Health Sciences

Getting science right in the fake news era

Over his career as a science journalist, Carl Zimmer has seen legitimate science reporting denied and illegitimate science news taken as fact. In advance of a talk at Penn, Zimmer discusses the problem of misinformation and offers tips for avoiding being fooled by bogus science stories.

Katherine Unger Baillie

5 tips to scare away cavities

Beyond the inevitable sugar high, what are the implications of consuming a glut of candy? Pediatric dentist Maria Velasco suggests coming up with a plan, then giving away the rest of the treats.

Michele W. Berger

Staging the plague

Eighty-one students training in a diversity of health professions worked with regional and federal agencies to confront an imagined outbreak scenario centered around bubonic plague in Philadelphia.

Katherine Unger Baillie



In the News


The Wall Street Journal

The quest for treatments to keep weight off after Ozempic

Researchers at Penn are conducting a co-authored study of the brains, fat and muscle cells, and eating patterns of people trying to maintain new body sizes.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Inside Penn’s transfer center

Penn Medicine’s transfer command center gets patients from affiliated hospitals and hospitals outside Philadelphia to specialized care that can save lives, with comments from CEO Kevin Mahoney.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Operating rooms are major sources of greenhouse gasses. Penn is eliminating a form of anesthesia that hangs in the air for more than a decade after use

Penn Medicine is phasing out the anesthesia desflurane at four of its six hospitals to eliminate harmful greenhouse gases, with remarks from Greg Evans.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Broad Street runners from Penn are racing with gyroscopes to study the Achilles tendon

Casey Jo Humbyrd and Josh Baxter of the Perelman School of Medicine and colleagues will track data from running the Broad Street Run to understand how a healthy Achilles tendon functions.

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National Geographic

What is topical steroid withdrawal? If you have eczema, here’s what you should know

Bruce Brod of the Perelman School of Medicine says that prolonged or overuse of topical steroids can cause rosacea, skin thinning, stretch marks, and an extreme and debilitating withdrawal.

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