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Support and inspiration for undergrads pursuing careers in health care
Student seated on a banquette works on a laptop

Rising senior Alejandra Bahena conceived of an event to bring together, educate, and inspire students planning for a career in health care. The resulting Pre-Health Conference is being held for the second year in a row beginning Aug. 4. (Image: Courtesy of Alejandra Bahena)

Support and inspiration for undergrads pursuing careers in health care

The three-day-long National Pre-Health Conference, the brainchild of rising senior Alejandra Bahena, begins Aug. 4.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Rewiring cell division to make eggs and sperm
Images of two cells undergoing division with purple and blue labels

New findings reveal the varied roles of a key protein in cell division. When the protein Meikin is not properly cleaved before meiosis II, chromosomes do not align properly, causing problems in cell division (bottom image). Chromosomes are in blue and the cellular machinery that pulls them to opposite sides of the cell is in purple. (Image: Jun Ma)

Rewiring cell division to make eggs and sperm

Research by the School of Arts & Sciences’ Michael Lampson and Jun Ma, collaborating with Whitehead Institute researchers, reveals how a key protein enables the process of meiosis to unfold.

Katherine Unger Baillie

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.

    Louisa Shepard

    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.

    Louisa Shepard