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Metal artifacts in Southeast Asia challenge long-held archaeological theory
A photo of a metal artifact in the shape of a spear on a black background. In the foreground is a scale that runs from 0 to 5 cm.

An individual can create a stone tool or a pot without assistance, but creating a metal tool like the spear here is a group endeavor—and a complex one. Artifacts like this found in Thailand showed that such metal technology could be developed and exchanged using an economic model based on communities making decisions about how to participate in regional exchange systems. (Image: The Ban Chiang Project)

  • Q&A

    • Metal artifacts in Southeast Asia challenge long-held archaeological theory

    According to the Penn Museum’s Joyce White and Elizabeth Hamilton, prehistoric communities, rather than the ruling elites, in Thailand were the deciders in how to use metal resources.

    Michele W. Berger

    Unexpected finds bring fresh excitement to the archives
    A table in the archives office with an old painting, historic newspaper clippings, and old pamphlets from Penn Medicine archives.

    Image: Penn Medicine News

    Unexpected finds bring fresh excitement to the archives

    Stacey C. Peeples’ discovery of a trove of historic papers, newspaper clippings, and various ephemera adds to the rich history she curates as lead archivist at Pennsylvania Hospital.

    From Penn Medicine News

    100 years of insulin
    insulin lab

    Homepage image: Laboratory on the University of Toronto campus where Banting and Best carried out some of their research on insulin. (Image: Courtesy of Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto)

    100 years of insulin

    On July 27, 1921, Canadian doctors Frederick Banting and Charles Best successfully isolated the hormone insulin, one of the most important breakthroughs in treating diabetes. Experts from around the University share their thoughts on the medical triumph on the 100th anniversary.

    Kristen de Groot

    Afro-Cubans come out in droves to protest government

    Afro-Cubans come out in droves to protest government

    Amalia Dache of the Graduate School of Education spoke about the history of racial disparities and injustices in Cuba. “When we're thinking about global solidarity with Black people, especially right now, we need all hands on deck,” she said.

    Fear of a Black Cuban planet

    Fear of a Black Cuban planet

    Amalia Dache of the Graduate School of Education was interviewed about Cuba’s recent uprisings and its long history of Black resistance. In the 1960s, the Communist government said it would eradicate racism. “It’s counterrevolutionary to talk about Black history in Cuba, to engage Black history,” she said.

    Digging into the government report on UFOs
    meteor streaks across a night sky

    Digging into the government report on UFOs

    In a Q&A, historian of science Kate Dorsch illuminates the history behind reporting and investigating UFO sightings and contextualizes the new government report on such phenomena.

    Katherine Unger Baillie

    Will COVID-19 change science? Past pandemics offer clues

    Will COVID-19 change science? Past pandemics offer clues

    David Barnes of the School of Arts & Sciences spoke about COVID-19 and how pandemics can shape policy. While the 1918 flu was somewhat forgotten, HIV/AIDs has had a lasting impact. The difference, Barnes said, “was activists who were organized and persistent, really beyond anything our society had ever seen.”

    Supreme Court decision rules Arizona’s laws constitutional
    Glass doors read "polling station" with opening times listed

    “What you should be doing with voting is trying to make it as easy as possible for people to vote with the fewest restrictions,” says Mary Frances Berry. 

    Supreme Court decision rules Arizona’s laws constitutional

    In Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, the Supreme Court ruled that Arizona’s election laws—pertaining to out of precinct ballots and whether or not third parties can pick up and deliver absentee ballots—do not violate the Voting Rights Act.

    Kristina García

    Politics Monday: America has wrestled with truth since its founding

    Politics Monday: America has wrestled with truth since its founding

    Sophia Rosenfeld of the School of Arts & Sciences spoke about the concept of truth and its role in democracy. The founding fathers “talked a lot about truth and claimed to have a big commitment to a government that both was founded on truth and would help produce truth,” she said. “But here’s the catch: they never gave any one body or person or even method as the way of getting there.”