Research

The intonation Black/biracial men use to speak about race

In a study of college-educated biracial men, ages 18 to 32, sociolinguist Nicole Holliday found that, when asked about race, this group frequently brought up law enforcement unprompted and discussed the subject using vocal tone more generally associated with white speakers.

Michele W. Berger

A new metric for designing safer streets

Penn researchers demonstrate how biometric data can help city planners more proactively design and evaluate the safety of urban infrastructure for bicyclists and pedestrians.

Erica K. Brockmeier

How data science can make Hollywood more diverse

Wharton’s Kartik Hosanagar launched Jumpcut, a startup to help Hollywood create more inclusive content by relying on data to show industry leaders that audiences are hungry for a wider range of representation.

From Knowledge at Wharton

Obscuring the truth can promote cooperation

People are more likely to cooperate if they think others are cooperating, too. New research by biologists in the School of Arts & Sciences shows that overstating the true level of cooperation in a society can increase cooperative behavior overall.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Protein’s ‘silent code’ affects how cells move

A School of Veterinary Medicine-led study shows how, despite having nearly identical amino acid sequences, two forms of the protein actin differ in function due their distinct nucleotide sequences.

Katherine Unger Baillie



In the News


Education Week

The more students miss class, the worse teachers feel about their jobs

A study co-authored by Michael Gottfried of the Graduate School of Education finds that teacher satisfaction steadily drops as student absenteeism increases.

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The Washington Post

Diversity will suffer with five-day office mandates, research suggests

A 2024 Wharton School study found that changing job openings to remote work at startups increased female applicants by 15% and minority applicants by 33%.

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Interesting Engineering

Superhuman vision lets robots see through walls, smoke with new LiDAR-like eyes

Mingmin Zhao of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and colleagues are using radio signals to allow robots to “see” beyond traditional sensor limits.

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Phys.org

Rising student absenteeism may be hurting teacher job satisfaction

A study by Michael Gottfried and Ph.D. student Colby Woods of the Graduate School of Education finds that student absences are linked to lower teacher job satisfaction, which could exacerbate growing teacher shortages.

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SciTechDaily

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.

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Voice of America

Can honeybees and dogs detect cancer earlier than technology?

Cynthia Otto of the School of Veterinary Medicine and colleagues at the Penn Vet Working Dog Center are training dogs to recognize certain cancer odors.

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