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Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences
How news messages affect views on vaccination
News coverage of expert scientific evidence about vaccine safety is effective at increasing public acceptance of vaccines, but the positive effect is diminished when the expert message is juxtaposed with a personal narrative about real side effects.
Middle East Film Festival highlights five directors from five countries
Transformed by the pandemic, this year’s festival featured a virtual dialogue with directors and watch-at-home film offerings.
Planning for Pennsylvania Hospital’s next 250 years
PennPraxis, the consulting and community engagement arm of the Weitzman School, will produce plans for the Hospital’s Conservation Management Plan to upgrade the building, grounds, and collections.
Penn senior chosen as Gaither Junior Fellow
Senior Samuel Orloff has been named a James C. Gaither Junior Fellow, chosen for a one-year fellowship at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C.to work on research pertaining to U.S. foreign policy and diplomacy.
Narratives of COVID-19 in China and the world
The two-day symposium brought together scholars to discuss a broad range of topics, from racism against Chinese students studying in the United States to digital workplace surveillance of Chinese workers.
Hate crimes against Asians in Italy linked to economic woes
Research by political scientists Guy Grossman, Stephanie Zonszein, and Gemma Dipoppa shows hate crimes in Italy increased at the pandemic’s onset in areas where higher unemployment was expected, but not in places with higher infections and mortality.
Alumna Jessica Vaughn examines workplace space and culture in ICA solo exhibition
Artist and Weitzman School of Design alumna Jessica Vaughn examines the spaces and culture of the American workplace in her first major solo exhibition, now on view at the Institute of Contemporary Art.
Twitter bots may not be as influential as you think
A new study from Annenberg School for Communication finds that verified media accounts are more central in the spread of information on Twitter than bots.
COVID-19 and women in the workforce
Experts across Penn explain how the pandemic has exacerbated gender inequality and challenged female career advancement in the STEMM fields, education, and business.
The Philadelphia Orchestra is playing safe
Penn experts are working with The Philadelphia Orchestra to study the aerosol droplets that wind and brass musicians produce when playing. Their findings, aimed at reducing the risk of COVID-19 transmission, could help the Orchestra once again play together.
In the News
What did you do at work last week? Monitoring performance doesn’t improve it, expert says
Adam Grant of the Wharton School says that people do their best work when they’re given a chance to pursue autonomy, mastery, belonging, and purpose.
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These two personality traits make you instantly more attractive, say studies of over 4,000 people
A study by postdoc Natalia Kononov of the Wharton School suggests that kindness and helpfulness can make someone more attractive, regardless of the situation or relationship.
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After years of anti-vaccine advocacy, RFK Jr. said vaccines protect children. But experts say he must go further amid measles outbreak
Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center and Jessica McDonald of APPC’s Factcheck.org comment on the need to debunk vaccine misinformation in public health messaging.
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‘Marry or be fired’ and other global efforts to boost fertility
Jesús Fernández-Villaverde of the School of Arts & Sciences says that the world population will peak in 2055, followed by a systematic decline at a rapid rate.
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Formerly anti-vax parents on how they changed their minds: ‘I really made a mistake’
According to surveys from the Annenberg Public Policy Center, the proportion of respondents who believe vaccines are unsafe grew from 9% in April 2021 to 16% in the fall of 2023.
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