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A world shaped by water and access
Three people test water below a sand dam.

Griffin Pitt, right, works with two other student researchers to test the conductivity, total dissolved solids, salinity, and temperature of water below a sand dam in Kenya.

(Image: Courtesy of Griffin Pitt)

A world shaped by water and access

Griffin Pitt’s upbringing made her passionate about water access and pollution, and Penn has given her the opportunity to explore these issues back home in North Carolina and abroad.

3 min.

A built-in ‘off switch’ to stop persistent pain

Collaborative research on the neural basis of chronic pain led by neuroscientist J. Nicholas Betley finds that a critical hub in the brainstem, has a built-in “off switch” to stop persistent pain signals from reaching the rest of the brain. Their findings could help clinicians better understand chronic pain. (Pictured) Flurorescence imaging reveals hunger neurons in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus labeled in maroon with nuclei shown in blue.

(Image: J. Nicholas Betley)

A built-in ‘off switch’ to stop persistent pain

J. Nicholas Betley has led collaborative research seeking the neural basis of long-term sustained pain and finds that a critical hub in the brainstem holds a mechanism for stopping pain signals from reaching the rest of the brain. Their findings could help clinicians better understand chronic pain and lead to new, more efficacious treatments.

4 min. read

Penn experts earn NIH Director’s awards

Penn experts earn NIH Director’s awards

Six researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine have been recognized for their creative research through the National Institutes of Health Director’s awards from the NIH Common Fund’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research program for their unconventional approaches to major challenges in biomedical and behavioral research.

A new Penn Vet study is finding where the wild things are
A deer by a river in nature.

Image: Courtesy of Penn Vet

A new Penn Vet study is finding where the wild things are

The Accessing Urban Nature Initiative is gathering data on how urban wildlife is using the Philadelphia region’s ecosystem with motion-triggered cameras around Philadelphia parks, cemeteries, forest preserves, and private land.

From Penn Vet

2 min. read

How AI could lift productivity and GDP growth

How AI could lift productivity and GDP growth

AI automation could sharply increase productivity by the early 2030s, according to a Penn Wharton Budget Model brief, which estimated the likely impact on 784 occupations.

Maximizing access to science with Penn Medicine’s Donita Brady
Donita Brady and three colleagues in an office.

Donita Brady (center), Harrison McCrea Dickson, M.D. and Clifford C. Baker, M.D. Presidential Professor.

(Image: Margo Reed)

Maximizing access to science with Penn Medicine’s Donita Brady

Brady, the 2026 recipient of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Ruth Kirschstein Award for Maximizing Access in Science, shares her approach to creating opportunities for all.

2 min. read

A guide to Climate Week 2025
A person scooping leaves out of the BioPond with a net.

nocred

A guide to Climate Week 2025

Taking place Oct. 13 to 17, Penn’s sixth Climate Week includes dozens of in-person and virtual events that cross disciplines, from energy policy and history to engineering and medicine

2 min. read

AI at the eyelid: Glasses that track health through your blinks
Dongyin Hu models BlinkWise glasses at his computer station.

Penn Engineering graduate student Dongyin Hu models BlinkWise, an AI-powered system that uses radio waves to monitor blinks and eye health.

(Image: Sylvia Zhang)

AI at the eyelid: Glasses that track health through your blinks

Researchers at Penn Engineering have developed BlinkWise, an AI-powered system that uses radio waves to monitor blinks and eye health.

Ian Scheffler

2 min. read