Wolves Are Wolf-Coyote Hybrids

The Boston Globe reported on genetic research by Robert Wayne, UCLA professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, and colleagues indicating that wolves in the eastern U.S. are hybrids of gray wolves and coyotes and that eastern coyotes are wolf-coyote-dog hybrids.

The healing power of hydrogen peroxide

Alvaro Sagasti, UCLA Professor of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, and UCLA postdoctoral scholar Sandra Rieger found that hydrogen peroxide, which is found in high concentrations in wounds, promotes the regeneration of sensory fibers in healing skin.

Electrode Experiment Shows Promise as a Paralyzed Man Stands

V. Reggie Edgerton, UCLA Professor of Integrative Biology and Physiology, and Susan Harkema of the University of Louisville in Kentucky, describe a new electrode experiment that helped a paralyzed man take steps on a treadmill, and regain other key functions. These studies may provide good hope for the quarter of a million Americans who are currently living with spinal cord injuries.

Species extinction rates may be overestimated

Stephen Hubbell, UCLA distinguished professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, is co-author on a new study published May 19 in the journal Nature. The study found that methods most widely used for calculating species extinction rates are “fundamentally flawed” and overestimate extinction rates by as much as 160 percent.

How to tell when someone’s lying

UCLA professor of psychology R. Edward Geiselman and three former UCLA undergraduates have analyzed some 60 studies on detecting deception and conducted original research on the subject. They present their findings and their guidance for how to conduct effective training programs for detecting deception to help law enforcement agencies tell truth from lies.

Six UCLA stem cell scientists awarded more than $8 million in state grants

Six scientists with the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA were awarded more than $8 million in grants from California’s state stem cell agency on May 3 to investigate basic mechanisms underlying stem cell biology and differentiation. Shuo Lin ($1,382,400) Professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology in the UCLA Division of Life Sciences; and William Lowry ($1,354,230)Assistant professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology in the UCLA Division of Life Sciences