Verbatim — tater tots, drones and the sexual health of male cyclists

UCLA staff and faculty members are quoted every day in the national media on a wide range of topical subjects. Here is a recent selection.

“Genetics only determines the future for about a third of us. If we learn to eat right, exercise and manage stress right now, it will help us so much in the future. It could even increase your life expectancy.”

— Dr. Gary Small, UCLA's Parlow–Solomon Professor on Aging and a professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, in a May 22 Orange County Register Q&A about his book, "The Alzheimer's Prevention Program." 

"All these speakers must decide: Out of the thousands of possible items that could be included, which to include, and how to arrange those that are included?” 

— Eugene Volokh, the Gary T. Schwartz Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law, in a May 20 New York Times article arguing that Google and other search engines have the First Amendment right to make editorial judgments about what appears in their search results.


“Nobody has died because the Tater Tots are gone.” 

— Dr. David Feinberg, CEO of the UCLA Hospital System and associate vice chancellor for health sciences, in a May 24 New York Times story that highlights efforts by the UCLA Health System to sharply cut patient healthcare costs by 30 percent.


“Drones can be misused. … However, we shouldn't lose sight of the bigger picture: The domestic use of drones will provide a long list of benefits.”

— John Villasenor, professor of electrical engineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, in a May 23 Huffington Post op-ed he co-authored, debunking misconceptions about drones or other unmanned aerial vehicles.


"Today's surgeons almost always know in advance where they're going and what they're going to find."

— Dr. Barbara Kadell, clinical professor and vice chair of radiological sciences at the Geffen School, commenting in a May 23 Los Angeles Daily News piece about the shift in modern radiology.


“We are not really saying people need a million dollars. The main point is that people will be surprised at how little one million dollars will buy them.” 

— Shlomo Benartzi, professor of accounting at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, commenting in a May 23 Allianz interview about his book, “Save More Tomorrow,” which discusses how changing demographics affect pension plans.


“These findings warrant further investigation to determine if specific types of exercise may be associated with altered sex hormone levels in men that could affect general health and reproductive well-being."

— Leah FitzGerald, assistant professor at the UCLA School of Nursing, in a May 22 article from the Daily Mail (U.K.) about a nursing school study that found that avid male cyclists had heightened levels of both testosterone and estrogen in their blood.