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Medieval medicine and magic
Elly Truitt and students looking at manuscripts in the Kislak Center.

Elly Truitt (left, standing) says she hopes the students can use these historical examples to make sense of their own experiences.

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Medieval medicine and magic

In Elly Truitt’s Medicine, Magic, and Miracles class, rare manuscripts provide an window into the intriguing—and sometimes strange—evolution of medieval medicine.

Blake Cole

2 min. read

Native North America Gallery opens at the Penn Museum
People visiting Penn’s new Native North American Gallery at the Penn Museum.

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Native North America Gallery opens at the Penn Museum

In partnership with eight Indigenous consulting curators, the newly renovated 2,000 sq. ft. gallery features more than 250 archaeological, historic, and contemporary items from the Museum’s North American collections.

3 min. read

Understanding the climate record through objects
Melissa Charenko stands in front of art in her office.

In her office, Melissa Charenko has paintings by artist Jill Pelto that depict the kind of climate proxies Charenko writes about in her new book, such as sediment cores containing pollen grains.

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Understanding the climate record through objects

Melissa Charenko’s new book shares the history of how 20th-century scientists used climate “proxies”—such as tree rings and fossil pollen—to understand past climates, which has implications for future climate action.

3 min. read

The W. P. Carey Foundation commits $3M to endow interdisciplinary professorship

The W. P. Carey Foundation commits $3M to endow interdisciplinary professorship

The William P. Carey Professorship in Economics will recognize exemplary faculty at the intersection of economics and political scienc; the inaugural chair holder is Enrique Mendoza, who will assume the title of William P. Carey Professor in Economics.

Letting the sunshine in and monitoring stormwater runoff
Tree saplings next to the solar panels.

Trees planted next to the solar panels are enhancing stormwater runoff infiltration.

(Image: The Water Center at Penn)

Letting the sunshine in and monitoring stormwater runoff

As the buzz around renewable energy grows louder, a research endeavor led by the Water Center at Penn exemplifies of how addressing energy demands goes hand-in-hand with tackling water challenges.

From the Environmental Innovations Initiative

2 min. read

Penn fourth-year Florence Onyiuke named a 2026 Rhodes Scholar
Florence Onyiuke.

Fourth-year Florence Onyiuke is a 2026 Rhodes Scholar.

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Penn fourth-year Florence Onyiuke named a 2026 Rhodes Scholar

Onyiuke has been awarded a 2026 Rhodes Scholarship, which funds tuition and a living stipend for graduate study at the University of Oxford in England. She is among 32 American Rhodes Scholars and an expected 100 worldwide.

2 min. read

Four from Penn receive Kaufman Foundation grants

Four from Penn receive Kaufman Foundation grants

Penn researchers will receive two of four grants awarded this year by the Charles E. Kaufman Foundation in support of interdisciplinary collaboration aimed at developing novel approaches to fundamental scientific questions.

2 min. read

Machine learning and the social sciences
Students work on a pop quiz on their laptops.

Students work on a pop quiz in Daniel Gillion’s class.

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Machine learning and the social sciences

Daniel Gillion’s course teaches students without a coding background how to apply models to a wide range of problems across political science, economics, and sociology.

3 min. read

A serendipitous find leads to lifesaving discoveries
Fluorescent imaging of glioblastoma under a microscope.

Image: Kyosuke Shishikura

A serendipitous find leads to lifesaving discoveries

A Penn-led team has revealed a how hydralazine, one of the world’s oldest blood pressure drugs and a mainstay treatment for preeclampsia, works at the molecular level. In doing so, they made a surprising discovery—it can also halt the growth of aggressive brain tumors.

3 min. read

New members of American Academy of Sciences and Letters
Alan Charles Kors (left) and Philip E. Tetlock.

Alan Charles Kors (left) and Philip E. Tetlock, elected members of the members of the American Academy of Sciences and Letters.

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New members of American Academy of Sciences and Letters

Alan Charles Kors and Philip E. Tetlock have been invested as members of the American Academy of Sciences and Letters, a nonprofit that promotes scholarship and honors achievement in the arts and sciences.

2 min. read