September 18, 2011 – Brad Wright spent his college years in the '80s shooting hoops alongside UCLA stars like Bill Walton and Reggie Miller. An Angeleno born and raised, as a youngster Wright wasn't always sure if he was good enough to play basketball on a professional level. But he earned a full scholarship to UCLA and once his time there was up, he went on to play in the NBA.

A few years ago, doctors told him they'd found tumors in his body. He wasn't sure if he would survive the ordeal. But he did, and now he's back in the basketball business as the commissioner of the Venice Basketball League. The job has provided a way for Wright to restart the shot clock on his life and set his sights on a new challenge.

[4:24]

September 18, 2011 – Moody’s Analytics has warned that student loans may be the next financial bubble to burst. Students in 2011 graduated with an average of around $27,000 in debt, and the cost of tuition has inflated faster than all goods, health care, housing and energy prices. Do these facts warrant major concerns for economic disaster? And if so, what can students do to prevent a student loan crisis while still being able to pay for school? [6:44]

September 18, 2011 – Professor of Finance at the Anderson School of Management, Bhagwan Chowdhry, landed a cameo appearance on the HBO hit series, Entourage. He plays himself in the episode, “The Big Bang.” Chowdhry discusses how he got the part and his experience acting. [6:46]

September 6, 2011 – Mark Kleiman, UCLA professor of public policy, co-authored “Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs To Know” with Jonathan P. Caulkins and Angela Hawken.

He stresses a new way of thinking about drugs as neither good nor evil and claims that the drug prevention effort is largely a misinformation campaign. He shares ideas on how to drive down prison populations and reduce violence resulting from drug abuse while reinventing the way people think about drugs. [6:03]

August 29, 2011 – The Rip Tide's release comes four years after Beirut's last full-length album, The Flying Club Cup. The band has a new, slightly more synthesized and pop-centric sound, but is this a development worth listening to? [3:07]

August 22, 2011 – You might be looking at Facebook on your mobile device, but Professor Aydogan Ozcan wants to use your cell phone to look at your cells. Ozcan is a bioengineer who likes to make medical equipment small and affordable. Once, he invented a lenseless microscope (pictured) you could attach to your phone.

Now he's used mobile technology to create a flow cytometer, a device that diagnoses diseases and measures their progress. Most cytometers are enormous and expensive, but Ozcan's machine costs $5 and it's small enough for medical professionals in developing countries to transport to families who don't have access to hospitals.

If you want to learn more about how the flow cytometer works, check out Ozcan’s paper. [2:20]