Skip to Content

What are you looking for?

  • News and Events
  • Public Exchange
    • Current Students
    • Faculty
    • Staff
    • Faculty Directory
    • Staff Directory
  • Alumni
  • Giving
USC.edu
    • The Academy in the Public Square
      Beyond the laboratories, research centers and classrooms, USC Dornsife serves as a dynamic intellectual resource that is woven into the fabric of our communities.
    • Life in L.A.
    • Our Students
    • Our Leadership
    • Dornsife at a Glance
    • Dana and David Dornsife
    • The Future of Scholarship
      • Faculty Awards & Honors
      • News Briefs
    • Research Centers and Institutes
    • Signature Research Initiatives
      • Harnessing AI for Good
      • Emerging Areas of Scholarship
      • Quantum Information Science
      • The Art + Science of Human Wellbeing
      • Sustainability: Human Factors
      • Public Exchange
    • Facilities
    • Undergraduate Education
      • Your Dornsife Degree
      • General Education Program
      • Special Programs
      • Undergraduate Research
      • Academic Advising and Support
    • Majors and Minors
    • Academic Scholarships
    • Learning in the World
    • Preparing for Your Future
      • Career Pathways
    • PhD Studies
      • PhD Programs
      • PhD Academy
    • Master’s & Professional Studies
      • Master’s & Professional Programs
    • Undergraduate Admission
    • Graduate Admission
  • Departments, Centers, & Institutes
    • Academic Departments
      • HUMANITIES
      • American Studies and Ethnicity
      • Archaeology and Heritage Studies
      • Art History
      • Classics
      • Comparative Literature
      • East Asian Languages and Cultures
      • East Asian Studies Center
      • English
      • French and Italian
      • Gender and Sexuality Studies
      • Jewish Studies
      • Latin American and Iberian Cultures
      • Philosophy
      • Religion
      • Slavic Languages and Literatures
      • Writing Program
      • NATURAL SCIENCES
      • Biological Sciences
      • Chemistry
      • Earth Sciences
      • Environmental Studies
      • Mathematics
      • Neuroscience
      • Physics and Astronomy
      • Psychology
      • Quantitative and Computational Biology
      • SOCIAL SCIENCES
      • Anthropology
      • Economics
      • History
      • Linguistics
      • Middle East Studies
      • Political Science and International Relations
      • Sociology
      • Spatial Sciences Institute
    • Centers & Institutes
      • CULTURE & SOCIETY
      • Archaeology Research Center
      • Black Studies Center
      • Casden Institute for the Study of the Jewish Role in American Life
      • Center for Advanced Genocide Research
      • Center for Ethnographic Media Arts
      • Center for Feminist Research
      • Center for Islamic Thought, Culture and Practice
      • Center for Latinx and Latin American Studies
      • Center for Law and Philosophy
      • Center for Law, History and Culture
      • Center for Religion and Civic Culture
      • Center for the Premodern World
      • Center for Transpacific Studies
      • Conceptual Foundation of Conflict Project
      • Consortium on Gender, Sexuality & Race in Popular Culture
      • East Asian Studies Center
      • Equity Research Institute
      • Francophone Research and Resource Center
      • Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West
      • Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies
      • Institute of Armenian Studies
      • Korean Studies Institute
      • Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities
      • Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies
      • Mind and Society Center
      • Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture
      • The West on Fire
      • USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute
      • GLOBAL SYSTEMS
      • Alice, George and Harold Kachigian Center for Active Learning in International Studies
      • Center for Economic and Social Research
      • Center for International Studies
      • Center for the Political Future
      • Center on Science, Technology, and Public Life
      • Spatial Sciences Institute
      • Unruh Institute of Politics
      • USC Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability
      • LANGUAGE & CREATIVITY
      • American Language Institute
      • Center for Languages and Cultures
      • Levan Institute for the Humanities
      • Visual Studies Research Institute
      • Writing Center
      • LIFE SCIENCES
      • Brain and Creativity Institute
      • Bridge Institute
      • Center for Computational Language Sciences
      • Center for Ecological and Evolutionary Dynamics
      • Center for Music, Brain and Society
      • Center for New Technologies in Drug Discovery and Development
      • Center for Peptide and Protein Engineering
      • Center for Self-Report Science
      • Center for the Changing Family
      • Center for Synthetic Living Systems
      • Convergent Science Institute in Cancer
      • Dana and David Dornsife Cognitive Neuroimaging Center
      • New Microbes For New Beneficial Natural Products
      • Psychology Services Center
      • Translational Imaging Center
      • USC Sea Grant
      • PHYSICAL SCIENCES
      • Agilent Center of Excellence in Biomolecular Characterization
      • Center for Applied Mathematical Sciences
      • Center for Quantum Information and Science Technology
      • Center of Excellence in Molecular Characterization
      • Center of Excellence in NanoBiophysics
      • Core Center of Excellence in Nano Imaging
      • Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute
      • Statewide California Earthquake Center
      • The Plastics Problem
      • The Urban Critical Zone
    • Explore All
      Browse all of our departments, programs, centers, and institutes
News and Events
  • Home
  • News & Events
    • News
    • News Briefs
    • Events
  • Videos
    • Dornsife on Video
    • Alumni Voices
  • Our Experts in the News
    • Archive
  • Magazine
  • Contact Us
    • Press Inquiries
    • Newsletter Signup

