Neuroscience | Penn Today

Judith Schaechter and Anjan Chatterjee looking at her stained glass installation.

Your brain on beauty

At the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics, researchers explore what exactly the brain is doing when it experiences art, and what artists are doing when they create art out of their experiences.

A researcher looking at brain scans on a computer in a lab.

Researchers to advance imaging of Parkinson’s diseases

A Penn-led collaboration of radiology, computational chemistry, and neurology experts will identify and test new tracers for PET scans to help diagnose and monitor diseases.

‘Brains and Beauty’ exhibit explores how the mind processes art and aesthetic experiences

Anjan Chatterjee of the Perelman School of Medicine says that the aesthetic triad is a mental system for engaging with an artwork.

Penn fourth-year Om Gandhi is a 2025 Rhodes Scholar

Penn fourth-year Om Gandhi, from Barrington, Illinois, has been awarded a 2025 Rhodes Scholarship, which funds tuition and a living stipend for graduate study at the University of Oxford in England. He is among 32 American Rhodes Scholars, and an expected 100 worldwide.

Scientists unveil 16+ distinct nerve cell types behind human touch

A study by Wenqin Lo of the Perelman School of Medicine and colleagues used detailed analyses of the genes used by individual nerve cells to identify 16 distinct types of nerve cells in humans.

Free West Philly community clinic, which provided care to hundreds, is closed

Penn Medicine resident Noor Shaik and Michael Rubenstein of the Perelman School of Medicine discuss a West Philadelphia clinic that became a model for collaborations between academic health systems and community organizations.

Network schematic of peoples' browsing activity on Wikipedia.

Studying Wikipedia browsing habits to learn how people learn

A collaborative team of researchers analyzed the information-seeking styles of more than 480,000 people from 50 countries and found that gender and education inequality track different types of knowledge exploration. Their findings suggest potential cultural drivers of curiosity and learning.

Person scratching an itch on their right arm.

Scratching beneath the surface of itchy skin

Researchers from Penn Vet provide insights into how a species of worms found a way around the mammalian urge to scratch an itch.

Alzheimer’s patients and their families hear a new word: Progress

Jeffrey Maneval of the Perelman School of Medicine classifies two new drug treatments for Alzheimer’s as “a double, not a home run.”

The next frontier of antibiotic discovery: Inside your gut

César de la Fuente of the Perelman School of Medicine and School of Engineering and Applied Science says the main pillars that have enabled us to almost double our lifespan in the last 100 years have been antibiotics, vaccines, and clean water.

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