School of Arts & Sciences

Hands holding a box of COVID vaccine vials.

How can the world allocate COVID-19 vaccines fairly?

It’s an ethical question many Penn experts are contemplating. One fact is certain, they say: Distribution must not exacerbate disparities and inequities in health care.

New strategies for designing electroluminescent materials

A collaborative team of materials scientists and theoretical chemists provide hybrid perovskite nanoparticles that are high-efficiency light emitters by using a comprehensive defect-suppression strategy.

The U.S. Capitol building is seen at dusk

Q&A

Capitol attack: Where does American democracy go from here?

As the nation processes the unprecedented mob attack on the U.S. Capitol, many are wondering what happens now for America. Legal scholar Claire Finkelstein shares her thoughts on the siege and its effects on democracy.

Abstract painting of books, writing utensils, flowers, and decorative brush strokes.

Lost and found: The art of translation

For faculty in the School of Arts & Sciences, translation is an art that allows us to communicate across cultural difference.

Man shovels snowy street, which is lined by lanterns and banners with Japanese characters

Out with the dust, in with the new

In Japan, New Year's preparations start with a big cleaning in December for good luck in January.

Closeup of a syringe with a droplet at the tip of the needle reflecting the American flag pattern.

Science, politics, and vaccine acceptance

As the COVID-19 vaccine is being distributed across the country, new research out of the Department of Philosophy shows that knowledge about the nature of science can combat political biases.

student dancing outside on the Weave Bridge

The show must go on, even amid a pandemic

Amid pandemic restrictions, student performing arts groups continued to find innovative ways this fall to create new theater, dance, comedy, a capella, and instrumental productions to share on virtual platforms.

Large rendering of the healthcare cross symbol with people standing both on top of and below the symbol against a background featuring the coronavirus germ floating nearby.

Exacerbating the health care divide

With rates of diagnoses and death disproportionately affecting racial minorities and low-income workers, experts from the School of Arts & Sciences address how COVID-19 has further exposed already dire health outcome inequalities.

a person bent over with a pair of tweezers while working in a laboratory

Atomic-scale apertures represent a novel regime in physics and materials science

Two new studies demonstrate how to fabricate atomically-thin materials with atom-sized pores, with possible applications ranging from water purification to energy harvesting.

jupiter and saturn visible at dusk just above the horizon of a dark mountain landscape

A rare celestial treat on the winter solstice

Four tips and takeaways from astronomer Cullen Blake on the upcoming alignment of Jupiter and Saturn and how to best catch a glimpse of the “great conjunction.”

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