Featured Research Stories

Recent articles from the science writers of Penn Today

How the hippocampus distinguishes true and false memories

Researchers in the School of Arts & Sciences have shown for the first time that electrical signals in the hippocampus differ immediately before recollection of true and false memories.

–Published 2023-09-29

Can ChatGPT help us form personal narratives?

New research from Abigail Blyler and Martin Seligman at the Positive Psychology Center found that the language model can produce accurate personal narratives from stream-of-consciousness data.

–Published 2023-09-28

Conflicts and cultural evolution: All for one and one for all?

Researchers from the School of Arts & Sciences show that, when it comes to learning and honing different skills, what’s better for the individual isn’t always better for the group.

–Published 2023-09-21

The brain-blood barrier’s role in governing ant behavior

New research from Penn Medicine uncovers a link between a single enzyme and complex social behaviors in ants.

–Published 2023-09-18

Why stock valuation hinges more on returns than future earnings

Growth stocks don’t generate the long-term returns that would justify their high multiples, according to the 2023 Jacobs Levy Center’s “Best Paper” co-authored by the Wharton School’s Sean Myers.

–Published 2023-09-12

A suit of armor for cancer-fighting cells

New research from the University of Pennsylvania offers a safer path for CAR T cell immunotherapy.

–Published 2023-09-12

The nursing burnout crisis is also happening in primary care

A study co-authored by Penn Nursing’s Jacqueline Nikpour and J. Margo Brooks Carthon finds nurses in primary care face burnout and poor work environments, especially in low-income clinics.

–Published 2023-09-11

Amy Paeth on the ‘poetry industrial complex’

In her new book, the lecturer in critical writing in the School of Arts & Sciences uses the history of the U.S. poet laureate as a window into how the arts, government, industry, and private donors interact and shape culture.

–Published 2023-09-08

Exploring inequalities in health through cognitive science and family conversation

Doctoral candidate Mary E. Andrews believes that personal stories can help people live healthier lives.

–Published 2023-09-06

A positive worldview is less associated with privilege than expected

A new study from The Primals Project shows that counter to public perception, positive beliefs about the world are a poor indicator of a person’s background.

–Published 2023-09-06

A low-cost, eco-friendly COVID test

César de la Fuente and a team of Penn engineers work on creative ways to create faster and cheaper testing for COVID-19. Their latest innovation incorporates speed and cost-effectiveness with eco-friendly materials.

–Published 2023-09-01

Trading decisions are observable in the eyes of buyers and sellers

In a new collaborative study, PIK Professor Michael Platt models how the decision-making process unfolds in the brains of buyers and sellers considering a deal. These decisions were observable in eye movements and pupil dilation.

–Published 2023-09-01

SCALAR: A microchip designed to transform the production of mRNA therapeutics and vaccines

Researchers have developed a platform that could rapidly accelerate the development of mRNA-based lipid nanoparticle vaccines and therapeutics at both the small and largescale, SCALAR.

–Published 2023-08-23

Who, What, Why: Jimil Ataman on the politics and contradictions of slow fashion

The anthropology Ph.D. candidate discusses what she has learned following slow fashion creators and consumers on Instagram and in the Pacific Northwest.

–Published 2023-08-22

Closing the carbon cycle with green propane production

Researchers from Penn have helped develop a new carbon-capture solution for a cleaner, more energy-dense fuel source.

–Published 2023-08-17

Netflix in Mexico

Undergraduates Miraya Gesheva and Teia Hudson spent the summer working with Juan Llamas-Rodriguez to look at how streaming in Mexico has changed during the past 10 years.

–Published 2023-08-14

Who, What, Why: Betsy Stade on novel methods for assessing anxiety and depression

The clinical psychology Ph.D. candidate discusses her research on language patterns in anxiety and depression and thinking about alternatives to the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition.”

–Published 2023-08-10

How machine learning could aid compatibility in kidney transplantation

Through the PURM internship program, undergraduate students are further researching an algorithm developed to group kidney donor-recipient pairs into low-risk and high-risk groups for graft survival.

–Published 2023-08-08

Desmond Patton and the science of being human

Penn Integrates Knowledge University professor Desmond Upton Patton discusses his research in social media and violence, finding an interdisciplinary career in social work, communication, data science, and psychiatry, and why his open-mindedness never stops.

–Published 2023-08-04

To reduce medical errors, connect doctors with other doctors

A new study from Annenberg’s Damon Centola uncovers how information-sharing networks can improve medical care.

–Published 2023-08-03

Could we breed cows that emit less methane?

In a new study, researchers from the School of Veterinary Medicine identified attributes of low-methane-emitting dairy cows that could be used as targets for selective breeding.

–Published 2023-08-02

Protein identified as a target for Alzheimer’s treatment

New Penn Medicine research finds that a tau-regulating protein suppresses deterioration, and suggests replenishing the protein may improve cognitive and motor function.

–Published 2023-07-31

First findings from U.S. 2020 Facebook and Instagram election study

Research by Annenberg School for Communication professor Sandra González-Bailón and colleagues reveals the influence of Facebook’s algorithms on political news exposure.

–Published 2023-07-31

Individuals with depression are more than two times as likely to be diagnosed with dementia

Penn Medicine research finds the risk of dementia is higher for men than women, and in individuals with multiple inpatient hospitalizations for depression.

–Published 2023-07-27

Leading the charge: New research paves the way for energy-efficient power storage and electronics

Penn’s Andrew Rappe and collaborators explore high-quality thin films to propel power into the future.

–Published 2023-07-27

Euclid Space Telescope launches exciting new possibilities

Professors of physics and astronomy Bhuvnesh Jain, Mark Trodden, and Gary Bernstein discuss the coming research findings from the European Space Agency’s Euclid Space Telescope.

–Published 2023-07-20

Natural structures can give rise to stronger, lighter systems

Weitzman’s Masoud Akbarzadeh discusses a recent multidisciplinary study that draws inspiration from dragonfly wings to redesign a Boeing 777 to be lighter, stronger, and more sustainable.

–Published 2023-07-18

AI-guided brain stimulation aids memory in traumatic brain injury

A collaborative study shows that targeted electrical stimulation in the brains of epilepsy patients with traumatic brain injury improved memory recall by 19%.

–Published 2023-07-17

Young voters and online civic education

A collaborative new study by Guy Grossman of the School of Arts & Sciences and co-authors looks at the effects of low-cost online interventions in encouraging young Moroccans to turn out and cast an informed vote in the 2021 elections. 

–Published 2023-07-14

Factors that make correcting misinformation about science more successful

New Penn research assesses belief in misinformation about science and determines how well debunking misinformation proves to be effective.

–Published 2023-07-12