4/22
The past, present, and future of the Positive Humanities
The past, present, and future of the Positive Humanities
A new Oxford Handbook from Penn’s James Pawelski and Louis Tay of Purdue explores this emerging field, which brings together positive psychology, philosophy, the humanities, and the arts.
Moving away from ‘average,’ toward the individual
Moving away from ‘average,’ toward the individual
In a course from Annenberg’s David Lydon-Staley, seven graduate students conducted single-participant experiments. This approach, what’s known as an “n of 1,” may better capture the nuances of a diverse population than randomized control trials can.
What can browser history inadvertently reveal about a person’s health?
What can browser history inadvertently reveal about a person’s health?
The Penn-CMU Digital Health Privacy Initiative is trying to answer that question by mapping third-party tracking across the online health ecosystem. Their work shows possible implications for ad targeting, credit scores, insurance coverage, and more.
Six from Penn elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2022
Six from Penn elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2022
Faculty from the Perelman School of Medicine, School of Arts & Sciences, Graduate School of Education, and Law School join more 260 honorees recognized for contributions to academia, the arts, industry, public policy, and research.
A farm-to-table meal at Penn, in photos
A farm-to-table meal at Penn, in photos
Honoring Earth Week, Penn Dining and the Penn Food and Wellness Collaborative teamed up to create a vegetable-forward menu for Quaker Kitchen, sourcing produce from local purveyors to highlight what’s currently growing on the quarter-acre Penn Park Farm.
Running to shine a light on mental health
Running to shine a light on mental health
Earlier this week, Penn’s Samantha Roecker competed in the Boston Marathon. In the process, she raised more than $45,000 to help nurses struggling as a result of the pandemic, and she broke the world record for fastest marathon in scrubs.
Social connections influence brain structure of rhesus macaques
Social connections influence brain structure of rhesus macaques
Researchers from Penn, Inserm, and elsewhere observed that the number of grooming partners an individual animal had predicted the size of brain areas associated with social decision-making and empathy.
Solutions to mitigate climate change, from the IPCC
Solutions to mitigate climate change, from the IPCC
The latest assessment offers both a harsh reality check and a path forward. Experts William Braham, Peter Psarras, and Michael Mann offer their thoughts.
People imitate accent features they expect to hear, even without hearing them
People imitate accent features they expect to hear, even without hearing them
Research from postdoc Lacey Wade confirmed this idea, what she calls expectation-driven convergence, in a controlled experiment for the first time. The work reveals just how much the subconscious factors into the way people speak.
Talking energy at Penn
Talking energy at Penn
Energy Week 2022, hosted by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and the Vagelos Institute for Energy Science and Technology, runs April 4-8. It includes student presentations, along with conversations about renewables, energy and the war in Ukraine, and much more.