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1 in 4 young people using psychotropic drugs are taking dangerous combinations
An adolescent holding a prescription pill.

Image: Chinnapong via Getty Images

1 in 4 young people using psychotropic drugs are taking dangerous combinations

A Penn Medicine study shows that the use of medicines to address mental health or behavioral conditions climbed from 2001 until 2020, but the increase has led to safety concerns.

Frank Otto

2 min. read

Why students leave community college
Estefanie Aguilar Padilla conducting fieldwork at a community college.

Penn GSE doctoral student Estefanie Aguilar Padilla conducting fieldwork at a community college. 

(Image: Courtesy of Penn GSE)

Why students leave community college

At Penn’s Graduate School for Education, doctoral student Estefanie Aguilar Padilla’s work with associate professor Rachel Baker reveals why students walk away—and how colleges can help them stay.

From Penn GSE

2 min. read

Rewriting the rules of lung repair
Andy vaughan in his lab.

Associate professor of biomedical sciences Andy Vaughan.

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Rewriting the rules of lung repair

Penn Vet’s Andrew Vaughan works to uncover why some lungs rebound and others have lasting damage, and how to change that.

Martin Hackett

2 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

An innovative AI tool to improve health care delivery in rural India
Fourth-year student Prithvi Parthasarathy standing with arms crossed in the Neural and Behavioral Sciences Building

Fourth-year neuroscience major Prithvi Parthasarathy is dedicated to innovating health care delivery.

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An innovative AI tool to improve health care delivery in rural India

Prithvi Parthasarathy, a fourth-year neuroscience major, designed an AI triage tool to improve hospital efficiency and patient care.

3 min. read

Pink noise reduces REM sleep and may harm sleep quality
A person in bed taking earplugs out of a case.

Image: lisanna881 via Getty Images

Pink noise reduces REM sleep and may harm sleep quality

Penn Medicine researchers find that earplugs work better in protecting sleep from traffic noise, challenging the widespread use of ambient sound machines and apps marketed as sleep aids.

Eric Horvath

2 min. read

How to incentivize problem solving in groups
Artist rendering of several people conected with string stretch their connections to the limit, testing the strength of unity.

Image: Flavio Coelho via Getty Images

How to incentivize problem solving in groups

Why do some groups get smarter together while others collapse into groupthink? New research from theoretical biologist Joshua Plotkin and collaborators show that collective intelligence doesn’t emerge by rewarding the most accurate individuals but by rewarding those who improve the group’s prediction as a whole.

3 min. read

Awards and accolades for Penn faculty
An archway on Penn’s campus in the snow.

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Awards and accolades for Penn faculty

A roundup of the latest appointments and awards for various faculty members in the Graduate School of Education, the School of Arts & Sciences, and the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Penn Today Staff

2 min. read

Moving closer to ‘true’ equine IVF for clinical use
Katrin Hinrichs and Matheus Felix in a lab.

Katrin Hinrichs, chair of the Department of Clinical Studies–New Bolton Center and head of the Penn Equine Assisted Reproduction Laboratory (PEARL) and Matheus Felix, PEARL’s chief embryologist, work together in the lab. Felix is also an author in the 2025 study report on IVF with frozen-thawed stallion sperm.

(Image: Courtesy of Penn Vet)

Moving closer to ‘true’ equine IVF for clinical use

Researchers at Penn Vet are exploring different processes for using frozen-thawed semen to accomplish so-called true IVF.

From Penn Vet

2 min. read

The best way to onboard a manager

The best way to onboard a manager

New research from Wharton management professor Henning Piezunka reveals a common mistake that businesses make when hiring a new manager into an established leadership team.