PC Magazine
Are you ready for office buildings with Alexa-like personalities?
Burcin Becerik-Gerber, who came to USC a decade ago to research and create the future of interactive environments, wants to make buildings smarter and more efficient.
U.S. News & World Report
Can fasting improve chemotherapy’s effects?
USC’s Valter Longo says the basic concept behind fasting as cancer treatment is one of biological self-preservation.
The New York Times
How California turned into a State of Resistance
In his new book, USC’s Manuel Pastor chronicles the state’s dizzying descent and remarkable resurgence that make it the envy of most other states.
Good Morning America
Inside the VR therapy designed to help sexual assault survivors heal by facing attackers
Albert “Skip” Rizzo and his USC team of researchers, who have been using VR exposure therapy to treat veterans with PTSD for years, are working on a VR therapy program aimed at helping victims of sexual assault in the military.
Voice of America
Training surgeons to perform robotic surgery
Recognizing that the proficiency of the surgeons who use a robotic surgical system can be subjective, a group of surgeons at Keck Medicine of USC is developing a system for more objective evaluation.
Angelus News
Twin, teacher and Trojan: Meet L.A.’s newest auxiliary bishop
Monsignor Marc Trudeau may not come with the average bishop’s resume, but that may be why Pope Francis chose him. He joins five other active auxiliary bishops in assisting Archbishop José H. Gomez with the spiritual care of the nation’s largest archdiocese.
Nature
Booze-busting nanopills help the liver
USC’s Cheng Ji and colleagues devised two miniature capsules that deliver enzymes and quickly cut blood-alcohol levels. The pills could reduce liver damage caused by alcohol.
PC Magazine
Killer robots, be gone! USC scientist’s androids come in peace
USC’s Maja Matarić thinks robots can help us understand and help people, and she’s producing androids that will do just that.
Columbia Journalism Review
Facebook, facts and the problem with ‘a marketplace of ideas’
USC Annenberg’s Mike Ananny interviewed members of one of Facebook’s most scrutinized projects: A fact-checking team made up of employees from six different newsrooms, assigned with identifying and debunking false or misleading stories on the social platform.
The Day
Equity report: Black Coast Guard cadets more likely than peers to face inequalities
The report by USC’s Center for Urban Education follows a yearlong process of examining academy data, disaggregated by race, ethnicity and gender, with a focus on equity.
CNN
USC football player: ‘OK, I’m blind … Now let’s deal with it’
“I think that sports have given me a platform … so I could prove myself to others,” says Jake Olson, who took part in his first regulation college game in September.
Los Angeles Magazine
How CHLA is using virtual reality to prepare staff for high-stress scenarios
The simulation debuted at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles in 2016 and marks the first time VR has been used to train doctors in pediatric medical resuscitation.
Los Angeles Times
In memoriam: Bonnie Reiss, director of the USC Schwarzenegger Institute, 62
A regent for the University of California, the lifelong Democrat was a key adviser to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and later served as California’s education secretary.
The Christian Science Monitor
Ivy degree – now what? Low-income grads struggle with careers, status
USC Marshall’s Sarah Townsend and colleagues interviewed 30 first-generation MBA students about the college-to-work transition. They found that low-income first gen graduates experience familiar economic, social and cultural barriers when they get to work.
Los Angeles Review of Books
Popular feminism: ‘We need a lasting, structural feminist rage’
USC Annenberg’s Sarah Banet-Weiser argues for the need to translate the rage and frustration felt from the #MeToo movement into structural changes for society. “We need … to be a kind of army,” she writes.
Time
Google has a striking history of bias against black girls
USC’s Safiya Umoja Noble describes systemic racism built into internet search algorithms.
Los Angeles Daily News
Can the pupils of your eyes control the lights in your office? USC professor says yes
Joon-Ho Choi’s work connects indoor climate controls with physiological data. His work is being watched closely by manufacturing giants as a way to advance high-tech home and office indoor climate systems.
Scientific American
How Twitter bots help fuel political feuds
Ahead of Catalonia’s referendum on independence from Spain last year, USC’s Emilio Ferrara found, bots appeared en masse to harass those favoring the move.
The Washington Post
‘Peanut butter cup’ vape: Is this dessert or an e-cigarette?
USC’s Adam Leventhal and Jessica Barrington-Trimis note that during the past 10 years e-cigarettes, hookah pipes and small cigars have made dramatic sales gains, especially among younger consumers.
Inside Higher Ed
Why the nation’s colleges and universities should revisit creating racially, ethnically diverse faculties
USC’s Estela Mara Bensimon argues that there are many educational benefits for students if they have professors who come from underrepresented backgrounds.
Los Angeles Times
USC meet brings together the five women coaching major men’s and women’s track programs
Among 60 Power Five track and field programs, five have women in charge of the men’s and women’s squads. Those teams — Miami, Mississippi, Ohio State, Tennessee and USC — gather this weekend for the first Power 5 Trailblazer Challenge.
U.S. News & World Report
Depression could be risk factor for irregular heart rhythm linked to stroke, heart failure
A person’s risk of atrial fibrillation increased by about a third if they either reported symptoms of depression or had been prescribed antidepressants, according to Parveen Garg of the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
Futurism
AI helps scientists discover new viruses — here’s why that matters
USC’s Jie Ren used machine learning to analyze what viruses were more common in patients with liver cirrhosis compared to healthy people. Ren’s algorithm inspired other researchers to investigate how viruses might influence other diseases.
Variety
Appellate court, meeting at USC, hears arguments in Olivia de Havilland’s Feud lawsuit
The hearing at the USC Gould School of Law is part of a program in which, once a year, the appeals court holds hearings at the University Park Campus in front of first-year law students.