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5.5 million-year-old fossil turtle species sheds light on invasive modern relatives

5.5 million-year-old fossil turtle species sheds light on invasive modern relatives

A University of Pennsylvania paleontologist has described a 5.5 million-year-old fossil species of turtle from eastern Tennessee. It represents a new species of the genus Trachemys, commonly known as sliders, which are frequently kept as pets today.

Katherine Unger Baillie

To accept evolution, start with understanding

To accept evolution, start with understanding

Prevailing theories about evolution state that belief in the concept is tied only to a person’s politics, religion or both. But according to new research, whether Americans accept or reject the subject also depends on how well they understand it.  

Michele W. Berger

Penn Engineers Make First Full Network Model of the Musculoskeletal System

Penn Engineers Make First Full Network Model of the Musculoskeletal System

Network science examines how the actions of a system’s individual parts affect the behavior of the system as a whole. Some commonly studied networks include computer chip components and social media users, but University of Pennsylvania engineers are now applying network science to a much older system: the human body.

Evan Lerner

Student Spotlight with Heather Kostick
kostick

Student Spotlight with Heather Kostick

The graduate student in environmental studies is running three “bioblitzes” as part of her capstone project.

Lauren Hertzler

In hot water: Coral resilience in the face of climate change
A diver in a wetsuit is using scientific equipment to take samples from a coral reef under clear water.

For nearly a decade researchers led by Katie Barott of the School of Arts & Sciences have studied the effects of climate change on coral reefs. Monitoring two coral species off the coast of Hawaii, they found that local adaptations in response to near-severe heat stress allowed certain populations to endure such events.

(Image: Courtesy of Kristen Brown)

In hot water: Coral resilience in the face of climate change

For nearly a decade researchers from Penn have been studying two coral species in Hawaii to better understand their adaptability to the effects of climate change.
Understanding the immune response to a persistent pathogen
Microscopic view of toxoplasma gondii cells.

Image: Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library via Getty Images

Understanding the immune response to a persistent pathogen

Penn Vet researchers show that the immune system can recognize and control the latent stage of the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, a finding that can inform the study of latency in other infections of the nervous system.

3 min. read