In her Op-ed, Human Biology and Society student, Lovelyn Saini, discussed the daunting grading system for STEM majors, the limited data on departmental differences in grading and the need for an innovative grading system from which students can benefit and develop a positive experience in their education. “This curving system creates a…

Mental health is of utmost importance in academia, especially given one’s cumulative experiences and history. Coming from a unique background, Human Biology and Society student, Joseph Nguyen, brings to light the importance of mental health as he highlights the effects of intergenerational trauma within the Southeast Asian American community. “I discovered in…

ISG would like to congratulate and commend its very own Human Biology and Society student, Nicolas Cevallo, for sharing his experience of microaggression challenges with the UCLA community as a student of color. Cevallos’s perspective serves as call for awareness, advocacy and acknowledgment of many students who share in similar challenges in…

Learning to analyze fact and fiction can be insightful and fun in the classroom, and all it takes is an innovative approach and creative tools. For ISG Professor Shane Campbell-Staton, his tools are comic books. In his winter quarter course “Biology of Superheroes”, Campbell-Staton challenges his students to develop their perspective on…

  Image by Florida State University Written by Christopher Kelty, ISG Professor and Alexandra Lippman, ISG Postdoctoral Fellow for Nature Index The commercialization of open access research in the US has sparked discussion among ISG Professor, Christopher Kelty, and ISG Postdoctoral Fellow, Alexandra Lippman. In their recent article “In…

UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics would like to congratulate its very own faculty member, Dr. Wayne Grody for being awarded this year as a 2018 fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS).  Dr. Grody is a Professor of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine; Pediatrics; and Human Genetics at the…

On Wednesday, November 28, 2018, the Biotechnology and Society Freshman Cluster course hosted Dr. Josiah Zayner as part of its DIY Biology Lecture series (co-hosted by the Institute for Society and Genetics and the UCLA Cluster Program). Dr. Zayner shared his insights on biohacking, human genome editing, and public participation in science…

Image by Yathin S Krishnappa Written by Dina Fine Maron for National Geographic. [Excerpt] “Their goal is to uncover more information about how these animals move, eat, and what their genomes look like. Long hopes to detail how elephants without the benefit of tusks as tools may alter…

Written by Mary Emily O’Hara for intomore.com [Excerpt]: “In plain English, the federal government is proposing reclassifying transgender people’s legal sex back to the sex assigned at birth. And if that sex at birth was listed wrong or left unclear, the government wants to put people through genetic testing to ensure a…

Illustration: Angelica Alzona Written by Hudson Hongo for io9.com [Excerpt]: “Venom—Sony’s recently released tale of the world’s worst journalist and his head-chomping pet alien parasite—poses a number of interesting questions, such as “Is this movie bad or perfect dumb fun?” “Where do the heads go when Venom eats…

“UCLA International Institute, August 9, 2018 — The Global Health Program of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) holds an annual poster competition open to undergraduate and graduate students of its member universities. Posters can be on any global health topic, but must represent original research. Winning entries are presented at the annual APRU Global Health…

Image credit, Esther Aarts Excerpt from article: …”And look at climate change: In 2014, unusually low temperatures in southern Texas, brought about by a countrywide polar vortex, killed green anole lizards that lacked genes for “cold hardiness,” explains Shane Campbell-Staton, the UCLA biologist who documented the die-off. The…