School of Arts & Sciences

Photograph of researcher, China Byrns, in front of monitor showing microscopy images of fly brain

Fruitful insights on the brain

Research led by China Byrns of the lab of Nancy M. Bonini in the School of Arts & Sciences have uncovered new details about the role of zombie-like cells in brain aging, using the fruit fly as a model.

Jing-Jing Piriyalertsak standing outside a building with trees

Penn alum named 2024 Yenching Scholar

Chonnipha (Jing Jing) Piriyalertsak, a 2023 graduate, has been selected as a 2024 Yenching Scholar, with full funding to pursue an interdisciplinary master’s degree in China studies at the Yenching Academy of Peking University in Beijing.

Measuring readers of romance

Researchers at Penn's Price Lab for Digital Humanities conducted a quantitative analysis of the romance genre, studying thousands of avid readers and the hundreds of thousands of books in their collections in Goodreads

Faith Bochert and Maria Villarreal Simon.

My Climate Story expands across continent with Campus Correspondents

My Climate Story, a project from the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities, now has 12 correspondents gathering climate stories from 12 campuses across North America.

Taussia Boadi and Cheryl Nnadi pose on Penn's campus in front of College Hall, green grass and a huge tree.

Positioned for Success

The program, launched by recent College of Arts and Sciences grads Taussia Boadi and Cheryl Nnadi, was a 2023 Projects for Progress winner and provides academic support to middle school students affected by gun violence.

Nader Engheta and Firooz Aflatouni sit at a table clutching Penn-branded mugs filled with tea.

Brewing brilliance

Nader Engheta and Firooz Aflatouni of Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science turn tea time into new ideas.

One person whispers in the ear of another.

How much gossip is needed to foster social cooperation?

Researchers Mari Kawakatsu, Taylor A. Kessinger, and Joshua B. Plotkin in Penn’s Department of Biology developed a model incorporating two forms of gossip to study indirect reciprocity.

A parent holding a baby voting at a polling place.

Abortion, not inflation, directly affected congressional voting in 2022

Contrary to the conventional wisdom that Americans are “pocketbook voters,” views on abortion and the Supreme Court are more likely to sway voters today.

Maya Moritz giving a lecture in front of a mural.

Can more art equal less crime?

Maya Moritz, a first-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Criminology, is building the case, studying the effect of Philadelphia murals on the city’s crime rate.

The case for omega-3 supplementation to lower aggression

A new meta-analysis by neurocriminologist Adrian Raine shows that omega-3 supplementation can reduce aggressive behavior across age and gender.

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