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Michele W. Berger
Science News Officer
mwberger@upenn.edu
Linguistics
Why do young children pick up language easier than adults?
Why do young children pick up language easier than adults?
Why do young children pick up language easier than adults? One Penn linguist has some theories.
Is it a cult, or a new religious movement?
Is it a cult, or a new religious movement?
Many religious movements started off as fringe groups, and many modern-day cults have no religious doctrine. Why are cults and new religious movements conflated, and what makes them different?
Connecting with a deaf community on the other side of the world
Connecting with a deaf community on the other side of the world
On a trip abroad to Italy that capped off the Penn Global Seminar taught by linguist Jami Fisher, students got a firsthand look at the diversity and variety of global deaf culture.
One hour, one painting: A Barnes visit reveals clues about how the brain processes visual cues
One hour, one painting: A Barnes visit reveals clues about how the brain processes visual cues
The exercise is one part of a two-week mindCORE summer workshop aimed at underrepresented undergrads across the country. This year’s program focused on language science and technology, and minds in the world.
Shooting for the moon
Shooting for the moon
In her Language and the Brain course, linguistics professor Kathryn Schuler asked 30 undergrads to think big about big problems—and their solutions didn’t disappoint.
A shared past for East Africa’s hunter-gatherers
A shared past for East Africa’s hunter-gatherers
PIK Professor Sarah Tishkoff, Laura Scheinfeldt, and Sameer Soi use data from 50 populations to study African genetic diversity. Their analysis suggests that geographically far-flung hunter-gatherer groups share a common ancestry.
Celebrating science
Celebrating science
Eight Penn faculty share their favorite general interest books about science.
Social scientists trade academic silos for shared work space
Social scientists trade academic silos for shared work space
Faculty and grad students in the new Social and Behavioral Sciences Initiative have access to two state-of-the-art labs, grants, and a collaborative environment aimed at creating a vibrant research community.
Widening the lens on language study
Widening the lens on language study
Penn Arts and Sciences faculty use language to unravel mysteries of culture, cognition, and communication.
Sharing the science behind what we do, what we say, and how we learn
Sharing the science behind what we do, what we say, and how we learn
Through mindCORE, a two-week undergrad program through Arts and Sciences, faculty from eight departments and five schools explore the mind and the brain via disciplines like behavioral science and language acquisition.
Media Contact
In the News
The Atlantic
How Home-state Pronunciations Can Shape Elections
The School of Arts and Sciences’ Mark Liberman offered commentary on Donald Trump’s failed attempt to use a variant pronunciation of “Nevada” in 2016, a task George W. Bush and John Kerry also struggled with during their 2004 campaigns.
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The Washington Post
Nixon had ‘Deep Throat,’ Trump has ‘Lodestar’: An archaic word becomes a resistance hashtag
Mark Liberman of the School of Arts and Sciences provided a linguistic history of the word ‘lodestar.’ “Going back to the 14th or 15th century, there’s a metaphoric use referring to not the pole star but to any principle or person or idea or goal used for guidance,” said Liberman.
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