Alison Hewitt
@ahewitt.bsky.social
UCLA media rep for experts on climate, environment, and humanities; former L.A. journo, lifelong Californian, mom of a parkour kid. Email: http://ucla.in/2SFXReU | newsroom.ucla.edu
Reposted by Alison Hewitt
UCLA launches the STOP Methane Project with Top 25 Plumes in ’25 lists of methane super-polluters. @uclalawemmett.bsky.social
legal-planet.org/2025/11/17/p...
legal-planet.org/2025/11/17/p...
Pointing a Finger at Methane - Legal Planet
At COP30 in Brazil, UCLA launches the STOP Methane Project with Top 25 in '25 lists of methane super-polluters.
legal-planet.org
November 17, 2025 at 7:02 PM
UCLA launches the STOP Methane Project with Top 25 Plumes in ’25 lists of methane super-polluters. @uclalawemmett.bsky.social
legal-planet.org/2025/11/17/p...
legal-planet.org/2025/11/17/p...
New climate-change side effect: People clash more with wildlife in drought years, says UCLA & UCDavis ecologist @kendallcalhoun.bsky.social. For each inch decrease in annual rainfall, the UCLA study finds a 2-3% jump in conflicts with pumas, bobcats, bears & coyotes newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/cli...
How climate change brings wildlife to the yard
A new UCLA study finds people clash more with wildlife in drought years.
newsroom.ucla.edu
November 13, 2025 at 11:17 PM
New climate-change side effect: People clash more with wildlife in drought years, says UCLA & UCDavis ecologist @kendallcalhoun.bsky.social. For each inch decrease in annual rainfall, the UCLA study finds a 2-3% jump in conflicts with pumas, bobcats, bears & coyotes newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/cli...
Reposted by Alison Hewitt
Our new study just came out taking a look at how drought influences human-wildlife conflict reports in California! Check it out here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
November 12, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Our new study just came out taking a look at how drought influences human-wildlife conflict reports in California! Check it out here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Alison Hewitt
“What made the January 2025 fires so destructive wasn’t the ignition alone, but the fact that vegetation had been dried far beyond normal by unusually high summer temperatures," says my @uclasustainablela.bsky.social colleague Alex Hall, who helped perform a rapid analysis in January. Good reminder.
October 14, 2025 at 2:59 PM
“What made the January 2025 fires so destructive wasn’t the ignition alone, but the fact that vegetation had been dried far beyond normal by unusually high summer temperatures," says my @uclasustainablela.bsky.social colleague Alex Hall, who helped perform a rapid analysis in January. Good reminder.
Reposted by Alison Hewitt
Arson alone does not explain the Palisades Fire. But you wouldn't have known it from the media coverage last week. This week at the Drain: legal-planet.org/2025/10/14/d...
Arson Alone Does Not Explain the Palisades Fire - Legal Planet
People often start fires, but that's just the spark. The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
legal-planet.org
October 14, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Arson alone does not explain the Palisades Fire. But you wouldn't have known it from the media coverage last week. This week at the Drain: legal-planet.org/2025/10/14/d...
Reposted by Alison Hewitt
Skeptical about the growing field of Space Law? Our Jim Salzman says satellites pollute in more ways than you think. That's why he, an environmental law professor, is teaching Space Law for the first time this year. legal-planet.org/2025/10/13/w...
The Dark and Quiet Skies Campaign - Legal Planet
What is Space Law? And what does it have to do with environmental law? Satellites pollute in more ways than you think.
legal-planet.org
October 13, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Skeptical about the growing field of Space Law? Our Jim Salzman says satellites pollute in more ways than you think. That's why he, an environmental law professor, is teaching Space Law for the first time this year. legal-planet.org/2025/10/13/w...
Reposted by Alison Hewitt
I have an op-ed in the LA Times today criticizing Trump's war on renewable energy. The US is shooting itself in the foot and ceding the next generation of key technologies to other countries like China. www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Contributor: Even Saudi Arabia is focused on solar energy. Will the U.S. be left behind?
The rise of China as the world's clean-energy superpower and the ambitions of oil-rich Middle East countries show that the U.S. is thinking small.
www.latimes.com
October 8, 2025 at 4:28 PM
I have an op-ed in the LA Times today criticizing Trump's war on renewable energy. The US is shooting itself in the foot and ceding the next generation of key technologies to other countries like China. www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Reposted by Alison Hewitt
@edithdeguzman.bsky.social’s research shows that shade can reduce up to 25% of heat-related deaths and reduce ER visits by up to 66% in LA. Her Roots of Cool art exhibit makes this data visible, highlighting who has shade and who doesn’t.
apnews.com/article/heat... #UCLA #UCLALuskin @ucanr.edu
apnews.com/article/heat... #UCLA #UCLALuskin @ucanr.edu
Across the US, cities combine art, shade and education to help people beat the heat
Cities across the U.S. are combining art with shade to shield people from rising temperatures and educate them about our warming world.
apnews.com
September 30, 2025 at 4:29 PM
@edithdeguzman.bsky.social’s research shows that shade can reduce up to 25% of heat-related deaths and reduce ER visits by up to 66% in LA. Her Roots of Cool art exhibit makes this data visible, highlighting who has shade and who doesn’t.
apnews.com/article/heat... #UCLA #UCLALuskin @ucanr.edu
apnews.com/article/heat... #UCLA #UCLALuskin @ucanr.edu
Reposted by Alison Hewitt
If you want to talk about @luskininnovation.bsky.social's new Water Atlas, join our webinar on October 7, from 12-1 PM.
