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To protect children online, researchers call for cross-disciplinary collaboration
A child uses a cell phone in a dark room

“Technology often has mixture of benefits and perils,” says Gideon Nave of the Wharton School. He teamed with legal and scientific experts to call for research to fuel evidence-backed laws and policies to protect children in the digital world.

(Image: iStock)

  • Q&A

    • To protect children online, researchers call for cross-disciplinary collaboration

    A team of neuroscientists and legal experts, including Gideon Nave of the Wharton School, published a perspective in Science drawing attention to the need to develop science-backed policies that take into account children’s vulnerabilities in the digital world.

    Katherine Unger Baillie

    The Big Bang at 75
    An image of a nebula, a giant cloud of dust and gas in space.

    Where did the cosmos come from? This question has long been part of human speculation, says Vijay Balasubramanian. Today, thanks to scientists like Ralph Alpher and George Gamow, we have a rough picture: Some 13 billion years ago, the universe was a hot, dense state that cooled as it expanded. 

    (Image: NASA via Unsplash.)

  • Q&A

    • The Big Bang at 75

    Theoretical physicist Vijay Balasubramanian discusses the 75th anniversary of the alpha-beta-gamma paper, what we know—and don’t know—about the universe and the “very big gaps” left to discover.

    Kristina García

    Climate scientist Michael Mann makes a home at Penn
    Michael Mann on Penn's campus

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  • Q&A

    • Climate scientist Michael Mann makes a home at Penn

    Known for his “hockey stick” graph that hammered home the dramatic rise of the warming climate, the climate scientist is now making his mark on Penn’s campus, both through his science and his work on communicating the urgent need for action on the climate crisis.

    Katherine Unger Baillie

    The hidden costs of AI: Impending energy and resource strain
    Industrial landscape with electric power lines, hydroelectric dam and metallurgical plants with smoke in the sky.

    In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) models like ChatGPT have seen notable improvements, with some people concerned about the societal impacts these new technologies may bring including looming concerns related to increasing energy and raw materials demands.

    (Image: iStock/Alexey Tolmachov)

  • Q&A

    • The hidden costs of AI: Impending energy and resource strain

    AI models like ChatGPT have seen notable improvements, but some people are concerned about the societal impacts these new technologies may bring. Deep Jariwala and Benjamin C. Lee discuss energy and resource problems with AI computing.
    New Juneteenth documentary explores notions of freedom and citizenship
    An illustration whose background is the Constitution. The words "We the people" are visible in the background, and the words "13th Amendment," "14th Amendment," and "15th Amendment" are visible in the foreground.

    A still from the new documentary “Juneteenth” from Annenberg Classroom.

    (Image: Annenberg Public Policy Center)

  • Q&A

    • New Juneteenth documentary explores notions of freedom and citizenship

    An exclusive Penn screening of the film produced by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC), plus a conversation with activist Opal Lee and Penn’s Mary Frances Berry, moderated by APPC’s Director of Outreach and Curriculum Andrea (Ang) Reidell, takes place on Feb. 28. Registration with a Penn email is required.

    Michele W. Berger

    A look at the history of affirmative action with Mary Frances Berry
    resident Lyndon B. Johnson reaches to shake hands with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

    On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson reaches to shake hands with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after presenting the civil rights leader with one of the 72 pens used to sign the Civil Rights Act in Washington. Surrounding the president, from left: Rep. Roland Libonati, D-Ill., Rep. Peter Rodino, D-N.J., Rev. King, Emanuel Celler, D-N.Y., and behind Celler is Whitney Young, executive director of the National Urban League.

    (Image: AP Photo)

  • Q&A

    • A look at the history of affirmative action with Mary Frances Berry

    The Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and professor of history emerita shares the origins of the term, discusses the practice’s early champions and highlights the ensuing controversies.

    Kristen de Groot

    Why COVID misinformation continues to spread
    A silhouette of a person in black on a red background. The person is holding a phone that reads "COVID-19" and the back of the head is open, with many different symbols flowing out, including a globe, a hospital, a needle, a vial, a mask, the dollar sign, and a TV screen that reads "Fake News."

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  • Q&A

    • Why COVID misinformation continues to spread

    Penn Medicine’s Anish Agarwal discusses why false claims about the virus and vaccines arise and persist, plus what he hopes will come from NIH-funded research he and Penn Engineering’s Sharath Chandra Guntuku have recently begun.

    Michele W. Berger

    The psychology of playing the fool
    Left, Tess Wilkinson-Ryan; right, cover of the book Fool Proof.

    Tess Wilkinson-Ryan is a professor of law and psychology at Penn Carey Law.

    (Images: Courtesy of Penn Law (left) and Harper Wave)

  • Q&A

    • The psychology of playing the fool

    Law professor Tess Wilkinson-Ryan’s new book “Fool Proof: How Fear of Playing the Sucker Shapes Ourselves and the Social Order―and What We Can Do About It” explores the psychology of fools, dupes, cons, and morality.
    What is the future of Social Security?
    A social security card.

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  • Q&A

    • What is the future of Social Security?

    As Social Security continues to march toward insolvency, Olivia S. Mitchell of the Wharton School discusses current policy debates and the role of financial literacy in achieving reform.