Behavioral Health

How to fix a toxic workplace

Is the workplace really any more toxic than it once was? Despite improvements in equality and discrimination, greater awareness of calling out toxic environments is having an impact. So what are employees, and businesses, doing about it?

Penn Today Staff

How self-harm images on Instagram affect viewers

A new study at the Annenberg Public Policy Center investigates the relationship between exposure to self-harm on Instagram and subsequent self-harm and suicidal ideations.

Penn Today Staff

Names prompt distinct brain activity in preschoolers

A study from Penn and CHOP found that when preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder hear their name, their neural patterns match those of their typically developing peers. The finding held regardless of whether the child’s mom or a stranger called the name.

Michele W. Berger

The placebo cure

Drug researchers use control groups to measure the efficacy of their drug tests. What happens when the control group responds? Science proves the placebo effect is indeed medicine itself.

Tina Rodia



In the News


USA Today

Many parents give their children melatonin at night. Here’s why you may not want to

Ilene Rosen of the Perelman School of Medicine supports practicing proven-bedtime-routine behaviors and avoiding bright lights and electronics in the bedroom to encourage the body’s natural production of melatonin.

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The New York Times

Why are older Americans drinking so much?

David Oslin of the Perelman School of Medicine says that alcohol use can have much more disastrous consequences for older adults, whose bodies cannot process it as quickly.

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Consumer Reports

Best CPAP alternatives

Richard Schwab of the Perelman School of Medicine says that obstructive sleep apnea causes breathing to pause during sleep when something like the tongue or relaxed throat muscles blocks the airway.

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National Geographic

This day of silence brings a fresh start for Bali’s new year

Mathias Basner of the Perelman School of Medicine says that human bodies interpret noise as a stressor, which can initiate increased levels of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline in the blood.

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ABC News

Struggling to keep your New Year’s resolutions? Here’s how to keep yourself on track

According to a 2012 study conducted by the Perelman School of Medicine, 65% of dieters return to their pre-diet weight within three years and only 5% of people who lose weight on a restrictive diet, such as liquid or no-carb, manage to keep the weight off.

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Yahoo! Life

Many believe suicide rates increase in December. Research shows it’s the opposite. Here’s why

A study conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that the winter holiday months typically have lower daily suicide rates than the rest of the year, with December showing the lowest incidences of suicides of the year.

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