Holly Ober

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...

A deep fissure in a Myanmar road that was caused by a 2025 supershear earthquake. Photo credit: Kofoehtet/Wikimedia Commons

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 🧪

No One Actually Knows What a Moon Is The universe has quasi-moons, mini-moons, and moonlets, but no official definition of what counts as a moon.

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." 🧪

Two teens watch television, with popcorn in a jar ready to be eaten.

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...

LA scientist working to debunk myths surrounding bats with educational tours Joy Benedict speaks with the local scientist working to debunk the myths surrounding bats by giving educational tours in Los Angeles.

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... 🧪

Top researchers consider leaving U.S. amid funding cuts: 'The science world is ending' A poll from the journal Nature found that 75% of researchers in the U.S. are considering leaving the country. That includes a man who’s been dubbed the "Mozart of Math." Stephanie Sy examines what’s b...

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. 🧪

Reconstructed image of the compact, fast-rotating asymmetric disc around β CMi. The white scale bar at the bottom right marks 1 milliarcsecond — equivalent to a 6 feet scale at the distance of the moon. credit: Yoo Jung Kim/UCLA

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 🧪

Biocatalytic, asymmetric radical hydrogenation of unactivated alkenes Alkene hydrogenation is a cornerstone of chemical synthesis, yet enzymatic strategies remain limited to electron deficient substrates via hydride transfer. Using heme enzymes, we unlock a hydrogenatio...

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 grid collage of 6 children who have healthy immune systems now thanks to a gene therapy developed at UCLA and UCL,

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 🧪

Nobel Tote Board: University of California 5, Trump 0 UC Berkeley and other campuses win Nobel honors, despite a president who seems to loathe them.

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

Image of Omar Yaghi, smiling and wearing a black tie, sitting in an office with books behind him. The text on a blue gradient background reads, 'Winner: 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Congratulations to Omar Yaghi, UC Berkeley professor and former professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UCLA.'

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 Nobel laureates Nearly a quarter of the women who have received Nobel Prizes in science have ties to UC.

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

Two arrow signs above one another. The top arrow points left and says One Way. The bottom arrow points right and says Or Another. Credit: Sophia Kunkel / Unsplash

#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 🧪

Trump slashed funding for universities that helped create these vital drugs Medications that prevent HIV, shrink tumors and treat seizures were invented with government funding. At research universities, that money is now canceled or in jeopardy.

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. 🧪

A heart model made by BruceBlaus on Wikimedia Commons

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 🧪

How the US became a science superpower America's leadership "isn't some fixed, unchanging feature of the scientific landscape," says one UC historian.

"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." 🧪

The internet is the greatest single scientific innovation of the 20th century Brought to you by NSF

NSF Funds Supercomputing Facilities Bringing You: Weather Forecasts Heat Advisories

NSF and NASA Maintain GPS Satelites Bringing You: Navigation Apps

NSF Funds Supercomputing Facilities Bringing You: Surf Forecasts Severe Weather Alerts

❤️❤️❤️ 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? 🧪

Yes, that’s a human brain on a cafeteria tray. UCLA fair shows off science cuts under Trump UCLA's researchers go low-tech to plead their case to the public with poster boards and props. The Trump administration has suspended more than $500 million in research grants to the university.

“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. 🧪

YouTube video by UCLA Terence Tao: Research Powers Progress

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 🧪

Caught in a Political Fight, UCLA Professors Grapple With Uncertainties Large and Small Rank-and file academics across the UCLA campus find their work in the line of fire of a larger political battle with the Trump administration.

“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 🧪

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A Pill to Heal the Brain Could Revolutionize Neuroscience

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... 🧪

Illustration of DNA double helix

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 🧪

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Frozen Grants, Canceled Futures: The Human Toll of UCLA’s Research Suspension A frozen grant is more than halted experiments and lost data; it is a career derailed for many of the trainees dependent on this research support.

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

What A Day: Xi Blinded Me With Science China and other countries are trying to take advantage of Donald Trump’s crusade against UCLA.

“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.” 🧪

We’ve been tracking the number of Americans who identify as transgender – soon, there will be no reliable way to measure them The federal government has erased gender identity questions from federal surveys. Researchers say it will cost them at least a decade’s worth of data.

"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