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School of Arts & Sciences
What do opponents of genetically modified foods really know about the science?
What do opponents of genetically modified foods really know about the science?
The study, published in Nature Human Behaviour, found that the strongest critics actually know less—a pattern similar for gene therapy, but not for climate change.
Free Thinking
Free Thinking
The free, public Lightbulb and Science Cafes for spring 2019 will feature professors talking about everything from the Middle East peace process to translating “The Odyssey.”
Historic Philly playbills get modern-day crowdsourcing
Historic Philly playbills get modern-day crowdsourcing
An innovative online crowdsourcing project led by Laura Aydelotte of the Penn Libraries allows the public to transcribe digitized 19th-century Philadelphia theater playbills. An upcoming conference will explore digital approaches to researching theater history.
Writers House reborn
Writers House reborn
Renovations were recently completed at Kelly Writers House to expand its premier Arts Cafe and make the space more technologically friendly.
Hindering melanoma metastasis with an FDA-approved drug
Hindering melanoma metastasis with an FDA-approved drug
A drug approved by the FDA 65 years ago for blood pressure control may aid in preventing cancer from spreading to distant organs. New research led by Serge Fuchs revealed that this drug disrupted formation of a fertile environment for metastasis by protecting healthy cells from harmful vesicles released by tumors.
Solar system exploration Q&A with Cullen Blake
Solar system exploration Q&A with Cullen Blake
Blake, an observational astronomer at Penn who specializes in the search for exoplanets, discusses the busy start of 2019 in the research of solar system exploration.
A classic hat trick
A classic hat trick
In one year, Sheila Murnaghan, Alfred Reginald Allen Memorial Professor of Greek, published a translation of Medea and books on the Beat generation and classics for children.
The nanotopography of an atomic world
The nanotopography of an atomic world
Physicists offer insights into the structure of atomically thin materials using nanoscale images of 2D membranes.
State Department awards Penn $2 million to preserve cultural heritage in northern Iraq
State Department awards Penn $2 million to preserve cultural heritage in northern Iraq
The two-phase, three-year project aims to revitalize the city and its culture.
Marking the winter solstice, from Neolithic times to today
Marking the winter solstice, from Neolithic times to today
For millennia, people have marked the winter solstice with rituals and celebrations—and they continue to do so today. Penn Museum anthropologists Lucy Fowler Williams and Megan Kassabaum discuss both ancient and contemporary customs associated with attending to the shortest day of the year.
In the News
Associated Press
Here’s why experts don’t think cloud seeding played a role in Dubai’s downpour
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that many people blaming cloud seeding for Dubai storms are climate change deniers trying to divert attention from what’s really happening.
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Associated Press
In death, three decades after his trial verdict, O.J. Simpson still reflects America’s racial divides
Camille Charles of the School of Arts & Sciences says that Black Americans have grown less likely to believe in a famous defendant’s innocence as a show of race solidarity.
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The Wall Street Journal
‘Slouch’ review: The panic over posture
In her new book, “Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America,” Beth Linker of the School of Arts & Sciences traces society’s posture obsession to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.
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Salon.com
“Record-shattering” heat wave in Antarctica — yep, climate change is the culprit
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that persistent summer weather extremes like heat waves are becoming more common as people continue to warm the planet with carbon pollution.
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The New Yorker
The truth behind the slouching epidemic
Beth Linker of the School of Arts & Sciences traces the history of a poor-posture epidemic in the U.S. which began at the onset of the 20th century.
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