Penn Arts & Sciences in the News

Parents in the United States are increasingly turning to new living models to feel less alone and closer to friends and childcare. Professor of Russian and East European Studies Kristen Ghodsee says this might be because Americans “isolate ourselves so profoundly” when they have kids.

A dive into the world of sibling dynamics cites work by Annette Lareau, Professor of Sociology, who has found that those in working-class and poorer homes partake in fewer extracurriculars. As a result, they spend more time together, influencing each other in outsized ways.

Melissa Wilde, Davidson Kennedy Professor in the College, says it’s difficult to predict what cardinals will consider as the conclave to choose a new pope goes on. “It will not be another Latin American, it will most likely not be an American, but this could be the wild card,” she says. “I would say Asian or African, if not one of them, American, if not one of them, an Italian.”

Alan Charles Kors Term Associate Professor of History Benjamin Nathans has won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize winner for general nonfiction, honoring his latest work, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement. The book “explores the idea and practice of rights and the rule of law in the setting of ‘mature socialism.’”

If the vote to select a new pope becomes a prolonged endeavor, Davidson Kennedy Professor in the College Melissa Wilde says age may become a bigger factor. “How long do we want this guy in power? This one becomes more important the longer it takes to get consensus.”

A study led by John MacDonald, Professor of Criminology, found that new LED streetlights helped rein in gun violence and crime in Philadelphia. Studied areas experienced a 21 percent reduction in outdoor nighttime gun violence, along with a 20 percent decline in violent crimes after the lights were installed.

A new hotel in Denver is leaning into its climate credentials, including using carbon offsets. But Joseph Romm, Senior Research Fellow at the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media, is dubious. “I don’t know any company right now that is serious about climate change that still thinks tree planting is a legit offset.”

Pope Francis leaves behind a long legacy, but Marci Hamilton, Professor of Practice, says he let down victims of clergy sex abuse. “From where I’m sitting, the Vatican has not made things better.”

Pope Francis reshaped the Catholic Church in ways we are unlikely to ever see again in our lifetime, says Anthea Butler, Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought. “What remains to be seen is whether his changes last,” Butler writes.

Living for the weekend is pretty common, but James Pawelski, Director of Education for the Positive Psychology Center, says it might not be the most fulfilling way to live your life. “There are five weekdays and only two weekend days. So, if most of (the time) you’re looking back or you’re looking forward, you’re missing out on your life.”

Matthew Levendusky, Professor of Political Science, is among four Philadelphians named as part of the 100th class of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship. “It’s incredibly humbling,” Levendusky says. “I applied but never expected to win.” Marcia Chatelain, Presidential Penn Compact Professor of Africana Studies, was another honoree this year. 

Some Hebrew teachers are critical of language apps like Duolingo, but not Joseph Benatov, Director of the Modern Hebrew Language Program and the Associate Director of the Jewish Studies Program. Benatov argues such apps can happily coexist alongside “quizzes, longer, more traditional exams, [and also] various sorts of more modern assignments,” to create a robust language program.