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.