News from

Research

Reset All Filters
1325 Results
Centuries after discovery, red blood cells still hold surprises
Four microscopic views of red blood cells.

In these microscopic close-ups, samples of red blood cells aggregate from left to right, becoming more compact despite the absence of platelets, long thought essential to clotting.

(Image: Rustem Litvinov)

Centuries after discovery, red blood cells still hold surprises

In a new collaborative study, researchers at Penn turned to mechanical engineering to understand how blood clots can compact, even without platelets.

Ian Scheffler

2 min. read

Nudging populations toward better health
Kevin Volpp.

Kevin Volpp is the Mark V. Pauly President’s Distinguished Professor at the Perelman School of Medicine and Health Care Management at the Wharton School, and director at the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics.

(Image: Courtesy of the Wharton School)

Nudging populations toward better health

Kevin Volpp, Mark V. Pauly President’s Distinguished Professor at the Perelman School of Medicine and Health Care Management at the Wharton School, discusses how behavioral health interventions can improve public health outcomes.

From the Regulatory Review

2 min. read

The poetry of ancient math
Medieval mathematical manuscript written in vernacular Malayalam script on palm-leaf

Medieval mathematical manuscript written in vernacular Malayalam script on palm-leaf at the Oriental Research Institute and Manuscripts Library, Thiruvananthapuram, India. Ph.D. student Priya Nambrath is using manuscripts like these to better understand “a deeply grounded and long-lasting mathematical tradition.”

(Image: Courtesy Priya Nambrath)

The poetry of ancient math

The methods and findings of pre-modern Indian mathematicians remain poorly understood. Priya Nambrath, a doctoral candidate in the School of Arts & Sciences’ Department of South Asia Studies, wants to change that.

From Omnia

2 min. read

Investigating barriers to menopause care for Medicaid patients
Eri Maeda standing outdoors against a brick wall and smiling, facing forward.

Eri Maeda, a rising third-year in the College of Arts & Sciences, spent her summer in the Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program (PURM) studying the impact of insurance status on menopause care access in the U.S. A neuroscience major pursuing a pre-medicine path, Maeda has gained new insights and research skills throughout her PURM experience.

nocred

Investigating barriers to menopause care for Medicaid patients

Rising third-year Eri Maeda dedicated her summer to a Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program project exploring how insurance status may shape access to menopause care in the U.S.

4 min. read

Penn’s Benjamin Nathans reflects on his work and Pulitzer Prize win
Benjamin Nathans sits at a table in his office.

Benjamin Nathans has been studying Soviet and Russian history for four decades.

nocred

Penn’s Benjamin Nathans reflects on his work and Pulitzer Prize win

Historian Benjamin Nathans’ huge volume on the stories and lives of Soviet dissidents has gotten renewed attention after winning the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction. Nathan’s research and insights span a four-decade-long career studying Russia and the USSR, modern Jewish history, and the history of human rights.

5 min. read

AI vision, reinvented: The power of synthetic data

AI vision, reinvented: The power of synthetic data

Researchers at Penn Engineering and the Allen Institute for AI are using AI to create scientific figures, charts, and tables that teach other AI systems how to interpret complex visual information for open-source models.

Ian Scheffler

2 min. read

Three undergraduates map climate and health education opportunities across campus
Wendy Hernandez Higarede and Veronica Baladi look at glass case in Houston Hall.

Wendy Hernandez Higarede and Veronica Baladi made observations in Houston Hall as part of their fieldwork.

nocred

Three undergraduates map climate and health education opportunities across campus

For a Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program project, Wendy Hernandez Higarede, Veronica Baladi, and Faith Amolo Owino are engaging with Penn’s Climate and Health Education Working Group and learning ethnographic methods.

2 min. read

Thriving while surviving: Understanding the social needs of cancer survivors
Person with head covering looking out a window.

Image: Liliya Krueger via Getty Images

Thriving while surviving: Understanding the social needs of cancer survivors

Penn researchers and their colleagues have investigated how unmet social needs impact the health and well-being of U.S. cancer survivors. Their findings are relevant for other serious chronic illnesses.

3 min. read

Could exoplanets locked in eternal day and endless night support life?
Artist depiction of exoplanet LHS 3844 b.

Image: Courtesy of NASA

Could exoplanets locked in eternal day and endless night support life?

Ever so slightly bigger than Earth, the exoplanet LHS 3844b orbits its parent star, LHS 3884, a red dwarf 48.5 light-years away from our solar system, in such a way that the speed of its axial spin mirrors the speed of its orbit. The result? One side of LHS 3844b is perpetually bathed in scorching sunlight, locked into a never-ending, blistering hot day, while the other is forever shrouded in darkness so cold that particles are incapable of movement, a state known as absolute zero (zero Kelvin).

7 min. read