Penn Arts & Sciences in the News

Josef Wegner, Egyptologist and chair of the Department of Middle Eastern Languages & Cultures, comments on the technology used to build the Great Sphinx of Giza. “The Egyptians were masters of limestone masonry, and their sculptors would have easily been able to carve at this scale,” he says.

Michael Platt, James S. Riepe University Professor, says that having a celebrity endorsement in politics can backfire. “Maybe it’s a celebrity that you don’t like or is not aligned with you politically.” Plus, he adds, there’s the “vampire effect,” where a celebrity who is too famous shifts the attention away from the candidate he or she is endorsing. 

“We have a lot of good research and political communications that suggest that the types of people who would be most exposed to conventions are the most politically engaged people, the types of people who would probably be the most certain to vote and the most certain to vote for specific candidates,” says Marc Meredith, a professor in the Department of Political Science. 

Loren Goldman, Associate Professor of Political Science, has studied the use of hope as a political tool through history. He says that Democrats “embracing the language of hope” allows them to “claim the mantle of the future,” adding that it positions Harris as someone inheriting the legacy of President Barack Obama and contrasts her with her opponent, Donald Trump. 

When we eat extremely sour or spicy foods, the brain can override the initial pain reaction. “That’s where the pleasure comes from,” says Paul Rozin, emeritus professor in the Department of Psychology. “You’re overriding your body’s signal not to do this.”

The concept, developed by Martin Seligman, Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology, means recognizing and challenging negative thoughts, with the aim of having a more positive outlook. It’s a “core mindset of resilience and well-being that helps people to approach challenges and navigate adversity,” says Karen Reivich, director of training programs at Penn’s Positive Psychology Center.

Brendan O’Leary, Lauder Professor of Political Science, discusses the upcoming 2024 election in the United Kingdom and its potential long-term consequences. 

Emilio Parrado, Dorothy Swaine Thomas Professor of Sociology and director of Penn’s Population Studies Center, discusses the three main drivers of population change: natural increases or decreases, domestic migration, and migration from abroad. 

In Part 3 of STAT’s yearlong examination of reproductive autonomy for people with sickle cell disease, Dorothy Roberts, George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology, notes the “widespread devaluing of certain people’s childbearing,” seen in negative stereotypes, laws that deny someone extra benefits if they get pregnant while on welfare, and more. 

Marcia Chatelain, Presidential Penn Compact Professor of Africana Studies and author of the book Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America, that Red Lobster attracted both working-class and affluent Black diners at a time during the 1970s and ’80s when many sit-down restaurants were unwelcoming of Black patrons.

Professor of Political Science Daniel Hopkins discusses the volatility of the current election cycle. “We used to expect that the marginal non-voter, the next voter who turned out if an election was very engaging, didn’t look different from people who did vote.” he says. “In this case, the crowd that hasn’t gotten engaged looks very, very different.”
 

Beth Linker, Samuel H. Preston Endowed Term Professor in the Social Sciences and author of Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America, recommends asking yourself whether your posture really needs fixing in the first place before shelling out big bucks.