Research | Penn Today

Don’t feel like exercising? It could be your microbiome

A study by Christoph Thaiss of the Perelman School of Medicine and colleagues found that gut microbiomes encouraged animals to exercise.

One study said happiness peaked at $75,000 in income. Now, economists say it’s higher—by a lot

A study co-authored by Matthew Killingsworth of the Wharton School, PIK Professor Barbara Mellers, and a team from Princeton found that happiness improves with higher earnings, up to $500,000 a year, except for those who were “rich and miserable” for other reasons.

How Havana syndrome helps us rethink the brain

A team at Penn Medicine found MRI results consistent with a major brain injury in patients suffering from Havana syndrome.

Illustration of a person holding a brief case bounding up stacks of money. Dollar signs float all around and one appears in a large circular coin at the bottom right.

Does more money correlate with greater happiness?

Reconciling previously contradictory results, researchers from Penn and Princeton find a steady association between larger incomes and greater happiness for most people but a rise and plateau for an unhappy minority.

Bird flu can jump to mammals. Should we worry?

Louise Moncla’s lab at the School of Veterinary Medicine is developing ways to scan genetic blueprints of past outbreaks for signatures of a virus that can jump between different animal species.

How can humans detect AI writing? These Penn researchers have some tips

Chris Callison-Burch of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and colleagues share the results of a study which examined how humans can detect AI writing.

How a new potential treatment for rare leukemia helped this Wilmington mom

Research by Selina Luger of the Perelman School of Medicine and colleagues finds that a new combination therapy can treat patients diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia.

The qualified case for college

According to research by Hanming Fang of the School of Arts & Sciences, two-thirds of the “college premium” reflect skills learned or enhanced in college.

Civic education is having a moment. This is what that means

The 2022 Constitution Day Survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that fewer than half of Americans could name all three branches of government.

Two people from the Hadza group pose and smile outdoors

Genomics reveals a complex human history in Africa

An international team of researchers led by Penn geneticists sequenced the genomes of 180 Indigenous Africans. The results shed light on the origin of modern humans, African population history, and local adaptation.

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