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Metal artifacts in Southeast Asia challenge long-held archaeological theory
A photo of a metal artifact in the shape of a spear on a black background. In the foreground is a scale that runs from 0 to 5 cm.

An individual can create a stone tool or a pot without assistance, but creating a metal tool like the spear here is a group endeavor—and a complex one. Artifacts like this found in Thailand showed that such metal technology could be developed and exchanged using an economic model based on communities making decisions about how to participate in regional exchange systems. (Image: The Ban Chiang Project)

  • Q&A

    • Metal artifacts in Southeast Asia challenge long-held archaeological theory

    According to the Penn Museum’s Joyce White and Elizabeth Hamilton, prehistoric communities, rather than the ruling elites, in Thailand were the deciders in how to use metal resources.

    Michele W. Berger

    Damian Pang may have discovered a new type of memory
    Damian Pang standing, smiling, in a suit.

    Damian Pang, Penn LPS Online Certificate in Neuroscience graduate. (Image: OMNIA)

    Damian Pang may have discovered a new type of memory

    The Penn LPS Online Certificate in Neuroscience let Pang gain additional knowledge and skills while still working full time as an airline pilot out of Hong Kong.

    From Omnia

    Rising sophomore Paola Camacho’s Hollywood summer
    Student standing outside on hill with Hollywood sign behind her

    Paola Camacho, in the Class of 2024 in the College of Arts and Sciences, was in Los Angeles this summer working with Hollywood writers and Penn alums David Stern and Stuart Gibbs through a RealArts@Penn internship. (Image: Courtesy of Paola Camacho)

    Rising sophomore Paola Camacho’s Hollywood summer

    Rising sophomore Paola Camacho is conducting research for Hollywood writers and Penn alums David Stern and Stuart Gibbs through a Real Arts@Penn internship in Los Angeles.
    Through the thin-film glass, researchers spot a new liquid phase
    individual panes of glass in different colors stacked on top of each other

    Research from the lab of Zahra Fakhraai describes a new liquid phase in thin films of a glass-forming molecule. These results demonstrate how these glasses and other similar materials can be fabricated to be denser and more stable, providing a framework for developing new applications and devices through better design.

    Through the thin-film glass, researchers spot a new liquid phase

    A new study on thin films of glass shows how they can be fabricated to be denser and more stable, providing a framework for new applications and devices through better design.

    Erica K. Brockmeier

    Haiti in turmoil
    Perry World House exterior

    (Image: Eric Sucar)

  • Q&A

    • Haiti in turmoil

    Perry World House Visiting Fellow Henri-Paul Normandin, former Canadian ambassador to Haiti, reflects on the current situation and where Haiti goes from here.

    Kristen de Groot

    The intonation Black/biracial men use to speak about race
    A black-and-white drawing of a head with lines signifying the person is speaking.

    The intonation Black/biracial men use to speak about race

    In a study of college-educated biracial men, ages 18 to 32, sociolinguist Nicole Holliday found that, when asked about race, this group frequently brought up law enforcement unprompted and discussed the subject using vocal tone more generally associated with white speakers.

    Michele W. Berger

    Decoding how the brain accurately depicts ever-changing visual landscapes
    people walking across an intersection

    A collaborative study that employs a combination of sophisticated algorithms and models developed by post-doctoral researcher Eugenio Piasini and professor Vijay Balasubramanian details the time scales of visual information processing across different regions of the brain. The researchers found that deeper regions of the brain encode visual information more slowly, providing a mechanism for identifying fast-moving objects and images more accurately and persistently.

    Decoding how the brain accurately depicts ever-changing visual landscapes

    A collaborative study finds that deeper regions of the brain encode visual information more slowly, enabling the brain to identify fast-moving objects and images more accurately and persistently.

    Erica K. Brockmeier

    ‘Dreaming of Jerusalem’
    screen shot from documentary Homepage image: The documentary “Dreaming of Jerusalem” tells the story of the Ethiopian Jewish community living in Addis Ababa and Gondar, now more than 12,000 people, waiting for the chance to emigrate to what they consider their true homeland.

    ‘Dreaming of Jerusalem’

    Penn’s Peter Decherney and Sosena Solomon make a documentary film about a Jewish community in Ethiopia waiting to emigrate to Israel.
    The world at our feet: Reflections on Earth and its prospects
    Illustration of a sphere representing earth and it’s internal layers, covered by flora and surrounded by botanical drawings.

    Image: Mariya Pilipenko

    The world at our feet: Reflections on Earth and its prospects

    It’s our tiny oasis in a vast universe, and it’s feeling fragile. Five faculty from Penn Arts & Sciences who study the Earth’s geological past, its surface activity, and its soils and life forms discuss how Earth and its inhabitants can get along better.

    Susan Ahlborn

    On the hunt for new exoplanets
    the NEID spectrometer inside of a telescope dome

    The NEID fiber feed mounted on the WIYN telescope obtained during commissioning of the instrument. This state-of-the-art spectrometer has officially started its scientific mission of discovering new exoplanets. (Image: NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory/KPNO/NSF/AURA)

    On the hunt for new exoplanets

    A state-of-the-art instrument called NEID, from the Tohono O’odham word meaning “to see,” has officially started its scientific mission: discovering new planets outside of the solar system.

    Erica K. Brockmeier