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Taliban takeover
A city in the desert is seen from above, with brown structures dotting the valley and mountain ranges in the distance, some covered in haze.

A view of Kabul, Afghanistan from May, 2012. (Image: Courtesy of Lucas Augustin)

Taliban takeover

Political scientist Nicholas Sambanis, an expert on conflict processes with a focus on civil wars, shares his thoughts on the challenges of nation building and what’s next for Afghanistan.

Kristen de Groot

The story of immigration enforcement
paperwork for citizenship and immigration with U.S. flag

The story of immigration enforcement

In an award-winning paper, criminologist Aaron Chalfin examines the public safety implications of labor market-based immigration enforcement.

From Omnia

People and Places at Penn
people and places

People and Places at Penn

In anticipation of the return to campus, undergraduates introduce their favorite spots.

Kristina Linnea García

Medical anthropologist Fran Barg reflects on three decades at Penn
A person standing along a black iron fence, one arm hanging over the fence. In the background are trees and a blurred out mural.

Fran Barg spent more than 30 years at Penn, conducting research that fell at the intersection of medicine and anthropology. Though she technically retired in June 2021, she plans to remain connected to Penn, to the mentoring and research that has enriched her career.

Medical anthropologist Fran Barg reflects on three decades at Penn

She spent her career studying the culture of medicine. Through collaborations with colleagues in medicine and anthropology, she’s pinpointed why it’s so crucial to see serious medical problems from both a scientific perspective and a patient one.

Michele W. Berger

Four things to know about the latest IPCC climate report
A dried up desert with a small amount of water on the right-hand side. The sun is blazing in the background, in front of mountains.

nocred

Four things to know about the latest IPCC climate report

The assessment describes ‘unequivocal’ human influence that no doubt caused ‘widespread and rapid changes’ to the atmosphere, oceans, and more. Professors Mark Alan Hughes and Michael Weisberg discuss the findings, plus how we can avoid passing the point of no return.

Michele W. Berger

African American in the ‘raceless’ Soviet Union
Person in glasses miles at the camera with green trees behind

African American in the ‘raceless’ Soviet Union

History Ph.D. candidate Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon’s work looks at how the African American experience in the Soviet Union shaped Black identity and how the presence of people of color shaped Soviet understandings of race.

Kristen de Groot

Zachary Lesser’s Shakespearean forensics
Zachary Lesser headshot (left), and book cover for “Ghosts, Holes, Rips and Scrapes: Shakespeare in 1619, Bibliography in the Longue Durée” at right.

Zachary Lesser’s Shakespearean forensics

The Edward W. Kane Professor of English uses ghosts, holes, and scrapes to learn more about how Shakespeare’s work was seen in his own time.

Susan Ahlborn

Urban renewal, community activism, and green spaces in Historic Germantown
Leo Wagner on a city street

In addition to his interests in urban planning, Wagner, pictured in Prague in summer 2019, is also minoring in Spanish, French, and Latin American/Latino Studies

Urban renewal, community activism, and green spaces in Historic Germantown

As part of a Summer Humanities Internship, rising junior Leo Wagner conducted research on community responses to infrastructure projects in the mid-20th century and how the member sites are currently using their green spaces.

Erica K. Brockmeier

Identifying an elusive molecule key to combustion chemistry
a close-up of a blue flame of methane on a natural gas burner

Researchers at Penn and Argonne National Laboratory have made the most direct observation of a key intermediate, a carbon-centered radical, formed during the breakdown of hydrocarbons during combustion and in the atmosphere. This benchmark study could help researchers design fuels that burn more efficiently in the future.

Identifying an elusive molecule key to combustion chemistry

Researchers made the most direct observation of a key intermediate formed during the breakdown of hydrocarbons during combustion and in the atmosphere, results that could help in the future design of fuels that burn more efficiently.

Erica K. Brockmeier