Helaine Heggs is one of 24 ambassadors recruited by VaxUpPhillyFamilies, an initiative spearheaded by Penn’s School of Nursing, in collaboration with the Annenberg School for Communication, Perelman School of Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philly Counts, and Konquered Healthcare Solutions. (Image: Linda Jiang)
‘Trusted messengers’ distill science, debunk myths about COVID-19 vaccine
VaxUpPhillyFamilies, led by Penn’s School of Nursing, engages Philadelphia parents and caregivers as vaccine ambassadors to identify concerns and provide support related to COVID-19 vaccines, increase vaccine uptake, and address social support needs.
Nursing student Aman Uppal (standing) with one of the students at the HMS School for Children with Cerebral Palsy, where she did a clinical rotation this summer. (Image: Courtesy of HMS School for Children with Cerebral Palsy)
Learning nursing care in a different type of classroom
Penn Nursing students Aman Uppal and Michelle Tran spent the summer before their final semesters in a clinical rotation at the HMS School for Children with Cerebral Palsy.
TV news top driver of political echo chambers in U.S.
Duncan Watts and colleagues found that 17% of Americans consume television news from partisan left- or right-leaning sources compared to just 4% online. For TV news viewers, this audience segregation tends to last month over month.
Can nature-inspired designs affect cognition and mood?
A team from the Center for Neuroaesthetics created a biophilic room to test the idea. Preliminary findings from a small pilot show promise, but also spur many questions about how to best use such a space.
Map of five inferred streams of migration into Micronesia. (Image: Liu et al., 2022, “Ancient DNA reveals five streams of migration into Micronesia and matrilocality in early Pacific seafarers,” Science, Vol 377, Issue 6601, pp. 72-79, DOI: 10.1126/science.abm6536)
Solving the mystery of migration into Micronesia
Penn anthropologist Theodore Schurr explains how the use of both ancient DNA and modern genetic materials revealed five paths into this western Pacific region of Oceania, and uncovered subtleties about the society’s marital customs.
In the pursuit of scientific truth, working with adversaries can pay off
The Adversarial Collaboration Project, run by Cory Clark and Philip Tetlock, helps scientists with competing perspectives design joint research that tests both arguments.
Abortion-rights activists demonstrate in Washington, D.C. on June 30, 2022. (Image: AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Overturning Roe disproportionately burdens marginalized groups
For low-income people and people of color, lack of access to safe abortions in the U.S. will have a range of health and financial ramifications, compounding factors like poverty and systemic racism.
Children younger than 5 eligible for COVID-19 vaccines
In a Q&A, Lori Handy of Penn Medicine and CHOP discusses what it means now that this final group can get protection, plus offers recommendations for families with concerns about doing so.
How historical racism influences modern poverty and racial inequality
Sociologist Regina Baker finds that Black people in southern U.S. states with significant institutionalized historical racial practices experience worse poverty today. These states also have a wider poverty gap between Black and white populations.
