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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
How old is your dog? New equation shows how to calculate its age in human years
Margret Casal of the School of Veterinary Medicine offered advice for promoting longevity in dogs and commented on a new equation to measure how dogs age. “It will be interesting to look at different breeds," she said. "We know that some smaller breeds live longer and some larger ones don’t live quite as long.”
Penn In the News
How blood type may affect your coronavirus risk
Lewis Kaplan of the Perelman School of Medicine said people with a lower risk of contracting COVID-19 according to their blood type shouldn’t get overly confident. "It might mean they have less risk, but if you engage in risky behavior, we don't know just how much risk you need to incur to overwhelm whatever potential protection you might have," he said. "We have no clue."
Penn In the News
Doctors view dexamethasone results on COVID-19 with excitement and skepticism
George Anesi of the Perelman School of Medicine expressed skepticism about COVID-19 research findings recently announced via press release, as opposed to in a peer-reviewed journal. "I think there's a good-hearted motivation to try to get helpful findings out as fast as possible, but that can certainly backfire," he said. "The scientific process exists for a reason."
Penn In the News
GLOBAL HANGOUT: Ask the Experts
Alison Buttenheim of the School of Nursing joined a panel of experts to discuss the coronavirus pandemic and what’s to come. “Epidemiologists are thinking about multiple scenarios, trying to learn from past outbreaks and from what we’ve seen so far with COVID-19. It is very likely that we will have future waves of outbreaks in local areas and in countries.”
Penn In the News
The coronavirus could pull policies like universal health care from the edge into the mainstream
Henry Kranzler of the Perelman School of Medicine commented on 12-step programs shift to an online format in response to the coronavirus. “To the degree that social support is less accessible and is an important part of recovery, people may be at increased risk of relapse,” he said.
Penn In the News
Coronavirus outbreak revives dangerous race myths and pseudoscience
PIK Professor Dorothy Roberts spoke about misinformation regarding race and public health, such as the myth that black people are immune to coronavirus. “These myths have a track record not just of shaping attitudes but of shaping policy and practice in public and private spaces, in hospitals and in schools, in workplaces, too,” she said.
Penn In the News
How the Iowa caucuses fell apart and tarnished the vote
Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center commented on the use of voting technology in recent Democratic caucuses. “My concern is that it calls into question the integrity of voting, whether you can trust the technology associated with voting in an environment in which people capitalize on those sorts of mishaps,” she said.
Penn In the News
Laser-scanning tech uncovers huge network of ancient Mayan farms
Emily Hammer of the School of Arts and Sciences commented on research that used lasers to unveil a network of ancient Mayan farms. “This important study and others like it are demonstrating that large-scale ancient modification of land surfaces in tropical zones across the world likely contributed to the early beginnings of a period in which humans became a significant transformative force in the Earth system,” she said.
Penn In the News
Our solar system’s mysterious ‘Planet 9’ may actually be a tiny, ancient black hole
Bhuvnesh Jain of the School of Arts and Sciences commented on a new theory that Planet 9 may actually be a tiny, primordial black hole: “From a theoretical standpoint, it’s exciting even if its plausibility right now is early to judge.”
Penn In the News
FDA names 16 brands of dog food linked to canine heart disease
Anna Gelzer of the School of Veterinary Medicine responded to news from the FDA that grain-free dog foods may be linked to canine dilated cardiomyopathy. “There’s no scientifically proven benefit to grain-free foods, so why take a chance?”