Not only do rising juniors Anthony Scarpone-Lambert and Kirti Shenoy want emergency text services in every county in the United States, but they also want to educate Americans on its potentially lifesaving benefits. That’s where Text-911 comes in. (Photo: Simon Chen)
A push for emergency texting services across the United States
Today, fewer than half of U.S. counties have this capability. Rising juniors Anthony Scarpone-Lambert and Kirti Shenoy want to change that with their nonprofit Text-911.
Penn neuroscientist Zab Johnson (standing, second from right) led an exercise during which the mindCORE students studied a single painting for an hour. The idea, she explains, is to “slow down and really take a good look.”
One hour, one painting: A Barnes visit reveals clues about how the brain processes visual cues
The exercise is one part of a two-week mindCORE summer workshop aimed at underrepresented undergrads across the country. This year’s program focused on language science and technology, and minds in the world.
The U.S. now has the worst maternal mortality rate among all developed countries, and is rising.
Why are so many women still dying from childbirth?
Experts from Penn discuss the role that social determinants, socioeconomics, and racism play, and how the University is addressing the maternal mortality crisis head on.
Children who nap midday are happier, excel academically, and have fewer behavioral problems
A Penn study of nearly 3,000 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders in China revealed strong connections between 30 to 60 minutes of shuteye at least three days a week and positive outcomes in a handful of areas.
In a conversation with Rachel Kyte, the U.N. special representative and CEO of Sustainable Energy for All discusses how this energy sector has changed in the past decade and what happens when political will doesn’t match the science.
A child wearing the EEG cap participants used during trials of the study. This child is older than the study group, which ranged in age from 3 to 5 years old and skewed heavily male. (Photo: Suzanne Slattery)
Names prompt distinct brain activity in preschoolers
A study from Penn and CHOP found that when preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder hear their name, their neural patterns match those of their typically developing peers. The finding held regardless of whether the child’s mom or a stranger called the name.
The report notes that declining biodiversity takes a toll not only on the species directly affected, but also on human livelihoods and health.
With unprecedent threats to nature at hand, how to turn the tide
One million plant and animal species are on the verge of extinction due to human activity, according to a U.N. assessment issued earlier this month. Here, experts highlight the report’s major messages and offer ideas for moving from inertia to action to stem threats to biodiversity.
The anthropology M.D.-Ph.D. program, run by Adriana Petryna (left) of the Anthropology Department, in concert with Lawrence Brass of the Perelman School of Medicine, combines clinical and ethnographic training with an eye toward preparing students like Utpal Sandesara (right) to tackle health inequalities. Sandesara, who will graduate this month, is one of nine students in the 10-year-old program.
Training physician-scholars to see patients as people, not categories
The anthropology M.D.-Ph.D. program, recently graduating its first two students, combines clinical and ethnographic skills aimed at working with and caring for society’s marginalized.
Pokémon activates a unique part of the brain, offering insights into its structure
In a study of adults who played the game extensively as children, Penn and Stanford researchers discovered that a particular area of the visual cortex lights up when players view characters from the original version.
For the first time, students at Penn had the chance to learn Kurdish, through a class offered by the Annenberg School for Communication and taught by doctoral student Mohammed Salih (center), a native speaker.
Kurdish is the newest class on the global language roster
A course taught by Annenberg doctoral student Mohammed Salih offered, for the first time at Penn, entrée into the basics of a language spoken by 30 million people worldwide.
