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

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 🧪

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 🧪

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.

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. 🧪

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

"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...

UCLA-led research found what caused Myanmar’s 2025 supershear earthquake: A straight, smooth fault, stress accumulation since the last major quake, and contrasting rock properties all created an ideal setting for the rupture to accelerate over hundreds of kilometers. ucla.in/4hyws8Z 🧪

UCLA astronomer Jean-Luc Margot told the Atlantic that the International Astronomical Union has been in charge of planetary nomenclature for more than 100 years, but “surprisingly, they have not defined what a moon is." 🧪

Latest Teens & Screens report shows that yes, they still watch TV and movies and want more content centered on mix-gendered friendships not romance newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/tee...

UCLA biologist Joey Curti is UCLA's very own batman. Join him on a recent evening where he shared the secrets of LA's bats with an eager crowd, and cleared up some myths about these important but misunderstood mammals. www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/v... 🧪

Math professor Terence Tao and neuroscientist Vidya Saravanapandian told PBS Newshour's Stephanie Sy that US's global leadership in science hangs in the balance. 🧪

A photonic lantern used for the first time on a telescope has helped UCLA-led astronomers achieve the sharpest-ever measurement of a star’s surrounding disk, revealing that is is-- surprisingly-- lopsided. ucla.in/43wGO3k 🧪

A UCLA-led effort has taught enzymes an entirely new reaction mechanism—a radical hydrogenation process that nature itself never discovered. Enzymes can now rival or surpass precious-metal catalysts, paving the way for greener pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, and biocatalytic materials. 🧪

A blood stem cell gene therapy co-developed by UCLA’s Dr. Donald Kohn restored immune function in 59 of 62 children with ADA-SCID, a rare and fatal immune disorder, with no serious complications reported. Long-term follow-up shows 95% success rate in largest study to date. ucla.in/4ojUZke 🧪

2025's 5 Nobel Laureates who work and/or were educated in the University of California system reflect the power of a healthy, well-funded research ecosystem and of academic freedom. www.latimes.com/california/n...

Congratulations to our friend & former @uclacb.bsky.social colleague Prof. Omar Yaghi on winning the @nobelprize.bsky.social in chemistry for his groundbreaking #nano work on MOFs

Congratulations to former UCLA professor Omar Yaghi on winning the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his pioneering work in the development of metal-organic frameworks. Read more: ucla.in/48Vy1vt #NobelPrize #AcademicSky 🧪

Discoveries that changed the world: Meet UC’s women @NobelPrize laureates https://bit.ly/42wZj6x

#UCLA neuroscientists discovered brain cells in rats that are wired for #uncertainty. The neurons, most active when a #decision outcome is unknown, appear to help with decision making and flexibility. ucla.in/3Wumo7g 🧪

In the 1980s, Louis Ignarro, a UCLA pharmacology professor , studied how air pollutant nitric oxide dilated blood vessels. Then, he was on the fringes of his field. “I pursued that much to the dismay of my colleagues, who thought I was crazy,” Ignarro recalled. Viagra emerged from this work. 🧪

Funded entirely by taxpayer dollars and developed exclusively at UCLA, a first-of-its-kind drug targets cellular metabolism to promote tissue repair of multiple organs and is ready for clinical trials. ucla.in/46DzOUx 🧪

"I think the consensus that #science was a route to national #well-being and #prosperity was widely shared by people across the political spectrum until very recently. It’s only been the past few years that we’ve seen a rising lack of trust in #scientists." 🧪

❤️❤️❤️ these posters in the Geology building at UC Riverside ❤️❤️❤️ Seriously, why aren't we putting messages like these everywhere? I'd happily chip in some pro-NSF and pro-NIH billboards? 🧪

“It’s not like you can just hit pause and pick it up and continue,” Vidya Saravanapandian of UCLA’s Brain Research Institute told @latimes.com reporter @jaweedkaleem.bsky.social. 🧪

UCLA Fields Medalist Terence Tao: "Basic #science is an investment in many, many small projects, and if even just a small percentage of them yield fruit, then it's a massive return on investment." youtu.be/skWt_PZosik?... #ResearchPowersProgress 🧪

“We’re being affected by battles that are taking place well beyond the scope of our focus on training the best scientists,” UCLA professor Rachelle H. Crosbie told @aishabee.bsky.social for @chronicle.com. She said every federal grant across her department has been frozen. 🧪

