5.24
Marking the winter solstice, from Neolithic times to today
For millennia, people have marked the winter solstice with rituals and celebrations—and they continue to do so today. Penn Museum anthropologists Lucy Fowler Williams and Megan Kassabaum discuss both ancient and contemporary customs associated with attending to the shortest day of the year.
Going out of the box to learn to treat exotic creatures
Veterinary students interested in wildlife, zoo, and exotics medicine get creative—and driven—to get the training opportunities they need to advance.
Podcast series charts a path for Latin Americans in science
Concerned about the scarcity of Latin Americans in scientific careers, doctoral students Kevin Alicea-Torres and Enrique Lin-Shiao took action to prime the pump. On their Spanish-language podcast, “Caminos en Ciencia,” they chat with Latinx scientists who discuss their career paths and provide advice for young scientists-to-be.
Building a circular economy movement in India and beyond
A shift in environmental policy in India prompted a new operational model for rePurpose, the social enterprise started by the President’s Engagement Prize-winners.
Keeping campus trees—all 6,800 of them—healthy and vibrant
Caring for the trees on Penn’s campus—an official arboretum since last year—is no small undertaking. Staff from Facilities and Real Estate Services and the Morris Arboretum lead the way in ensuring that the University’s trees remain safe, vibrant, diverse, and beautiful.
Marching toward the market
Rui Jing Jiang and Brandon Kao, winners of the 2018 President’s Innovation Prize, are well on their way to their goal: to gain FDA approval for a device to treat glaucoma.
Staying alert to the rare but real risks of acute flaccid myelitis
Sarah Hopkins, a pediatric neurologist at the Perelman School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, has seen an increase in cases of the paralyzing condition this year. She explains what parents and pediatricians should watch for.
Sniffing for science
In the “Citizen Science” course at the School of Veterinary Medicine’s Working Dog Center, Meghan Ramos and Tessa Seales work with dog owners to enhance their pups’ scent detection skills, with an eye toward bolstering the Center’s research.
Getting science right in the fake news era
Over his career as a science journalist, Carl Zimmer has seen legitimate science reporting denied and illegitimate science news taken as fact. In advance of a talk at Penn, Zimmer discusses the problem of misinformation and offers tips for avoiding being fooled by bogus science stories.
Staging the plague
Eighty-one students training in a diversity of health professions worked with regional and federal agencies to confront an imagined outbreak scenario centered around bubonic plague in Philadelphia.