News from

Q&A

Reset All Filters
302 Results
An expert take on the Israel-UAE accord
Two flags of Israel flying alongside one flag of the United Arab Emirates.
  • Q&A

    • An expert take on the Israel-UAE accord

    Ian Lustick, political science professor who specializes in Middle East politics, gives his take on the significance of the U.S.-brokered agreement and what it could mean for the region.

    Kristen de Groot

    Southeast Asian megadrought dating back 5,000 years discovered in Laos cave
    A group of archaeologists and excavators standing and sitting at the entrance of a cave.

    Penn archaeologist Joyce White (center) has been working in Laos since 2001 with teams like the one shown here. Discovering evidence of a 1,000-year drought in a Laos cave was unexpected, she says, but does answer some questions about the Middle Holocene, a period she’d previously described as the “missing millennia.” (Pre-pandemic image: Courtesy of Joyce White)

  • Q&A

    • Southeast Asian megadrought dating back 5,000 years discovered in Laos cave

    In a Q&A, Penn archaeologist Joyce White discusses the partnership with paleoclimatologists that led to the finding, plus possible implications of such a dramatic climate change for societies at that time.

    Michele W. Berger

    Cancel culture on the silver screen
    Professor in front of a bookshelf filled with books

    Meta Mazaj is a senior lecturer in cinema studies at Penn. (Image: Taja Mazaj)

  • Q&A

    • Cancel culture on the silver screen

    Iconic films like the 1939 blockbuster “Gone With the Wind” are being scrutinized in light of the Black Lives Matter movement against racial injustice. Cinema studies’ Meta Mazaj says framing films within context is more valuable than erasure and disclaimers.
    Brazil’s coronavirus crisis
    People wearing face masks chat on the street in Olinda, Brazil

    From Operação contra novo Coronavírus, Olinda, Brazil, May 20, 2020. (Image: Alice Mafra)

  • Q&A

    • Brazil’s coronavirus crisis

    Brazil has become one of the world’s deadliest hotspots for the novel coronavirus, second only to the United States in deaths and infections. Melissa Teixeira, a historian of modern Brazil, shares her thoughts on the nation’s response and challenges it faces in battling the virus.

    Kristen de Groot

    Cholera vs. flu: Philadelphia’s historical epidemic successes and failures
    Map from 1830s depicting the eastern United States, showing cholera cases with red highlights

    The map depicts the spread of cholera in Pennsylvania and other eastern states in 1832. (Image: Courtesy of the New York Academy of Medicine)

  • Q&A

    • Cholera vs. flu: Philadelphia’s historical epidemic successes and failures

    Philadelphia’s response to the 1918 influenza might be the poster child of how not to handle an epidemic. Timothy Kent Holliday makes the case that the city was well equipped for outbreaks decades and even centuries earlier.

    Kristen de Groot

    New configurations in campus housing and dining planned
    Person wearing a mask walking past Class of 1920 Commons

    Penn’s housing and dining experiences will be different in the upcoming academic year to accommodate social distancing. The Class of 1920 Commons is a dining hall on Locust Walk near several College House dorms. (Image: Eric Sucar)

  • Q&A

    • New configurations in campus housing and dining planned

    Student housing and dining experiences will be  markedly different in the upcoming academic year  because of pandemic restrictions designed to keep students  socially  distant while also fostering a sense of college community.