#UCLA @ioes.ucla.edu geographers Emelly Ortiz-Villa and Kyle Cavanaugh told Spectrum News reporter Nathalie Basha how marine protected areas help #kelp forests recover after marine heatwaves. Learn more: ucla.in/4fRcC8a #climate #environment 🧪

🧪

UCLA neurologists discovered a gene that helps neurons regenerate, and developed a drug that mimics this gene to help people recover after a stroke. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/s... 🧪

UCLA biologists have discovered that genes linked to some autoimmune diseases are also linked to #mRNA stability. This matters because if mRNA degrades before it can deliver protein-making instructions, enough protein might not get made. There may be a connection to disease risk. ucla.in/4noFIOU 🧪

🧪

A poignant plea from @allard-lab-ucla.bsky.social: The attacks on science and research are multi-pronged and incessant. Yet it is difficult to understand why something as essential as health research has stopped receiving bipartisan support. bit.ly/3HPVWS1 🧪

A new #UCLA study shows how African elephant poop helps ebony trees grow, the slow-growing source of wood used for guitars and pianos 🎸 In areas where elephants are poached, researchers found nearly 70% fewer ebony saplings. ucla.in/47NATtO

“I can’t tell you the number of people who are getting aggressive inquiries, many from out of the country,” Professor Tracy Johnson, UCLA’s dean of Life Sciences, told What A Day. “What we’re looking at is the potential for a serious brain drain.” 🧪

"Though data sources are being erased, the transgender population will not be. And yet it will likely be at least a decade before we can publish updated figures on the estimated number of people in the US who identify as transgender." - Jody Herman and @aflor017.github.io for @theconversation.com

The Orphan Kitten Project, nonprofit run by @ucdavisvetmed students, has rescued and rehabilitated neonatal kittens since 1988. https://bit.ly/4mUbqTO

Meet Joseph Curti, a #UCLA #bat scientist. 11 of California's 25 bat 🦇 species have been detected in the Santa Monica Mountains. By controlling insect 🦟populations, dispersing seeds 🌱and pollinating plants 🌺, #bats provide ecosystem services that humans depend on more than we realize. 🧪

Republican and Democratic voters share common ground when it comes to the University of California: Both sides express widespread support for UC, its research, medical centers and ability to elevate the lives of students, a statewide poll shows. (via @latimes) https://lat.ms/3JD8T1Z

NEW: As the Trump GOP higher ed agenda of funding cuts and fines weighs down on University of California, a new poll finds common ground among California Republicans and Democrats: 75% of Republicans have positive views of UC health centers and 58% favor UC research: www.latimes.com/california/s...

FUCK YEAH SCIENCE arstechnica.com/science/2025...

Mind-blowing UCLA research shows that ebony trees used in guitar frets, piano keys, and other musical instruments depends on elephants. Specifically: Elephant dung.💩Beautiful article by my colleague @ahewitt.bsky.social also shows importance of continued federal funding. ucla.in/4lPSGUD 🧪

UCLA ornithologist @mwtingley.bsky.social took @brookejarvis.bsky.social to see how #birds, #wildlife, and #plants are recovering from the #PalisadesFire. What she wrote is a tour de force about fire ecology and resilience. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/m... 🧪

Millions of people receive drugs and therapies developed in Bruin labs. Here's 8 major cancer-fighting drugs that started at UCLA 👇 https://bit.ly/41od5sF #SpeakUp4Science #StandUpForUC

“I find that this administration in particular has been extremely radical with how it is changing the scientific ecosystem in a way that even the first Trump administration was not. This is not normal, and I think a lot of people don’t see the damage that is being done.” bit.ly/3JxOv2b 🧪

Human ovaries contain a lifetime supply of eggs at birth. Scientists finally have a complete map of how this ovarian reserve forms in primates, which will help them improve treatments for infertility and hormonal disorders. ucla.in/41pjSCp 🧪

UCLA geographers have learned that kelp in marine protected areas bounces back more quickly from marine heatwaves. The reason? Fish that eat kelp grazers help kelp re-establish itself after a die off. ucla.in/4fRcC8a 🧪

UCLA research shows that cells use a secret weapon to starve pathogens and weaken infections. Cells detect proteins produced by invading T. gondii and ramp up mitochondrial metabolism. This uses up so much folate that the parasite cannot grow properly. ucla.in/4fU2YS7 🧪

Suspended funding just made the Loneliness Epidemic a little harder to end. UCLA psychologist Jaimie Krems explains why. www.youtube.com/shorts/TW8dN... 🧪