Highlights

A Penn study has looked at the communicative needs that drive similarities and differences in how languages develop vocabularies for color.

Mapping words to color

Researchers led by postdoc Colin Twomey and professor Joshua Plotkin developed an algorithm that can infer the communicative needs different linguistic communities place on colors.
To study coevolution, the responsibilities of Nova Meng and Linda Wu included caring for plants in the Penn greenhouse. (Image: From July 2021, when masks were not required)

Interact, adapt, repeat

Sophomores Linda Wu and Nova Meng spent the summer studying coevolution among plants, mutualistic bacteria, and parasitic nematodes in Corlett Wood’s biology lab.
lampson-centromere

Evolutionary ‘arms race’ may help keep cell division honest

Research from the lab of Michael Lampson in the School of Arts & Sciences suggests that certain proteins may have evolved to reduce the likelihood of chromosomes ‘cheating’ to bias their chance of winding up in an egg during the cell-division process meiosis.
New findings reveal the varied roles of a key protein in cell division. When the protein Meikin is not properly cleaved before meiosis II, chromosomes do not align properly, causing problems in cell division (bottom image). Chromosomes are in blue and the cellular machinery that pulls them to opposite sides of the cell is in purple. (Image: Jun Ma)

Rewiring cell division to make eggs and sperm

Research by the School of Arts & Sciences’ Michael Lampson and Jun Ma, collaborating with Whitehead Institute researchers, reveals how a key protein enables the process of meiosis to unfold.
Hyenas

High-ranking hyena mothers pass their social networks to their cubs

Using 27 years of detailed data on hyena social interactions, a team led by Penn biologists nailed down a pattern of social network inheritance and its implications for social structure, rank, and survival.