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Katherine Unger Baillie
Senior Science News Officer
Katherine Unger Baillie covers the School of Veterinary Medicine, the School of Dental Medicine, and in the School of Arts and Sciences, manages media relations for biology, earth and environmental science, and history and sociology of science. She also occasionally covers scientific research coming from other parts of Penn.
Lead toxicity risk factors in Philadelphia
Two studies identify factors that correlate with high blood-lead levels in children, pointing to ongoing environmental justice issues that disproportionately fall on children of color and poorer communities in the city.
Creating global systems for evidence-informed oral health policy
Alonso Carrasco-Labra, who joined the School of Dental Medicine in 2021, is a leader in developing new policy and clinical guidelines across areas of medicine.
Correcting night blindness in dogs
Researchers in the School of Veterinary Medicine and colleagues have developed a gene therapy that restores dim-light vision in dogs with a congenital form of night blindness, offering hope for treating a similar condition in people.
From a pandemic, scientific insights poised to impact more than just COVID-19
Pivoting to study SARS-CoV-2, many scientists on campus have launched new research projects that address the challenges of the pandemic but also prepare us to confront future challenges.
Rapid adaptation in fruit flies
New findings from School of Arts & Sciences biologists show that evolution—normally considered to be a gradual process—can occur in a matter of weeks in fruit flies in response to natural environmental change.
Climate scientist Michael Mann to join Penn faculty
Mann is the first new faculty member to be recruited as part of the recently announced Energy and Sustainability Initiative as a Presidential Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science.
Newly identified softshell turtle lived alongside T. rex and Triceratops
Peter Dodson of the School of Veterinary Medicine and Steven Jasinski, who recently earned his doctorate from the School of Arts & Sciences, describe the find of a new softshell turtle from the end of the Cretaceous Period.
One drink a day linked with reduced brain size
The Penn-led research, using a dataset of more than 36,000 adults, revealed that going from one to two drinks a day was associated with changes in the brain equivalent to aging two years. Heavier drinking was linked with an even greater toll.
COVID in a cat
A new report led by Elizabeth Lennon of the School of Veterinary Medicine and colleagues has confirmed what is believed to be the first published account of the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 in a house cat.
Solidarity walk for Ukraine
More than 100 members of the University community joined a student-led walk in support of Ukraine, rallying awareness and calling for action.