USC Dornsife News

Arts and Culture

The Science of Language (Na’vi, That Is)

From harmony (meoauniaea) to brainworm (eltungawng), Paul Frommer Ph.D. ’81 creates a brand new language for the film Avatar.

A Na'vi character from Avatar

Filter

Clear Filters
Sustainability

How climate finance to help poor countries became a global shell game

Assistance has often rested on fuzzy accounting, with funding for airports, hotels and even ice cream stores being counted as climate finance.

November 19, 2025
Photo of house collapsing on its side.
Sustainability

2 iconic coral species are now functionally extinct off Florida, study finds – we witnessed the reef’s bleaching and devastation

A recent marine heat wave had a calamitous effect on two of Florida's most important coral species.

October 23, 2025
Photo of healthy staghorn coral.
Sustainability

Trump’s words aren’t stopping China, Brazil and many other countries from setting higher climate goals, but progress is slow

The Trump administration has been pressuring countries to back away from their climate commitments, but many are still pressing ahead.

October 21, 2025
Photo of Majuro, the main atoll of the Marshall Islands.
Science and Technology

Scientists reveal how microbes collaborate to consume potent greenhouse gas

Microbes that filter methane from the ocean floor may hold new clues to addressing climate change, USC Dornsife researchers and collaborators find.

August 22, 2025
Bubbles rise from the ocean floor while a few sea creatures look on
Sustainability

US government may be abandoning the global climate fight, but new leaders are filling the void – including China

Trump’s efforts haven’t sunk global efforts to fight climate change — instead, new leaders are stepping up and working together, even within the US.

July 30, 2025
Two world leaders, in front of Chinese and Brazilian flags, reach out for a handshake and smile.
Health

Even weak tropical cyclones raise infant mortality in poorer countries, USC-led research finds

USC Dornsife-led research indicates that obvious reasons for higher infant mortality rates following damaging storms, such as reduced pre-natal care and diminished nutrition, are surprisingly not the culprits, but instead more obscure factors may be at play.

May 22, 2025
Satellite image of hurricane over Caribbean islands
Politics

How the oil industry and growing political divides turned climate change into a partisan issue

The climate policy pendulum is swinging back again with Trump in office. Money, lobbying and talking about red vs. blue states all play a role in the political and public divide.

January 22, 2025
A collage with a photo of Donald J. Trump and a wild fire burning at night.
Science and Technology

What triggered Nepal’s catastrophic 2021 flood – and could it happen again?

USC Dornsife scientists discover how a deadly combination of factors led to disaster. They hope their research will help identify other regions vulnerable to similar flooding events.

December 4, 2024
Aerial view of a river valley with damaged buildings half-buried in mud and debris
Sustainability

UN climate negotiations end on shaky geopolitical ground, but I see reasons for hope

National leaders may be struggling to agree, but businesses see the economic benefits of clean energy, states are cutting emissions, and people everywhere are more cognizant of their actions.

November 27, 2024
A group of delegates at an international conference sit in a row, listening and speaking into microphones, with various country flags displayed on the table.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • …
  • 15

USC Dornsife News

USC Dornsife Magazine

Contact

USC Dornsife Office of Communication

(213) 821-6797
communication@dornsife.usc.edu

Helpful Links

News
Events
Videos
Experts in the News

Media & Story Contacts

Press Inquiries
Pitch a Story
Resources for Faculty & Staff
Share Your Alumni News

  • Academics
    • Majors and Minors
    • Undergraduate Education
    • Master’s & Professional Studies
    • PhD Studies
    • Scholarship Award Non-Discrimination
  • Directories & Maps
    • Our Faculty
    • Our Staff
    • Social Media Directory
    • Campus Maps
  • Access & Support
    • Dornsife Technology Services
    • MyDornsife
    • 365 Web
    • USC Zoom
  • Trojan Family
    • Alumni Relations
    • USC Dornsife Magazine
    • Dornsife Dialogues
    • Commencement
    • Career Pathways
  • Dornsife at a Glance
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy
  • Digital Accessibility
  • Emergency Information
  • Notice of Non-Discrimination

Copyright © 2026 University of Southern California