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Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences
Senior Erin Hayes named Gates Cambridge Scholar
Senior Erin Hayes, a Roy and Diana Vagelos Scholar in the Molecular Life Sciences, has been awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship to pursue a Ph.D. in astronomy at the University of Cambridge in England.
Racial justice protests influenced local news reporting
A new Media, Inequality, and Change Center report finds that news coverage of policing did become more inclusive and less dehumanizing, but was still heavily slanted toward a police perspective.
Why are alcohol- and drug-related deaths rising in the U.S. and not elsewhere?
With insights from anthropology and neuroscience, Penn researchers Michael Platt and Peter Sterling find that, in comparison, 16 other wealthy nations offer communal assistance at every life stage, support that protects individuals and families long term.
Studying the past through a modern-day lens
In a Q & A, archaeologist and PIK Professor Lynn Meskell discusses her background, the subjects that interest her—from espionage to World Heritage sites—and collaborations that have organically arisen at Penn despite the pandemic and a mostly remote first year.
Understanding climate stories
In the latest episode of Penn Today’s “Understand This …” podcast series, Bethany Wiggin of the School of Arts & Sciences and Jennifer Pinto-Martin of the School of Nursing discuss climate stories, climate grief, and climate literacy.
The ‘music’ of one poet’s words, translated
With help from her daughter, scholar Huda Fakhreddine published an English version of 30 poems for children written by her father in Arabic, paying tribute to their endearing and enduring subject matter and to the musicality and richness of their sound.
A call for tools to navigate the future of the Delaware River watershed
The Penn Program in Environmental Humanities is partnering with Philadelphia’s Independence Seaport Museum to solicit designs for tools to help Delaware River watershed residents adapt and respond to climate change and other ecological challenges.
Hard barriers and soft power: Study assesses outsider perceptions of border walls
Two researchers explore how border walls damage a country’s international image, with real soft power implications.
Can Russia be stopped?
Alexander Vershbow, former U.S. ambassador to Russia and Perry World House Distinguished Visiting Fellow, discusses Russia’s military buildup along the Ukrainian border that’s stoking invasion fears.
After the shutdown, what comes next for the former Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery?
Creating a greener, more equitable future at the site means understanding its complex history, its long-running public health impacts, and working in partnership with communities.
In the News
Comcast’s Sports Complex plan for South Philly would make our city less livable
In an Op-Ed, Vukan R. Vuchic of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says that Philadelphia should make transit more accessible rather than striving to accommodate more cars.
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We don’t see what climate change is doing to us
In an Op-Ed, R. Jisung Park of the School of Social Policy & Practice says that public discourse around climate change overlooks the buildup of slow, subtle costs and their impact on human systems.
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Far fewer young Americans now want to study in China. Both countries are trying to fix that
Amy Gadsden of Penn Global says that American interest in studying in China is declining due to foreign businesses closing their offices there and Beijing’s draconian governing style.
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‘Slouch’ review: The panic over posture
In her new book, “Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America,” Beth Linker of the School of Arts & Sciences traces society’s posture obsession to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.
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In death, three decades after his trial verdict, O.J. Simpson still reflects America’s racial divides
Camille Charles of the School of Arts & Sciences says that Black Americans have grown less likely to believe in a famous defendant’s innocence as a show of race solidarity.
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