College of Arts & Sciences The Graduate Division Professional and Liberal Education
June 2013 Issue
Out of the Mouths of Babes
Charles Yang shows that toddlers know their grammar.
Parents view their child’s first word as an amazing thing when, in fact, learning to speak is something every child does. They all do it in about the same way. And it’s something that no other species can do. It’s amazing.
Seeing Red
Image standardization developed by David Brainard will help medical research.
One way to judge the effectiveness of some ophthalmic medications is the redness of the eye. It sounds simple, until it’s a criterion in a nationwide research project using computers and electronic images. As anyone who’s ever ordered clothes online can tell you, one monitor’s red is another’s pink.
Space Junk
Lisa Ruth Rand explores the ecosystem of deep space.
“Used a satellite today?” It’s a question doctoral student Lisa Ruth Rand in the department of History and Sociology of Science often asks—and the answer might surprise you. Given the growing use of smartphones and tools like GPS by ordinary consumers, more and more Americans are dependent upon space technology.
The Wail of the Voice!
The Department of Music presents an annual concert celebrating music composition at Penn.
In 1971 Penn faculty composer George Crumb wrote Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale) for three masked players: electric flute, electric cello, and amplified piano. The piece has become a classic of 20th century music.
From Shylock to Rothschild
Liliane Weissberg examines Jews, money, and clichés in new exhibition.
As a scholar of German and comparative literature, it’s second nature for Liliane Weissberg, Christopher H. Browne Professor in the Arts and Sciences, to see literature as a window to deeper truths about society and culture.