its eclectic attendees. At any party, you'll find a gathering of 20- and 30-something queer BIPOC folks dressed in vintage Gucci skirts, studded leather pants, a kaleidoscopic range of baby tees, Miista boots, sports jerseys, and keffiyehs; theme nights, like a recent prom party, bring out big gowns. Hot Pot, like Singers and the Sports Bra, continues a tradition of queer rebellion by creating an ephemeral, evolving nightlife space. 'We see this repeatedly in history. There's a desire to imagine something 'other' that is very cyclical. Claiming the right of queer pleasure to exist is a kind of activism,' Hilderbrand says. 'We will continue to see people get creative.' See More: Food and Restaurant Trends
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First Post
22-06-2025
- Health
- First Post
Pee power: How scientists have used urine to make dental implants
A team of scientists at the University of California, Irvine, have figured out a way to turn human urine into a key material used in dental and bone implants. The discovery will not only help turn this everyday waste into a valuable medical resource, but also help clean wastewater and mitigate environmental pollution read more Called 'osteoyeast,' this specially designed system can convert urine into hydroxyapatite (HAp)—the same mineral that gives our bones and teeth their strength and structure. Image for Representation. Pixabay It might sound bizarre, but your morning bathroom trip could someday help fix a broken tooth. A team of scientists at the University of California, Irvine, have figured out a way to turn human urine into a key material used in dental and bone implants. Human urine is usually flushed away without a second thought. But in large amounts, it can actually harm the environment by overwhelming water systems with excess nitrogen and phosphorus. But now, researchers are flipping the script and turning this everyday waste into a valuable medical resource. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Here's how they're doing it. Waste to wonder At the heart of this breakthrough is a genetically engineered yeast developed by scientists at UC Irvine, in collaboration with researchers from institutions in the US and Japan. Called 'osteoyeast,' this specially designed system can convert urine into hydroxyapatite (HAp)—the same mineral that gives our bones and teeth their strength and structure. In the human body, it's the job of bone-forming cells, known as osteoblasts, to pull calcium phosphate from body fluids and produce HAp. But osteoblasts aren't suited for mass production. So, the researchers built a synthetic version of these cells using yeast. HAp, a biocompatible calcium phosphate mineral, is widely used in bone and dental implants, archaeological restoration and biodegradable materials. Image for Representation. The modified yeast mimics osteoblasts by breaking down urea from urine, which raises the pH levels inside the cell. This shift triggers the formation of small compartments that gather calcium and phosphate. Inside these compartments, the materials begin to crystallise into hydroxyapatite, which is then pushed out of the cell. The result? Up to 1 gram of HAp can be produced from just a litre of urine. Notably, this biocompatible calcium phosphate mineral is widely used in bone and dental implants, archaeological restoration and biodegradable materials. The market for HAp is projected to exceed USD 3.5 billion by 2030, with sales price (over USD 80 per kg) enhancing the monetary attractiveness of UD processes, the study revealed. A dual purpose Scientists behind the innovation say the process offers a win-win solution. 'On the one hand, it helps remove human urine from wastewater streams, mitigating environmental pollution and the buildup of unwanted nutrients; and on the other hand, it produces a material that can be commercially marketed for use in a variety of settings,' David Kisailus, co-author of the study and professor of materials science and engineering at UC Irvine, told Interesting Engineering. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Kisailus explained that the entire process of creating hydroxyapatite takes less than a day. 'The fact that it uses yeast as a chassis, which is inexpensive and can be placed in large vats at relatively low temperatures—think about beer that's made via fermentation processes and is well scaled—shows that this can be done easily without major infrastructural needs, and that has the added benefit of making it accessible to developing economies,' he said. Because the system relies on yeast, it could be especially useful in areas without access to high-tech manufacturing, opening the door for more widespread production of advanced medical materials. The entire process of creating hydroxyapatite takes less than a day; hence, it could be especially useful in areas without access to high-tech manufacturing. Image for Representation. Looking ahead, the team is also exploring the structural potential of hydroxyapatite. 'We are currently developing strategies to leverage this yeast platform with our 3D printing and structural knowledge to make multifunctional architected materials,' Kisailus added. The project was supported by major US agencies, including the Department of Energy, DARPA, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Their findings were recently published in Nature Communications under the title: Cost-effective urine recycling enabled by a synthetic osteoyeast platform for production of hydroxyapatite. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD With input from agencies
