News Archive | Penn Today

Medicaid expansions linked to slower rises in overdose deaths

A recent study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine contradicts the idea that state expansions of Medicaid leads to more illicit use of prescription opioids.

Digital resources could help narrow sexual health equity gap for Puerto Rican adolescents

A study from Penn Nursing shows results of a web-based intervention in Puerto Rico that is designed to increase sexual risk communication between parents and adolescents.

Penn President Amy Gutmann holds a conversation with three professors at a Power of Penn event in Boston.

‘Power of Penn ‘ in Boston

Speaking to more than 250 people at a Power of Penn event in Boston for alumni, parents, and friends, President Amy Gutmann emphasized the University’s commitment to innovation, inclusion, and impact. The diversity of Penn’s research and teaching threaded through her discussion with professors Donita Brady, Vivek Shenoy, and Emily Steiner.

A new take on the 19th-century skull collection of Samuel Morton

After unearthing and analyzing handwritten documentation from scientist Samuel Morton, doctoral candidate Paul Wolff Mitchell drew a new conclusion about the infamous 19th-century collection: Though Morton accurately measured the brain size of hundreds of human skulls, racist bias still plagued his science.

Making extinct dinosaurs move to build better robots

Making fossils move to build better robots

Aja Carter, a Ph.D. candidate in paleontology, builds robots based on fossilized animals that crawled out of the sea about 300 million years ago. She’s pioneering a new field that she calls paleo-bio-inspired robotics.

The next frontier of precision medicine: Parkinson’s disease

The Molecular Integration in Neurological Diagnosis (MIND) Initiative is working to understand the nature of Parkinson's disease with molecular-level accuracy, so doctors can treat the root cause.

Sharing Coffee with a Cop

Officers from the Penn Police Department shared a cup of coffee, free swag, and conversations with passersby along Locust Walk during National Coffee with a Cop Day, a way to bridge the gap between the community and law enforcement.

The psychology of binge-watching

Though binge-watching—and even the way we crave television at all—is a relatively recent phenomenon, the psychology behind why we become consumed in stories is actually a tale as old as time.

PennDesign studios tackle disaster recovery planning in Puerto Rico

To begin planning hurricane disaster recovery for Puerto Rico, PennDesign faculty members recognize that the disaster began unfolding long before hurricanes Irma and Maria made landfall.

Wharton receives $50 million gift from Marc J. Rowan and Carolyn Rowan

The largest single gift the school has ever received, it will support the Penn Wharton Budget Model, and help recruit distinguished professors and appoint Rowan Fellows for five-year terms.

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