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Penn in the News
A round-up of Penn mentions in local, national, and international media.
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Penn In the News
Early voting begins in Georgia with long lines, high turnout
Research by Stephen Pettigrew of the School of Arts & Sciences found that nonwhite voters were seven times more likely than white voters to wait in line for more than an hour to vote. “Waiting in a line makes you less likely to turn out in subsequent elections,” he said.
Penn In the News
Your dog may love you, but doesn't love the sight of your face, study finds
Carlo Siracusa of the School of Veterinary Medicine commented on a study that found dogs were more stimulated by seeing other dogs than people. “Mother Nature will not invest in something that is not relevant to survival, either in dog-to-dog or even wolf-to-wolf interactions,” he said. “They use other ways of communicating such as ear position—which can be seen from the front and from behind. The ear position will tell about the mood of the dog. We humans don’t move our ears.”
Penn In the News
Facing dual challenges of work and home-schooling, more women are sacrificing their careers
Janice Bellace of the Wharton School spoke about the challenges faced by working parents during the pandemic. “It’s not sustainable in the long term to have children at home, especially when you’re working from home. If you have school-age children, somebody has to be working with them to some extent,” she said.
Penn In the News
Secret, powerful panels will pick COVID-19 vaccine winners
Susan Ellenberg of the Perelman School of Medicine said it’s important to keep data and safety monitoring boards anonymous to protect the members from people desperate for treatment. It “would be very hard to tell [a patient], ‘Oh I can’t help you.’ It’s an unreasonable burden,” she said.
Penn In the News
Pennsylvania voting access suit could have national repercussions
Research by Marc Meredith of the School of Arts & Sciences found that voters in majority Black and Latino jurisdictions experience longer wait times at the polls than those in majority-white districts.
Penn In the News
6 feet may not always be enough distance to protect from COVID-19, new report suggests
PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel spoke about the risk factors for coronavirus infections: location, density, exposure time, and activity. “If you're outdoors, not in a crowd and not going to be with other people for prolonged periods of time, that's probably good," he said. "Is it a zero-risk scenario? Nothing's zero-risk. Is it a low-risk scenario? Yes."
Penn In the News
Democratic convention's focus on racial justice omits policy demands of BLM protesters
Mary Frances Berry of the School of Arts & Sciences commented on the speaker lineup for the first night of this year’s Democratic National Convention. “What a motley crew,” she said. “You should not expect the party to have anybody who might deviate from the party line and say something like the policing bill passed in the House would not do much of anything. I don’t expect hard truths to be told during a convention. It is about packaging and marketing. That’s what they are doing.”
Penn In the News
'A national disgrace': Holes in DNA databases leave crimes unsolved for decades
PIK Professor Dorothy Roberts commented on the use of DNA in surveillance and policing. “Because of the huge disparities and injustices in the way in which criminal laws are enforced, like rampant racial profiling by police, collecting DNA is a racist practice,” she said. “It embeds within it the racist practices for arresting people and charging them with crimes.”
Penn In the News
Why are COVID-19 cases in kids rising? It's mostly the adults around them
Susan Coffin of the Perelman School of Medicine commented on reports that the U.S has experienced a 90% increase in pediatric COVID-19 infections since early July. “The array of activities that all of us are doing has expanded,” she said.
Penn In the News
Hedge funds scoop up local newspapers withering under COVID-19 cuts
Victor Pickard of the Annenberg School for Communication commented on efforts by hedge funds to acquire struggling newspapers. “This is bad for journalists, bad for media diversity and bad for communities at a time when we desperately need more local journalism, not less,” he said.