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A modified game of ‘chicken’ reveals what happens in the brain during decision-making
A person in a suit and button-down shirt sitting on a stairwell landing, smiling. The intricate white stairwell and a brick wall behind it are to the person's right.

Penn Integrates Knowledge professor Michael Platt holds appointments in the Department of Psychology in the School of Arts & Sciences, the Department of Neuroscience in the Perelman School of Medicine, and the Marketing Department in the Wharton School.

A modified game of ‘chicken’ reveals what happens in the brain during decision-making

Research from the Platt Labs found that in rhesus macaques, two regions of the brain mirror those of similar regions in humans, broadening the understanding of what unfolds, neurologically, when people interact and cooperate.

Michele W. Berger

One step closer to a clinical fix for the side effects of monovision
A person sitting in front of a computer and a machine that tests vision.

The lab of neuroscientist Johannes Burge (above) focuses on how the human visual system processes the images that fall on the back of the eye. This line of work, closely related to a 100-year-old illusion called the Pulfrich effect, could have serious public safety and public health implications.

One step closer to a clinical fix for the side effects of monovision

Monovision counters the deterioration of the ability to see up close but also causes dramatic visual distortions. New research confirms that a solution that successfully works with trial lenses—the special lenses used by eye doctors—also succeeds with contact lenses.

Michele W. Berger

Academic freedom in an age of global digital delivery
stock image of world depicting global connection

Academic freedom in an age of global digital delivery

During a virtual forum, Penn experts across disciplines discussed specific implications online learning can present for international students and their freedom of expression.

Lauren Hertzler

The party of Lincoln? GOP’s future after the 2020 election
A faded wooden sign reading "save America vote Republican" stands amid scrubby plants on a Texas roadside.

The party of Lincoln? An event at the Andrea Mitchell Center looked at the future of the Republican Party in the wake of the 2020 elections.

The party of Lincoln? GOP’s future after the 2020 election

As part of the Andrea Mitchell Center’s Race and Politics series, political scientist Rogers Smith spoke with former GOP communications director Tara Setmayer about the election’s impact on the identity of the Republican Party.

Kristen de Groot

Customized kits turn students’ dining rooms into biology labs
Person in mask takes a sample of pond water

Customized kits turn students’ dining rooms into biology labs

Students in introductory biology laboratory courses in the School of Arts & Sciences used customized laboratory kits to get hands-on practice with the scientific method.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Uniting against an invisible foe
microscopic image of covid-19

A tiny virus has transformed life as we know it. But in nearly every corner of Penn’s campus, researchers are making remarkable progress to combat it.

(Image, also on homepage: National Institutes of Health)

Uniting against an invisible foe

All across the University, researchers have launched new areas of study, reaching across disciplinary boundaries to make stunning progress in combating COVID-19.

Katherine Unger Baillie

‘Then and Now: Black-Jewish Relations in the Civil Rights Movement’
Historical mugshots of 15 people wearing signs around their necks that say, "Police Dept. Jackson, Miss., 7.2.61" along with prison identification numbers

Entire busloads of Freedom Riders were arrested when they reached southern states (here, Jackson Mississippi). Interfaith collaboration was a vital part of the Civil Rights Movement, Butler said.

‘Then and Now: Black-Jewish Relations in the Civil Rights Movement’

Professor of religious studies Anthea Butler gave an overview of shared history and discussed next steps in “Then and Now: Black-Jewish Relations in the Civil Rights Movement,” an event hosted by the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies.

Kristina Linnea García