You'll hear from me & @edithdeguzman.bsky.social, but also from Itzel Vasquez-Rodriguez, Michael Rincon & Max Gomberg.
Register ⬇️
innovation.luskin.ucla.edu/event/how-do...
You'll hear from me & @edithdeguzman.bsky.social, but also from Itzel Vasquez-Rodriguez, Michael Rincon & Max Gomberg.
Register ⬇️
innovation.luskin.ucla.edu/event/how-do...
How do SoCal’s Water Systems Compare? A Webinar and Demo on UCLA’s New Community Water Atlas for Six SoCal Counties | UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation
Join us for a webinar and live demonstration introducing UCLA’s newly launched 2025 Southern California Community Water Systems Atlas.
innovation.luskin.ucla.edu
September 16, 2025 at 9:29 PM
If you want to talk about @luskininnovation.bsky.social's new Water Atlas, join our webinar on October 7, from 12-1 PM.
You'll hear from me & @edithdeguzman.bsky.social, but also from Itzel Vasquez-Rodriguez, Michael Rincon & Max Gomberg.
Register ⬇️
innovation.luskin.ucla.edu/event/how-do...
You'll hear from me & @edithdeguzman.bsky.social, but also from Itzel Vasquez-Rodriguez, Michael Rincon & Max Gomberg.
Register ⬇️
innovation.luskin.ucla.edu/event/how-do...
Reposted by Alison Hewitt
Going on more than six weeks without $500 million in federal research grants cut under Trump, UCLA faculty and students took their cases public this week in the "Science Fair for Suspended Research" -- including demonstrations with preserved human brains: www.latimes.com/california/s...
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.
www.latimes.com
September 12, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Going on more than six weeks without $500 million in federal research grants cut under Trump, UCLA faculty and students took their cases public this week in the "Science Fair for Suspended Research" -- including demonstrations with preserved human brains: www.latimes.com/california/s...
Reposted by Alison Hewitt
“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. 🧪
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.
www.latimes.com
September 12, 2025 at 7:40 PM
“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. 🧪
Reposted by Alison Hewitt
What happens now that Trump has proposed to revoke the “endangerment finding”? Join us for this 9/29 webinar to find out and weigh in. Whether you're a journalist, fellow researcher, or law student, come ask a question.
ucla.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
ucla.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
September 9, 2025 at 8:28 PM
What happens now that Trump has proposed to revoke the “endangerment finding”? Join us for this 9/29 webinar to find out and weigh in. Whether you're a journalist, fellow researcher, or law student, come ask a question.
ucla.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
ucla.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Reposted by Alison Hewitt
#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 🧪
September 10, 2025 at 3:30 PM
#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 🧪
"People who support all the positive aspects of America have to speak out and fight for them now … There was bipartisan support to keep certain things in the U.S. running as they have been more or less for the past 70 years because the system worked. That’s not a safe assumption anymore."
Terry Tao, the world’s greatest living mathematician, avoided politics. Then Trump cut science funding.
Tao on math, funding and why America has been such a special place to do research. 🎁 link: wapo.st/47r7Ig1
Tao on math, funding and why America has been such a special place to do research. 🎁 link: wapo.st/47r7Ig1
The world’s greatest mathematician avoided politics. Then Trump cut science funding.
Terence Tao, a renowned mathematician at UCLA, faced funding challenges after the Trump administration froze federal research funds.
wapo.st
September 8, 2025 at 3:55 PM
"People who support all the positive aspects of America have to speak out and fight for them now … There was bipartisan support to keep certain things in the U.S. running as they have been more or less for the past 70 years because the system worked. That’s not a safe assumption anymore."
Reposted by Alison Hewitt
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 🧪
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.
bit.ly
September 3, 2025 at 4:30 PM
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 🧪
UCLA research finds elephants "plant" ebony trees in the Congo rainforest, as explained in this NPR short: www.youtube.com/shorts/IIOvA...
Learn more: newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ele...
Learn more: newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ele...
www.youtube.com
September 2, 2025 at 9:40 PM
UCLA research finds elephants "plant" ebony trees in the Congo rainforest, as explained in this NPR short: www.youtube.com/shorts/IIOvA...
