Greg Johnson

The world today is very neatly divided into 24 efficient, well-ordered time zones that correspond with the 24 hours in a day. If it’s 2 p.m. in Philadelphia, it’s 11 a.m. in Los Angeles, 7 p.m. in London, 8 p.m. in Paris, 9 p.m. in Tel Aviv, and 4 a.m. tomorrow in Seoul. Time is uniform, but it wasn’t always so. Standardization didn’t begin to emerge until the late 19th century.

Teenagers are notoriously reckless. They engage in risky sexual behaviors, binge drink alcohol, and abuse tobacco and other drugs. Behind the wheel of a car, teenagers are most dangerous, to themselves and others. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens, and the risk of crashing is higher among 16 to 19 year olds than any other age group.

Wharton professor Americus Reed is a man of many identities. He is a father, academic, and musician. A consultant, entrepreneur, and researcher. A free spirit, anti-authority, and a fitness enthusiast. A Panther, a Gator, and a Quaker.

A West African proverb, borrowed by then-First Lady Hillary Clinton for the title of her 1996 book on how a community impacts a child’s wellbeing, says, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Children are not islands, and cannot thrive in isolation. A collective societal effort is required for them to reach their full potential.

DUNDER MIFFLIN: A junior from Scranton, Pa., Tom Maier is a member of Simply Chaos, Penn’s only stand-up comedy group, which has around a dozen members. Undeclared but leaning toward a major in economics, Maier has been involved with Simply Chaos since his sophomore year.

The Middle East is around 6,000 miles away, on the other side of the world, but the multinational subcontinent influences and impacts American politics and foreign policy as if it were as close as Canada or Mexico. The United States has been a predominant force—covertly and overtly—in the region since the end of World War II.

In the name of the Father, a parade of people, close to 2 million, are expected to flock to Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families, the world’s largest Catholic gathering of families held every three years, and the accompanying visit by Pope Francis.

NEW ENGLAND: Jennifer Yu is a 19-year-old senior from Shrewsbury, Mass. An English major in the School of Arts and Sciences, Yu enrolled at Penn when she was 16 years old, having skipped two grades. “I never learned to write cursive,” she jokes. “It’s a bummer.”

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter has called Pope Francis’ forthcoming trip “the largest event in the city’s modern history” and possibly “the second or third largest event in the history of the United States.” An estimated 2 million people are expected to travel to Philadelphia for the visit, more than doubling the city’s population.

Human moles are generally similar in size, color, and shape. Usually absent at birth, they start out as tiny little dots that grow slowly for one to two years to a few millimeters, about the size of a pencil eraser, and then stop. The cells don’t die; they just exist.