Biology | Penn Today

Rapid adaptation in fruit flies

New findings from School of Arts & Sciences biologists show that evolution—normally considered to be a gradual process—can occur in a matter of weeks in fruit flies in response to natural environmental change.

Links between diet and cancer

Kathryn E. Wellen, an associate professor of Cancer Biology and principal investigator of the Wellen Lab, seeks answers to find the connections between metabolism and cancer biology.

Even dinosaurs couldn’t escape the sniffles

Ali Nabavizadeh of the School of Veterinary Medicine commented on research that found evidence of respiratory infections in dinosaurs. “This paper provides yet another piece of evidence to show just how modern dinosaurs—the birds—are biologically so similar to their extinct non-avian dinosaurian relatives, even to the point of showing similar diseases,” he said.

Context-dependent behavior can make cooperation flourish

Recent studies led by School of Arts & Sciences’ researchers show that changing social strategies between settings—for example, cooperating at home but not at work—can in fact lead to more cooperative behavior in a society.

Side by side images show abnormal clustering of chromosomes, labeled with florescent purple and yellow

Revealing the mysterious biology of a fundamental process: reproduction

New findings from the lab of P. Jeremy Wang in the School of Veterinary Medicine shed light on the cell division process that creates eggs and sperm, recurrent pregnancy loss, and the mechanism by which sperm move.

On the Galápagos, an underwater exploration of marine life

In collaboration with a local dive instructor and the students he trained, researchers from Penn and Villanova are learning how human presence affects life on the seafloor around these islands.

Need to break up with someone? Baboons have found a good way to do it, study finds

Robert Seyfarth of the School of Arts & Sciences spoke about how and why groups of primates “break up” and warned not to project that information onto human relationships. "You always find somebody who says, yeah, the baboons are showing us that you shouldn't have a despotic breakup and it's bad to just dump somebody and walk off," he said. "But I guess I'm not going to go into that territory."

The inner lives of cats: what our feline friends really think about hugs, happiness and humans

Carlo Siracusa of the School of Veterinary Medicine said cats are capable of bonding with people, contrary to claims that they’re merely using their owners for food and shelter. “Humans hug and kiss. Dogs become very excited and jump around. Cats don’t do anything like that. They are much more elegant,” he said. “They approach us. They bump their heads. Then they have some contact with us and walk away.”

Side by side maps of the northeastern United States representing 2016 and 2015 with darker shading in certain counties.

A better estimate for tick numbers with ‘citizen science’ data

A team led by School of Arts & Sciences biologists found a way to account for biases in data collected by members of the public, using it to create a comprehensive abundance map of the tick responsible for transmitting Lyme disease.

Common gene variants linked to sepsis and COVID-19 severity in African Americans

Two genetic risk variants that are carried by nearly 40% of Black individuals may exacerbate the severity of both sepsis and COVID-19. A Penn Medicine study identifies two potential pathways to reduce the health disparities driven by these gene mutations.

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