School of Arts & Sciences

A historical look at Diana, 25 years after her death

Emma Hart, director of the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, offers her perspective on the history of royal celebrity, the British monarchy’s current role in public life, and how history might view Diana, Princess of Wales.

Kristen de Groot

Singing, speech production, and the brain

This summer, rising second-years Audrey Keener and Nicholas Eiffert worked in the lab of Penn linguist Jianjing Kuang studying vowel articulation in song, running an in-person experiment and built a corpus of classical recordings by famous singers.

Michele W. Berger

Takeaways from the Wyoming, Alaska primaries

John Lapinski, a political scientist in the School of Arts & Sciences and director of elections at NBC News, discusses the election results and what they could mean for November’s midterms.

Kristen de Groot

Understanding the Inflation Reduction Act

Penn experts explain the climate, health care, and economic aspects of the legislation that President Biden signed into law this week, plus the politics of getting it passed.

Katherine Unger Baillie, Michele W. Berger, Kristen de Groot, Dee Patel

New analysis shows how sulfur clouds can form in Venus’ atmosphere

An international research team, including atmospheric chemists from the School of Arts & Sciences, used computational chemistry methods to identify a novel pathway for how sulfur particles can arise high in the atmosphere of the second planet from the sun.

Katherine Unger Baillie

How ideologically divided is the American public?

The Polarization Research Lab, a new initiative from Annenberg’s Yphtach Lelkes and colleagues at Dartmouth and Stanford, will work to answer that question through surveys and partnerships with community organizations.

Michele W. Berger

A novel method for monitoring the ‘engine’ of pregnancy

By combining optical measurements with ultrasound, researchers were able to study oxygen levels in the placenta, paving the way for a better understanding of this complex, crucial organ.

Erica K. Brockmeier , Katherine Unger Baillie



In the News


Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Civil discourse: Tips for navigating potentially divisive discussions around the holiday table

Research co-authored by Matthew Levendusky of the School of Arts & Sciences found that political discussions between members of opposing voting parties helped reduce polarization and negative views of the other side.

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Associated Press

Archaeologists discover 4,000-year-old canals used to fish by predecessors of ancient Maya

Jeremy Sabloff of the School of Arts & Sciences and Penn Museum says that ancient fish-trapping canals show continuity in Maya culture.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Penn student awarded Rhodes Scholarship to continue cancer research at Oxford University

College of Arts and Sciences fourth-year Om Gandhi from Barrington, Illinois, has been awarded a 2025 Rhodes Scholarship to continue his cancer research at Oxford University.

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Chicago Sun-Times

UChicago students, Barrington native among 2024 Rhodes Scholars heading to University of Oxford

College of Arts and Sciences fourth-year Om Gandhi from Barrington, Illinois, has been awarded a 2025 Rhodes Scholarship for graduate study at the University of Oxford.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Penn has preserved a pair of gloves said to belong to Shakespeare. Did they?

Alicia Meyer and Tessa Gadomski of Penn Libraries are researching whether a pair of centuries-old gloves belonged to Shakespeare, with remarks from Zachary Lesser of the School of Arts & Sciences.

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