News Archives

Optimism Experts Handicap the Presidential Election

PHILADELPHIA –- With less than six weeks until the general election, a University of Pennsylvania study analyzing the relative optimism of the 2008 presidential and vice presidential candidates has found Barack Obama and John McCain to be equally optimistic and Sarah Palin slightly more optimistic than Joseph Biden.

Penn Biophysicists Create New Model for Protein-Cholesterol Interactions in Brain and Muscle Tissue

PHILADELPHIA –- Biophysicists at the University of Pennsylvania have used 3,200 computer processors and long-established data on cholesterol’s role in the function of proteins to clarify the mysterious interaction between cholesterol and neurotransmitter receptors. The results provide a new model of behavior for the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, a well studied protein involved in inflammation, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, epilepsy, the effect of general anesthetics and addiction to alcohol, nicotine and cocaine.

Penn Commuter Fair Provides Faculty, Staff with Options for Commuting to Campus

Penn Presents Inaugural Symposium on Applied Mathematics and Computational Science

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Penn Among Top Institutions in U.S. and Canada on Green Report Card for Sustainability Efforts

PHILADELPHIA –- The University of Pennsylvania has been named one of the top 15 schools in the U.S. and Canada for its sustainability initiatives.The survey of 300 institutions was done by the Sustainable Endowments Institute for its College Sustainability Report Card, www.GreenReportCard.org.

Dedication Monday for Green Roof on Penn's Kings Court English House Residence Hall

Examining the ACL epidemic

. Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in week 11 of the 2006 season, missed the remaining six regular season games and the playoffs, and still wasn’t 100 percent at the start of the 2007 season, nearly a year later. New Orleans Saints running back Deuce McAllister tore his right ACL in 2005, and then tore his left one in 2007, missing a total of 24 games.

Science Pioneer

Photo credit: Candace diCarlo Renowned physicist, longtime Penn professor and World War II refugee Fay Ajzenberg-Selove says before her father sent her off to engineering school at the University of Michigan, he taught her one important life skill: How to hold her liquor, so she could hang tough with her male classmates.

Americans still wary of mentally ill

Americans’ attitudes toward mental illnesses—how they’re caused, and how they’re treated—have changed dramatically over the course of the past decade. But there’s one thing that hasn’t changed, says Penn Professor of Sociology Jason Schnittker: The way Americans view the people who actually suffer from mental illness.

Social work at Penn celebrates 100 years; Nader to speak

By The Current Staff This year, the University celebrates 100 years of the study of social work. To help commemorate, the School of Social Policy and Practice has tapped a speaker known as a crusader for consumer rights, provocative author and sometime Presidential candidate—Ralph Nader.