Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences

A conversation with Julia Ticona

In the latest episode of “Office Hours,” a Penn Today podcast, Assistant Professor of Communication Julia Ticona explains her research about the gig economy and chitchats about cooking, campus, and superpowers.

Brandon K. Baker

A Q&A with landscape historian Sonja Dümpelmann

Landscape historian and standing faculty in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the Weitzmann School Sonja Dümpelmann discusses her new book, “Seeing Trees: A History of Street Trees in New York City and Berlin.

Penn Today Staff

Genes play a role in dog breed differences in behavior

Border collies are highly trainable, greyhounds love to chase, and German shepherds make good guard dogs. While the environment plays a role, traits like these are highly heritable. A new study identifies 131 genetic variants associated with breed differences in behavior.

Katherine Unger Baillie

A simple intervention enduringly reduces anti-Muslim sentiment

Research from the Annenberg School for Communication found that calling out the hypocrisy of collective blame—holding an entire group that’s not our own responsible for acts of a single person—significantly lessened hostile sentiments toward that group.

Michele W. Berger , Julie Sloane



In the News


U.S. News & World Report

Has RSV vaccine hesitancy subsided?

A survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center finds that more Americans believe in the effectiveness of vaccines developed to protect newborns and seniors against RSV.

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The New York Times

Europe has a leadership vacuum. How will it handle Trump?

Amy Gutmann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that Germany is front and center in the economic problems currently afflicting Europe.

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The Hill

Trust in court system at record low: Gallup

An October survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that the public’s trust in the U.S. Supreme Court has dropped to a record low.

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Los Angeles Times

Trump offers murky worldview ahead of second term, mixing dire warnings with rosy promises

Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center says that Donald Trump is far more hyperbolic on average than traditional presidential candidates, who still routinely claim that they will do something alone that can’t be done without Congress.

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The New York Times

An epidemic of vicious school brawls, fueled by student cellphones

PIK Professor Desmond Upton Patton says that many schools don’t have a playbook for addressing student violence or helping pupils engage more positively online, in part because few researchers are studying the issue.

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