Hope for Katherine Belle
How one family’s journey through the realm of rare disease led them to the newest frontier of precision genetic medicine.
FDA Approves First Gene Therapy for Cancer
FDA approval for Penn-developed gene therapy for cancer.
New Hope for Sinus Infections
Blocking sweet-taste receptors could clear stuffy sinuses.
Atlas for the End of the World
Auditing the globe’s protected landscapes—and the forces threatening them.
The Prehuman History of Cocktail Hour
Don't match drinks with the Malaysian pen-tailed tree shrew.
Fathoming Man’s Best Friend
Dog science gets an update.
Identity Cleft
In the age of hybrid cells and genetic medicine, where does human identity lie?
Parrot Gets a Pegleg
Penn Vet gave a parrot a (3D-printed) pegleg.
Science and Error
A history of unripe findings and unintended consequences.
Strange Brotherhood
The hidden chapter of wartime human experimentation in the DKE house.
Black Box Justice
Richard Berk designs computer algorithms that predict crime. As courts and cops increasingly use his and similar tools to shape everything from parole decisions to street policing, Berk has a warning: accuracy comes at the cost of fairness, and citizens must decide where justice lies.
Mapping the Human Journey
Combining old-school fieldwork and ethnography with up-to-the-minute gene-based analyses, Penn molecular anthropologist Theodore G. Schurr has helped shape our understanding of the movement of ancient peoples into the Americas.
The Psychonaut You Never Heard Of
John Lilly’s very long, very strange trip from Penn’s Medical School to the outer fringes of science—and consciousness.
Shakespeare’s Secret Helper
Big data and the Bard: what’s in a the, or and, or with, or or?
Data Defenders
Data Refuge project preserves federal data on climate change.
Wham! Smack! Pow! You’re Dead
PG-13 films: heavy on violence, light on consequences.
Doctoral Distiller
Doctoral student—and whiskey distiller—Zach Cohen.
Tiny Flying Robots
Mini Piccolissimo: the world’s smallest self-powered flying drone.
UV versus C. Diff
Finding: UV light can reduce C. diff infections.
States Worse Than Death
Patient preferences diverge from standard measures of care quality.
Breakthroughs in Superconductivity: An Accelerated Journey
Anna Grassellino Gr’10’s breakthrough improved superconductivity.
E Pluribus, Polarization?
Political polarization less pronounced than partisans predict.
Flagship for Penn’s Other Campus
Pennovation Center opening: fabricating the future.
Chasing Miracles
The author wanted to know why the stem-cell treatments that worked so well for her hobbled dog aren’t being used to put the spring back in humans’ steps. Researchers at Penn’s Institute for Regenerative Medicine explained—and shared some of their own, measured, progress toward successful therapies.