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Environment influences coral’s resilience to acidification
Postdoc Kristen Brown diving in the reef to obtain samples

Postdoctoral researcher Kristen Brown (above) collected coral samples from a reef slope to see how they fared in acidic conditions. (Image: Courtesy of Kristen Brown)

Environment influences coral’s resilience to acidification

Ocean acidification is an effect of climate change that threatens the health of coral. A new study examines how coral samples from the Great Barrier Reef fare in acidic conditions.

Marilyn Perkins

Targeting impulsivity early in adolescence could prevent later behavioral disorders
Four adolescents sitting on the top of a skate ramp.

Targeting impulsivity early in adolescence could prevent later behavioral disorders

Tendencies toward impulsivity in early adolescence are linked with a variety of poor outcomes in later adolescence. By mid-adolescence, it may be too late to target impulsivity to prevent those developments.

From the Annenberg Public Policy Center

A novel method for monitoring the ‘engine’ of pregnancy
fetus in the uterus showing connection to placenta

A novel method for monitoring the ‘engine’ of pregnancy

By combining optical measurements with ultrasound, researchers were able to study oxygen levels in the placenta, paving the way for a better understanding of this complex, crucial organ.

Erica K. Brockmeier , Katherine Unger Baillie

Marrying models with experiments to build more efficient solar cells
Solar panels with sunlight shining on the top right corner.

Marrying models with experiments to build more efficient solar cells

Penn chemist Andrew M. Rappe, in collaboration with former postdoc Arvin Kakekhani and researchers at Princeton University, has gained insight into how the molecular make up of solar cells can affect their properties and make them more efficient.

Luis Melecio-Zambrano , Michele W. Berger

Can nature-inspired designs affect cognition and mood?
Farhan Jivraj sits at a desk and looks at the topographic rug in the biophilic room

Can nature-inspired designs affect cognition and mood?

A team from the Center for Neuroaesthetics created a biophilic room to test the idea. Preliminary findings from a small pilot show promise, but also spur many questions about how to best use such a space.

Michele W. Berger , Kelsey Geesler , Michael Grant

Art museums plant seeds of human flourishing
A view of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a long building of orange brick and blue angled roofs. The Schuylkill River flows in the foreground.

A view of the Philadelphia Museum of Art from the Schuylkill River. A recent review shows the many ways that art museums benefit human flourishing. 

Art museums plant seeds of human flourishing

Researchers from the Humanities and Human Flourishing Project in the Positive Psychology Center at Penn have found that art museums are associated with wide-ranging benefits to human health.

Luis Melecio-Zambrano

Jamaal Green on geographic information systems, urban planning, and housing quality
Jamaal Green wearing a backpack in front of the entrance to Fisher Fine Arts Library.

Jamaal Green, assistant professor of city and regional planning at the Weitzman School.

Jamaal Green on geographic information systems, urban planning, and housing quality

The assistant professor of city and regional planning combines his expertise in city planning, housing, and mapping with his teaching, and conducts research on housing quality issues for low-income homeowners in Philadelphia.

From the Weitzman School of Design

An arms race that plays out in a single genome
Illustration of Alice in Wonderland chasing the Red Queen

Like Alice furiously running to keep up with the Red Queen, but remaining in one place, two genetic elements in the fruit fly genome are engaged in an evolutionary arms race to simply keep the biological status quo, according to new research by Penn scientists. (Image: John Tenniel in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass)

An arms race that plays out in a single genome

School of Arts & Sciences biologist Mia Levine and Cara Brand, a postdoc, shed light on an example of coevolution in fruit flies that has implications for human health.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Genomic differences selected through evolution may offer clues as to why COVID-19 outcomes vary widely
two DNA double helixes next to an illustration of the SARS-CoV-2 virus

COVID-19’s hard-to-predict effects likely owe in part to genetic differences. A Penn-led study analyzing the genomes of a diverse set of populations globally points to genetic variants that may help explain some of the variability in disease severity.

Genomic differences selected through evolution may offer clues as to why COVID-19 outcomes vary widely

A team from the University of Pennsylvania analyzed genomic data from global populations, including thousands of ethnically diverse Africans, to identify genetic variants that may be associated with clinical COVID-19 outcomes.

Katherine Unger Baillie