Learn more: newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ele...
Learn more: newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ele...
Reposted by Alison Hewitt
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
ucla.in/47NATtO
August 28, 2025 at 8:01 PM
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
ucla.in/47NATtO
Reposted by Alison Hewitt
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. 🧪
August 28, 2025 at 5:07 PM
A great "ebony and ivory" story about UCLA and Indigenous researchers discovering how endangered elephants "plant" threatened ebony-tree seeds. The loss of elephants threatens the rainforest, ebony ... and ebony-crafted guitars. www.npr.org/2025/08/27/n...
Why African elephant poop is so important to this American guitar company
A new study shows how African elephant poop helps make American-made guitars -- and how poaching of elephants is contributing to a decrease in ebony trees.
www.npr.org
August 28, 2025 at 12:09 AM
A great "ebony and ivory" story about UCLA and Indigenous researchers discovering how endangered elephants "plant" threatened ebony-tree seeds. The loss of elephants threatens the rainforest, ebony ... and ebony-crafted guitars. www.npr.org/2025/08/27/n...
Reposted by Alison Hewitt
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 🧪
August 27, 2025 at 8:55 PM
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 🧪
Reposted by Alison Hewitt
A new documentary “Clearing the Air: The War on Smog” tells the extraordinary story of how LA confronted smog. It premieres on PBS this Tuesday. #ClearingTheAirPBS
legal-planet.org/2025/08/25/w...
legal-planet.org/2025/08/25/w...
Watch "Clearing the Air: The War on Smog" - Legal Planet
The American Experience's "Clearing the Air: The War on Smog" tells an extraordinary story. It premieres on PBS this Tuesday.
legal-planet.org
August 25, 2025 at 3:53 PM
A new documentary “Clearing the Air: The War on Smog” tells the extraordinary story of how LA confronted smog. It premieres on PBS this Tuesday. #ClearingTheAirPBS
legal-planet.org/2025/08/25/w...
legal-planet.org/2025/08/25/w...
Reposted by Alison Hewitt
Our Ann Carlson wrote her forthcoming book, "Smog and Sunshine: The Surprising Story of How Los Angeles Cleaned Up Its Air," to dispel the many myths about LA air pollution. She helps narrate this new documentary airing Tue 8/26 on
@pbs.org #ClearingTheAirPBS legal-planet.org/2025/08/25/w...
@pbs.org #ClearingTheAirPBS legal-planet.org/2025/08/25/w...
Watch "Clearing the Air: The War on Smog" - Legal Planet
The American Experience's "Clearing the Air: The War on Smog" tells an extraordinary story. It premieres on PBS this Tuesday.
legal-planet.org
August 25, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Our Ann Carlson wrote her forthcoming book, "Smog and Sunshine: The Surprising Story of How Los Angeles Cleaned Up Its Air," to dispel the many myths about LA air pollution. She helps narrate this new documentary airing Tue 8/26 on
@pbs.org #ClearingTheAirPBS legal-planet.org/2025/08/25/w...
@pbs.org #ClearingTheAirPBS legal-planet.org/2025/08/25/w...
Reposted by Alison Hewitt
Professor Aradhna Tripati and DGSOM's Monique Trinh spoke with the What a Day podcast about the wide-ranging impacts of the recent research suspensions and cuts crooked.com/podcast/what...
What It’s Like To Have Trump Hold Your Science Research Hostage | Crooked Media
crooked.com
August 18, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Professor Aradhna Tripati and DGSOM's Monique Trinh spoke with the What a Day podcast about the wide-ranging impacts of the recent research suspensions and cuts crooked.com/podcast/what...
Reposted by Alison Hewitt
Terence Tao: None of this might have happened without support for theoretical research and collaboration across disciplines, the kind that agencies like NSF have traditionally funded—and that the private sector won’t sustain on its own, because the work is too risky and open-ended. 🧪
He’s the ‘Mozart’ of Math and Trump Killed His Funding
The latest casualty in the administration’s assault on higher education is a legendary researcher who embodies the best of America.
www.thebulwark.com
August 6, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Terence Tao: None of this might have happened without support for theoretical research and collaboration across disciplines, the kind that agencies like NSF have traditionally funded—and that the private sector won’t sustain on its own, because the work is too risky and open-ended. 🧪
Reposted by Alison Hewitt
Are you curious? It might help you stay sharp as you age
New research shows questions you ask and interest in lifelong learning might protect against Alzheimer’s disease newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/bra... 🧪
New research shows questions you ask and interest in lifelong learning might protect against Alzheimer’s disease newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/bra... 🧪
August 6, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Are you curious? It might help you stay sharp as you age
New research shows questions you ask and interest in lifelong learning might protect against Alzheimer’s disease newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/bra... 🧪
New research shows questions you ask and interest in lifelong learning might protect against Alzheimer’s disease newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/bra... 🧪