The state of U.S. democracy On the eve of a presidential inauguration following a historic election and its aftermath, experts from across Penn, including Warren Center affiliate Ezekiel Dixon-Román, weigh in on where we stand as a country. Social Policy caret-arrow Consensus and Contagion in Society
Damon Centola Publishes New Book on Behavior Change How do you create the change you want to see in the world? Damon Centola’s newest book, Change: How to Make Big Things Happen, aims to answer that question by drawing on his research rooted in the fields of sociology and communication Communication Sociology caret-arrow Consensus and Contagion in Society
Penn to Develop New Turing Tests, Investigate How AI Can Become More Like Biological Intelligence Despite their tiny brains, honey bees are intelligent and capable of solving complex, novel problems. AI researchers led by Konrad Kording aim to better understand this kind of biological intelligence in order to make artificially intelligent systems better able to learn and adapt. Bioengineering Computer and Information Science Neuroscience caret-arrow Evolution, Emergence and the Brain
The influence and importance of language Labels for what happened Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol were very different from those used to describe the Black Lives Matter movement or the 2020 election results. Diana Mutz discusses how much weight individual words actually have. Communication Political Science caret-arrow Consensus and Contagion in Society
Dark Energy Survey makes public catalog of nearly 700 million astronomical objects With the goal of understanding dark energy and the accelerating expansion of the universe, DES released six years of data, representing one of the largest galaxy surveys published to date. Here at Penn, DES research efforts are led by Bhuvnesh Jain and others in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Physics and Astronomy caret-arrow Ubiquity of Data
Money matters to happiness—perhaps more than previously thought Research from Matthew Killingsworth shows that contrary to previous influential work, there’s no dollar-value plateau at which money’s importance lessens. One potential reason: Higher earners feel an increased sense of control over life. People Analytics caret-arrow Ubiquity of Data
New Study Finds that Delivering the News with Humor Makes Young Adults More Likely to Remember and Share New research suggests that humor may help keep people informed about politics. A study from Emily Falk and collaborators found that, when compared to non-humorous news clips, viewers are not only more likely to share humorously-presented news, but they are also more likely to remember the content from these segments. Communication Marketing Psychology caret-arrow Consensus and Contagion in Society
Why Independent Cultures Think Alike When It Comes to Categories: It’s Not in the Brain The dominant hypothesis is that people are born with categories already in their brains, but a new study from Damon Centola has discovered a novel explanation. His results challenge many long-held ideas about culture and how it forms. Communication Sociology caret-arrow Consensus and Contagion in Society
Studying ‘Hunters and Busybodies,’ Penn and American University Researchers Measure Different Types of Curiosity A new study undertaken by Dani Bassett and collaborators uses Wikipedia browsing as a method for describing curiosity styles. Using a branch of mathematics known as graph theory, their analysis of curiosity opens doors for using it as a tool to improve learning and life satisfaction. Bioengineering Electrical and Systems Engineering caret-arrow Evolution, Emergence and the Brain
Gamification isn’t all fun and games. It’s serious business. In a revised and updated edition of ‘For the Win,’ Kevin Werbach argues that gamemakers need not be the only ones benefiting from game design. Legal Studies & Business Ethics caret-arrow Resilience in Networked Systems
