Sept. 2 - New rules for radicals; deep brain stimulation
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Planters form an array inside a circle at the College of Health Sciences. Photo by Ian Parker
UCI ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NEWS
No UCI Digest on Monday
In honor of Labor Day, UCI Digest will not publish on Monday. Stay safe in the heat, enjoy the long weekend, and we’ll see you Tuesday.
Friendly holiday reminder
If you travel or attend a large gathering during Labor Day weekend, please remember to take a quick home test beforehand and for the next three days.
Excessive heat advisory this weekend
An Excessive Heat Advisory will be in effect from Saturday through Monday as outdoor temperatures are forecast to be in the low to mid-90s in Irvine. UCI has established cooling centers on campus that will be open throughout the holiday weekend.
UCI sociologist David S. Meyer plumbs the annals of anti-war and anti-nuke history for lessons relevant to today’s activists.
History of peace and anti-nuke movements subject of new study
Strategies employed by the anti-war and anti-nuclear energy movements of the past several decades are the focus of a new research project by UCI sociologist David S. Meyer. Thanks to a $200,000 grant from the Carnegie Corp. of New York, Meyer will organize scholars with critical expertise on past social movements to help create an organizational, advocacy and tactical toolkit that today’s activists may use to influence policies on peace. In coordination with the Jack W. Peltason Center for the Study of Democracy, the project includes a spring 2024 conference in Irvine and will result in a book that will aid activists on the front lines of peace and security.
UCI language and cognitive scientist Gregory Hickok will study how deep brain stimulation therapy in patients with Parkinson’s disease impacts language function.
Parkinson’s disease and deep brain stimulation
Gregory Hickok, UCI professor and chair of language science and professor of cognitive sciences, is teaming up with researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina to better understand possible language-related consequences of deep brain stimulation. One of the methods used to treat Parkinson’s disease, the therapy uses thin metal wires to send electrical pulses to the brain. Funded by a $57,650 sub-award from the National Institutes of Health, Hickok will help design and deploy neuropsychological and neural connectivity testing methods and perform quantitative analysis to understand how DBS impacts language production.
UC NEWS AND GENERAL NEWS
Is this heatwave California’s worst ever?
On Wednesday, states from California to Montana experienced record highs, while in Southern California, Burbank and Anaheim hit their highest temperatures for the month of August as the mercury soared to 112 and 106, respectively. Although daily highs dipped yesterday, this weekend they’re going back up, and Death Valley, which reached 123 degrees on Wednesday, may hit a high of 126 degrees, tying the global record for September.
UCI IN THE NEWS
Note: Some news sites require subscriptions to read articles. The UCI Libraries offer free subscriptions to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Orange County Register and The Washington Post for students, faculty and staff.
100 in the truck, 120 on the roof: How workers are coping with California’s heat wave
Los Angeles Times, Sept. 2
Cited: Michael Méndez, assistant professor of urban planning and public policy
A treasure hunt for microbes in Chile’s Atacama desert
Knowable Magazine, Aug. 26
Cited: David Kisailus, professor of materials science and engineering
COVID-19 AMA: US Approves Updated COVID Boosters That Target Newer Subvariants
KPCC – Air Talk (audio), Sept. 1
Guest: Shruti Gohil, assistant professor of medicine
#UCICONNECTED
A beloved flutist bids farewell
Susan Turner, a professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society, joined the UCI faculty in 2005. Five years later, she won the Distinguished Scholar Award from the American Society of Criminology, with her master’s program in criminology, law and society named the best online criminal justice master’s program by U.S. News & World Report for the past three years. Turner continues to teach at UCI, but after 17 years playing flute in the university’s orchestra, she finally retired her seat on July 1, the same day her partner, Stephen Tucker, hung up his baton after 22 years as the orchestra’s music director. But Turner isn’t done with music just yet; she plans to continue to play in local ensembles. Brava!
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