We doubt the critics, reject the status quo and see opportunity in dissatisfaction. Our campus, faculty and students are driven by optimism. It is not naïve; it is essential. And it has fueled every accomplishment, allowing us to redefine what’s possible, time after time.
We don’t know much about the origins of most human achievements – scientific and otherwise. Like evolution, does progress occur as random insights are selected for or against?
A homeless Vietnam vet begs for money on a Boston street in 2012.
Joseph Sohm/Shutterstock.com
Homelessness among veterans overall is on the decline. But researchers see an increasing number of homeless vets who are single mothers or supporting young families.
Between the Earth and the moon: An artist’s rendering of a refueling depot for deep-space exploration.
Sung Wha Kang (RISD)
To get us to Mars and beyond, a team of students from around the world has a plan involving lunar rovers mining ice and a space station between the Earth and the moon.
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks to law enforcement officers in St. Louis.
REUTERS/Lawrence Bryant
Nicholas Bryner, University of California, Los Angeles; Eric Biber, University of California, Berkeley; Mark Squillace, University of Colorado Boulder, and Sean B. Hecht, University of California, Los Angeles
President Trump has ordered a review of national monuments protected by his predecessors, and may try to abolish or shrink some. But four legal experts say that only Congress has that authority.
So many forms, so little time.
Brennan Linsley/AP Photo
Every moment of life on our planet has had the force of gravity in the background. But the prospect of long-distance space travel means it’s time to figure out what happens to our biology in its absence.
Border Patrol officers detaining immigrants in a field after a few local raids.
U.S. Border Patrol Museum
In 1954, US Border Patrol’s Operation Wetback promised to deport millions of undocumented Mexicans. It fell far short of its target, but made a mark in the minds of immigrants who lived in fear.
A Mexican who was recently deported from the U.S. in Tijuana, Mexico.
REUTERS/Edgard Garrido
From Chinese laborers to ‘bad hombres,’ the US settler mentality has perpetuated an immigration system that pushes out unwanted groups and bypasses the Constitution.
Both sea ice and government data are disappearing.
U.S. Geological Survey, flickr
Morgan Currie, University of California, Los Angeles and Britt S. Paris, University of California, Los Angeles
Activists today are racing to save climate records from the Trump administration. Secret archives were a powerful way to fight hostile political climates throughout history – from the Nazis to the Islamic State.
Hyperemesis gravidarum causes severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. Even though it affects up to 3 percent of pregnancies, research about its causes and treatments is sparse.
Four stories on belief: from the allure of cults and conspiracy theories, to the effect of trauma on faith, to the way dogma has influenced science – and if technology can actually shift our beliefs.
Iraqi special forces soldier advancing toward Mosul, Iraq.
AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed
Comment aller sur Mars, avec tout le matériel nécessaire, sans rester coincé dans l’espace au milieu du voyage ? Grâce à un propulseur au plasma. Mais la technologie doit encore être améliorée.
External stressors might have more to do with a low-income couple’s success.
Michael Newman
Relationship education programs are meant to strengthen low-income couples, with the idea children would benefit. But focusing on communication skills overlooks what really matters to these Americans.
As technology becomes fully integrated into our everyday lives, we may see athletes as the last vestiges of our humanity.
The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in California is closing and the state has committed to replacing it with greenhouse-free sources of electricity.
Doc Searls
Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Scholars & Storytellers and Assistant Adjunct Professor in Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles