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300-million-year-old fish resembles a sturgeon but took a different evolutionary path
Illustration of a prehistoric fish with a long snout

In a new report, paleontologists Lauren Sallan and Jack Stack re-examine the “enigmatic and strange” prehistoric fish Tanyrhinichthys mcallisteri. (Image: Nobu Tamura)

300-million-year-old fish resembles a sturgeon but took a different evolutionary path

Tanyrhinichthys mcallisteri recasts the notion of what it means to be a “primitive” vertebrate, according to paleontologists Lauren Sallan and Jack Stack.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Five takeaways from the DACA ruling
crowd of people at a demonstration holding signs, one reads DEFEND DACA

Pre-pandemic image of a DACA rally, 2017.

Five takeaways from the DACA ruling

What does this decision mean for the nearly 700,000 DACA recipients in America? Political scientist Michael Jones Correa shares five key takeaways from the ruling

Kristen de Groot

Final chapter in a pandemic’s shadow
Person in glasses is surrounded by bookcases.

David B. Ruderman, the Joseph Meyerhoff Professor of Modern Jewish History. (Image: Omnia)

Final chapter in a pandemic’s shadow

Historian David Ruderman was set to publish a new book and celebrate his retirement. Then the pandemic hit.

Kristen de Groot

A virtual tour of architectural masterpieces
Interior of Fisher Fine Arts building, looking out the window to Locust Walk at the landing of the indoor staircase

Fisher Fine Arts Library, designed by renowned Philadelphia architect Frank Furness. (Image: Eric Sucar)

A virtual tour of architectural masterpieces

David Brownlee, Frances Shapiro-Weitzenhoffer Professor of 19th Century European Art in the School of Arts and Sciences, leads a virtual tour of some of Penn’s best-known historic buildings.

From The Power of Penn

What do ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ ‘Macbeth,’ and a list of Facebook friends all have in common?
a graph showing connected circles for characters in king lear, othello, and macbeth

What do ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ ‘Macbeth,’ and a list of Facebook friends all have in common?

To an English scholar or avid reader, the Shakespeare Canon represents some of the greatest literary works of the English language. To a network scientist, Shakespeare’s 37 plays and the 884,421 words they contain also represent a massively complex communication network.

Erica K. Brockmeier

Parasites and the microbiome
scientists process samples in a field setting

Researchers Meagan Rubel and Eric Mbunwe process fecal samples in a hunter-gatherer village at dusk. (Image: Courtesy of the Tishkoff laboratory)

Parasites and the microbiome

In a study of ethnically diverse people from Cameroon, the presence of a parasite infection was closely linked to the make-up of the gastrointestinal microbiome, according to a research team led by Penn scientists.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Examining health inequities with a global lens
Smiling person sites on high ledge overlooking a coastal city

Despite her time being cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, rising senior Adriana Discher packed a lot into her time studying abroad in Hanoi, Vietnam, and Cape Town, South Africa. (Image: Courtesy of Adriana Discher)

Examining health inequities with a global lens

Rising senior Adriana Discher examined public health measures and disparities in four countries—three in person and one virtually—during a semester abroad program this spring.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Reality replaces virtual reality
Haughland and Decherney with VR goggles

Reality replaces virtual reality

What was supposed to be a cinema and media studies course to create virtual reality films on the Philadelphia Museum of Art collections became individual films by the students about the realities and connections to the pieces they researched.
Can widespread protests bring lasting change?
A crowd of people wearing masks march in the streets, one protester holds a sign reading "Justice for George Floyd."

Demonstrators march to protest George Floyd’s killing by a police officer.

  • Q&A

    • Can widespread protests bring lasting change?

    Amidst the current protests decrying the killings of Black people by police and demand for reforms, Penn Today speaks to political scientist Daniel Gillion about his new book, “The Loud Minority: Why Protests Matter in American Democracy.”

    Kristen de Groot