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How can people boost resilience? Karen Reivich shares some key insights
Karen Reivich smiling and hand gesturing while teaching a resilience workshop.

Karen Reivich, director of training programs at Penn’s Positive Psychology Center, facilitating a resilience workshop.

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How can people boost resilience? Karen Reivich shares some key insights

In a four-part series offered by Penn HR this spring, Karen Reivich of Penn’s Positive Psychology Center will guide staff, faculty, and postdocs toward building resilience.

3 min. read

Understanding GLP-1 signaling: A path to better therapies
A person holding their stomach.

Image: seb_ra via Getty Images

Understanding GLP-1 signaling: A path to better therapies

A collaborative study led by an interdisciplinary team of researchers from Penn’s School of Nursing and Perelman School of Medicine found that a novel GLP-1 drug shows promise for reducing nausea and vomiting while maintaining blood sugar.

2 min. read

No brain, no gain: Neuronal activity enhances benefits of exercise
Rendering of the human body on a bicycle and the brain and skeletal system highlighted.

Image: Sciepro/Science Photo Library via Getty Images

No brain, no gain: Neuronal activity enhances benefits of exercise

Research led by Penn neuroscientist J. Nicholas Betley and collaborators finds that hypothalamic neurons are essential for translating physical exertion into endurance, potentially opening the door to exercise-mimicking therapies.

5 min. read

Raindrop-formed ‘sandballs’ that erode hillsides tenfold
High-speed images of raindrops rolling on a sandy slope, forming peanut-shaped sandballs (top) and donut-shaped sandballs with hollow centers (bottom).

High-speed laboratory images capture two distinct “sandball” shapes formed when raindrops strike dry, sloped sand and roll downhill. (Top) Peanut-shaped sandballs, where grains coat the surface of a liquid core. (Bottom) Donut-shaped sandballs, which densify into rigid, wheel-like structures with a hollow center, enabling far more efficient sediment transport than splash erosion alone.

(Image: Daisuke Noto)

Raindrop-formed ‘sandballs’ that erode hillsides tenfold

Penn geophysicists and colleagues have uncovered Earth-sculpting processes that result from the formation of snowball-like aggregates they call “sandballs.” Their findings provide fundamental insights into erosion and will broaden scientific understandings of landscape change, soil loss, and agriculture.

3 min. read

Can aging be treated at the cellular level?
A microscope with a slide.

Image: Wladimir Bulgar via Getty Images

Can aging be treated at the cellular level?

Penn researchers Shelley Berger and Esra Sahingur explain senescence, the process of cellular aging, and discuss the complexities of developing anti-aging therapies that target these cells.

4 min. read

An ‘illuminating’ design sheds light on cholesterol
A researcher scribbles an organic molecule

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An ‘illuminating’ design sheds light on cholesterol

High levels of cholesterol are linked to heart disease, stroke, and many other health problems. However, this complex and vital fatty, water insoluble molecule—a lipid—is found in every cell of the body and is not all bad news. It also regulates crucial processes that science has yet to map.

3 min. read

A serendipitous find leads to lifesaving discoveries
Fluorescent imaging of glioblastoma under a microscope.

Image: Kyosuke Shishikura

A serendipitous find leads to lifesaving discoveries

A Penn-led team has revealed a how hydralazine, one of the world’s oldest blood pressure drugs and a mainstay treatment for preeclampsia, works at the molecular level. In doing so, they made a surprising discovery—it can also halt the growth of aggressive brain tumors.

3 min. read

Nanoparticle blueprints reveal path to smarter medicines
Hannah Yamagata, Research Assistant Professor Kushol Gupta and postdoctoral fellow Marshall Padilla, holding 3D-printed models of nanoparticles in a lab.

(From left) Doctoral student Hannah Yamagata, research assistant professor Kushol Gupta, and postdoctoral fellow Marshall Padilla holding 3D-printed models of nanoparticles.

(Image: Bella Ciervo)

Nanoparticle blueprints reveal path to smarter medicines

New research involving Penn Engineering shows detailed variation in lipid nanoparticle size, shape, and internal structure, and finds that such factors correlate with how well they deliver therapeutic cargo to a particular destination.

Ian Scheffler

2 min. read

U.S. Army veteran connects service to research on empathy in ancient Greece
Malcolm Nelson stands in front of the Penn Museum.

Malcolm Nelson, a new Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow in Penn’s Department of Classical Studies, draws on his U.S. Army experience in his research on empathy in ancient Greece.

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U.S. Army veteran connects service to research on empathy in ancient Greece

Serving in the Army from 2009 to 2012 informed the research of Malcolm Nelson, Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow in classical studies, on empathy norms in ancient Greek culture.

2 min. read

Helheim Glacier: New information on sea-level rise
A researcher walking through a glacier in Greenland.

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Helheim Glacier: New information on sea-level rise

For nearly a decade, Leigh Stearns and collaborators aimed a laser scanner system at Greenland’s Helheim Glacier. Their long-running survey reveals that Helheim’s massive calving events don’t behave the way scientists once thought, reframing how ice loss contributes to sea-level rise.

5 min. read