Through
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School of Arts & Sciences
Penn Rising Senior Mary Sun Takes On Life’s Challenges in Stride
Dealing with the difficulties of family illnesses and financial problems inspired Mary Sun to study medicine and business at the University of Pennsylvania.
Imagination Institute at Penn Awards Nearly $3M to Develop ‘Imagination Quotient’
The Imagination Institute, based at the University of Pennsylvania’s Positive Psychology Center, has announced nearly $3 million worth of grants to researchers at 16 institutions. The grants are aimed at the development of better ways of assessing and promoting imagination and creativity.
Blacklegged tick populations have expanded via migration
Lyme disease cases are on the rise, with diagnoses occurring in areas that were historically Lyme-free. Scientists attribute the spread to the fact that populations of blacklegged ticks, which carry the bacteria that causes the disease, now flourish in areas once thought to be devoid of ticks.
Penn Researchers Answer Question about Nematode Behavior: Nature, Nurture, or Physics?
By Sarah Welsh Nature versus nurture is an age-old question in biology, centering on whether a given trait is determined by an organism’s genes or by its environment. Most times the answer is “both,” but research at the University of Pennsylvania has found one trait in particular that is not easily described by either.
Penn Research Helps Show That Attention, Imagination Equally Important for Creativity
The role that attention plays in generating new and useful ideas is controversial among neuroscientists. Some neuroimaging studies have shown that creativity involves more cognitive control, or focused attention. Other studies have shown it involves less.
New Penn Center Will Investigate the Physics of Cancer Via $10M NIH Grant
Investigators at a new University of Pennsylvania research center will focus on key physical principles that underpin cancer’s development and growth.
Penn Open Learning Fosters Academic Engagement Across Continents
After meeting online as students in University of Pennsylvania music professor Carol Muller’s open learning course, a professor at a small college in Central Appalachia and a teacher at a university in Ecuador began a dynamic collaboration.
Serendipitous Path Opens Doors to an Education at Penn
Jason Morgan held a variety of jobs through his 30s, but it was a job lay-off during the economic downturn that led him to the University of Pennsylvania. In 2009, Morgan lost his job as a wedding photographer but soon found a job as a clerk at a restaurant on the Penn campus.
Penn Grad’s Thesis Work With German Youth Leads to Anti-hate Campaign
Doing doctoral research in a ninth grade music classroom in Hamburg, Germany, set Emily Joy Rothchild on a path to work with students on a recently released CD and music video that tackles the tough topics of terrorism, Islamophobia and hate.
Penn Research Simplifies Recycling of Rare-earth Magnets
Despite their ubiquity in consumer electronics, rare-earth metals are, as their name suggests, hard to come by. Mining and purifying them is an expensive, labor-intensive and ecologically devastating process.
In the News
The Washington Post
Forecast group predicts busiest hurricane season on record with 33 storms
A research team led by Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences is predicting the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season will produce the most named storms on record, fueled by exceptionally warm ocean waters and an expected shift from El Niño to La Niña.
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Christian Science Monitor
A majority of Americans no longer trust the Supreme Court. Can it rebuild?
Matthew Levendusky of the School of Arts & Sciences says that a partisan trust gap has emerged in public perception of the Supreme Court as a conservative institution.
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WHYY (Philadelphia)
My Climate Story: Philly students take science from abstract to personal
The “My Climate Story” project at the Environmental Humanities Department helps students and teachers learn about climate change’s impact in everyday backyards, with remarks from Bethany Wiggin. The idea is credited to María Villarreal, a College of Arts and Sciences second-year from Tampico, Mexico.
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SciTechDaily
Satellite images capture extraordinary flooding in the United Arab Emirates
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences explains how three low-pressure systems formed a train of storms that battered the United Arab Emirates.
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Baltimore Banner
Baltimore expands anti-gun-violence strategy into Eastern District
An analysis released by the Crime and Justice Policy Lab at the School of Arts & Sciences suggests that a group violence reduction strategy drove a 2022 drop in shootings in Baltimore’s Western District.
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