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Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences
Brazil’s presidential election
Three experts share their thoughts on Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva’s defeat of right-wing incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, and what it means for Latin America’s largest democracy.
Despite lower crime rates in 2020, risk of victimization grew
Research out of Penn and the Naval Postgraduate School found that early in the pandemic the possibility of getting robbed or assaulted in a public place in the U.S. jumped by 15% to 30%, a rate that has stayed elevated since.
At risk of persecution, scholars continue research at Penn
The recently launched At-Risk Scholars Program has enabled two people—an art historian and economist—to escape persecution and danger with a period of residence at the University.
Election Day 2022
In what is sure to be an historic election, Penn Today looks back at the stories it published in the months and days leading to the midterms.
Thinking ‘beyond the hospital’ for Black men recovering from traumatic injury
Research from Penn Nursing and Penn Medicine found that where these patients live and return post-hospitalization affects whether they’ll experience symptoms of depression or PTSD as they heal.
Why the Federal Reserve Bank is relevant in times of financial crisis
Harold Cole, the James Joo-Jin Kim Professor of Economics, sheds light on the Fed’s structure, objectives, and capabilities.
From ‘the United States are’ to ‘the United States is’
Political scientist Melissa M. Lee on how the linguistic shift from plural to singular demonstrates the evolution of sovereign authority in the U.S.
The history of abortion access in the U.S.
Following the Dobbs v. Jackson decision issued by the U.S. Supreme Court in June, overruling Roe v. Wade’s established right to an abortion, Penn professors describe the history that led to this moment.
Who, What, Why: Lucía Stavig
Lucía Stavig, a Peruvian postdoctoral fellow in anthropology, works on healing through connection in the Andes.
Misperceptions between political parties could erode democracy in the U.S.
The majority of Americans believe that U.S. democracy, and the country itself, is in crisis and at risk of failing, according to a poll from NPR/Ipsos.
In the News
Meet the people working on getting us to hate each other less
Matthew Levendusky of the School of Arts & Sciences and the Annenberg Public Policy Center says that heightening a sense of American national identity can reduce polarization and partisanship between opposing political parties.
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Americans flunked this test on online privacy
A survey by Joseph Turow of the Annenberg School for Communication and colleagues finds that most Americans don’t understand how online devices and services track users.
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Fact-checking Biden before the State of the Union
The Annenberg Public Policy Center’s FactCheck.org finds that at least five Republican lawmakers, including Speaker Kevin McCarthy, have already voiced opposition to a proposal that would dismantle the IRS and replace current forms of federal taxation with a 30 percent sales tax.
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Why the debt ceiling fight is the GOP’s Groundhog Day
In an Op-Ed, Dick Polman of the School of Arts & Sciences says that conservative ideologues haven’t learned from past threats about raising the debt ceiling.
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Mississippi banned ‘Sesame Street’ for showing Black and white kids playing
According to Linda Simensky of the School of Arts & Sciences, there was a general feeling among 1960s TV executives that kids would watch anything that looked like it was for kids, leading them to not spend much money on programs.
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