Wharton faculty on love, finance, AI, and the Olympics
The latest installments of the Wharton School’s faculty research podcast, ‘Ripple Effect,’ explores online dating, the future of global finance, sports and advertising, and how AI is informing human decision-making.
2 min. read
Aligning with Valentine’s Day and the 2026 Winter Olympics, the February episodes of Wharton’s faculty podcast “The Ripple Effect” feature host Dan Loney interviewing experts on timely topics, including finding love on a dating app, and the peak advertising season of the Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl. Experts also weigh in on the ever-present topic of global finance and artificial intelligence.
Finance professors Joao Gomes and Itay Goldstein discuss the forces reshaping global finance in “Future of Finance,” and takeaways from the 2026 Future of Finance Forum, an event that convened academics, policymakers, and industry leaders to discuss digital assets, central banking, the U.S. federal debt, artificial intelligence, geopolitics, and private markets.
In ”Olympic Games Advertising,” senior marketing lecturer Annie Wilson explores how companies advertise during the biggest sporting events of the year, and explains how they are a boon for brands that know how to capitalize on the moment.
Novel plant-based approach to a better, cheaper GLP-1 delivery system
Research led by Penn Dental’s Henry Daniell investigates the use of a lettuce-based, plant-encapsulated delivery platform as a new oral delivery of two GLP-1 drugs previously approved by the FDA in injectable form.
No brain, no gain: Neuronal activity enhances benefits of exercise
Research led by Penn neuroscientist J. Nicholas Betley and collaborators finds that hypothalamic neurons are essential for translating physical exertion into endurance, potentially opening the door to exercise-mimicking therapies.
In honor of Valentine's Day, and as a way of fostering community in her Shakespeare in Love course, Becky Friedman took her students to the University Club for lunch one class period. They talked about the movie "Shakespeare in Love," as part of a broader conversation on how Shakespeare's works are adapted.
In Becky Friedman’s English course Shakespeare in Love, undergraduate students analyze language, genre, and adaptation in the Bard’s plays through the lens of love.
Beating the heat: Designing cooling for bodies in motion
Dorit Aviv, director of Weitzman’s Thermal Architecture Lab, studies how humans, technology, and design intersect, paving the way for the development of novel approaches to cooling people efficiently.
