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America is in danger of losing its ‘measles-free’ status

America is in danger of losing its ‘measles-free’ status

Alison Buttenheim of the School of Nursing spoke about the possible loss of the country’s measles-elimination status, conferred on countries who go without measles cases for at least one year. “It’s a line in the sand,” she said, “to go back to having regularly circulating measles in the country.”

Inferno in the rainforest
Map of Brazil and other parts of South America showing myriad points of orange

Sensors on NASA satellites Terra and Aqua captured a record of thousands of points of fire in Brazil in late August. The fires pose a threat to the Amazon rainforest and to people living in and around it. (Image: NASA Earth Observatory)

Inferno in the rainforest

Satellite images have detected more than 100,000 points of fire in the Amazon this year. Scientists Reto Gieré and Alain Plante illuminate some less obvious impacts of the fires, including health threats and climate impacts.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Motels as homeless shelters? More local governments are housing people in motel rooms

Motels as homeless shelters? More local governments are housing people in motel rooms

Dennis Culhane of the School of Social Policy & Practice discussed the advantages of repurposing old motels as shelters for people experiencing homelessness. “First of all, it’s built, so there’s no acquiring property and going through the process of getting architectural drawings and building something from scratch,” he said. “You have an asset that you can basically just polish up and improve.”

Five insights into how the brain works
Person sitting at a table with blurry people in front and a screen hanging on the wall behind, which reads, "Experiential effects on brain development."

Martha J. Farah, the Annenberg Professor of Natural Sciences, is director of the Center for Neuroscience & Society at Penn. (Pre-pandemic image: Courtesy Martha Farah) 

Five insights into how the brain works

As the Center for Neuroscience & Society celebrates 10 years, founding director Martha Farah reflects on the array of research from its faculty, on subjects from brain games to aggression.

Michele W. Berger

What is a ‘mass shooting’ and how do we talk about gun violence?
A person standing at the foot of a set of outdoor stairs, with a brick wall behind and fencing atop the stairs.

Richard Berk, professor of criminology and statistics. (Image: Eric Sucar)

What is a ‘mass shooting’ and how do we talk about gun violence?

In a Q&A, criminologist Richard Berk discusses why definitions matter and what role social media and mental illness play in this context.

Michele W. Berger