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Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences
Individuals find polls that favor their candidates more credible
Individuals find polls that favor their candidates more credible
Because voters use pre-election polls to consider the choices before them and to structure their expectations about an election, a new study highlights how individuals interpret them.
‘May the force be with you’ and other fan fiction favorites
‘May the force be with you’ and other fan fiction favorites
Researchers have created a unique digital humanities tool to analyze the most popular phrases and character connections in fan fiction based on blockbuster film series, starting with “Star Wars,” “Lord of the Rings,” and “Harry Potter.”
Engaging Minds showcases best part of Penn in New York
Penn Alumni’s Dec. 14 event featured a trio of impressive faculty: Michael Weisberg, Sarah J. Jackson, and Duncan Watts.
Restoring Indigenous knowledge systems and languages
Restoring Indigenous knowledge systems and languages
Penn’s Educational Partnerships with Indigenous Communities builds alliances with Native Americans.
Five things to know about the British election
Five things to know about the British election
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party won a decisive victory in last week’s general election. Political scientist Brendan O’Leary, an expert on U.K. politics, tells Penn Today his five main takeaways from the election results.
How rituals shape our world
How rituals shape our world
An Annenberg class about ritual communication encourages students to employ ethnography and textual analysis to think about the unique language of rituals and their endurance.
Understanding how information flows into and out of Gitmo
Understanding how information flows into and out of Gitmo
Annenberg doctoral student Muira McCammon studies the intersection of technology, law, and military policy. She’s on the quest to understand how people and data move through the Guantánamo Bay detention center.
‘An Atlas for the Green New Deal’
‘An Atlas for the Green New Deal’
The McHarg Center releases a new collection of maps and datascapes capturing the spatial consequences of climate change in support of a coordinated national response.
On the condition of alienage for refugees
On the condition of alienage for refugees
Eilidh Beaton, doctoral candidate in philosophy, argues for the reconsideration of the alienage condition for refugee status.
New leadership at Fels Institute
New leadership at Fels Institute
The 82-year-old Fels Institute of Government’s signature Public Policy in Practice workshops continues the legacy of providing students with a practical program in public administration.
In the News
Marketplace (NPR)
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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Philadelphia Inquirer
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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Deseret News (Salt Lake City)
‘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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Men’s Health
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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The Guardian
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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