Translating the World’s Languages

Chris Callison-Burch first wondered how computers could be used to translate languages as a high school freshman while tinkering with his first computer and reading science fiction. Callison-Burch now works at the intersection of linguistics and the computer science field of machine learning.

Computer and Information Science

Social Norms for Algorithms

González-Bailón Named 2019-20 Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences Fellow

Sandra González-Bailón has been named a 2019-20 Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciencesat Stanford University. Since 1954, this year-long program has been bringing scholars from across the United States and around the globe to live and conduct research together at Stanford.

Communication

Consensus and Contagion in Society

The Virality Paradox

Damon Centola thinks the contemporary wisdom about how behavior spreads is missing something fundamental—and that may be why mindless trivialities crowd out civic engagement. Can anything be done? He has an idea or two.

Communication

Consensus and Contagion in Society

Trump’s 5G Plan Is More Than a Gift to His Base

The Trump re-election campaign’s wireless open access proposal was a poorly vetted scheme possibly intended to score political points, and was squelched almost immediately after it became public. The twist? Open access wireless is actually a terrific idea, writes Kevin Werbach.

Legal Studies & Business Ethics

Resilience in Networked Systems

Prof. Coglianese appointed to National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee

Cary Coglianese has been appointed a member of a committee of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Transportation Research Board that is charged with studying the federal government’s inspections of offshore oil and gas operations.

Law
Political Science

The physics of multitasking

Penn physicists, including Eleni Katifori, characterize the limits of multitasking in biological networks, paving the way for future applications in fields from biology to medicine.

Physics and Astronomy

Ubiquity of Data

How the Blockchain Ushers in a New Form of Trust

Blockchain is one of the biggest buzzwords in technology today, but confusion exists about what it is exactly. Kevin Werbach provides an in-depth explanation of the blockchain, as presented in his new book, The Blockchain and the New Architecture of Trust.

Legal Studies & Business Ethics

Resilience in Networked Systems

Dark Energy Survey completes six-year mission

A global research effort to map a portion of the sky in unprecedented detail is coming to an end, but the task of learning more about the expansion of the universe has only just begun. Bhuvnesh Jain will continue to lead a team in studying these images for several more years.

Physics and Astronomy

Ubiquity of Data

What Motivates Workers in the Gig Economy?

The gig economy offers tremendous flexibility for workers and companies, but it also comes with a host of unknown factors for both parties. A new study co-authored by Gad Allon looks at how drivers for a ride-hailing firm make labor decisions and aims to improve predictions about labor supply and more effective financial incentives.

Operations Information and Decisions

Ubiquity of Data

Thoughts from a medical ethicist on gene editing babies

Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) is science’s most efficient methodology to modify chromosomes to express different properties through the genes that carry information. Penn Today spoke with Jonathan Moreno about CRISPR and where he predicts the future of the technology is headed.

History and Sociology of Science
Medical Ethics and Health Policy
Philosophy

Ubiquity of Data

News

Translating the World’s Languages

González-Bailón Named 2019-20 Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences Fellow

The Virality Paradox

Trump’s 5G Plan Is More Than a Gift to His Base

Prof. Coglianese appointed to National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee

The physics of multitasking

How the Blockchain Ushers in a New Form of Trust

Dark Energy Survey completes six-year mission

What Motivates Workers in the Gig Economy?

Thoughts from a medical ethicist on gene editing babies