Adrian Raine Investigates the Intersection of Neuroscience and Crime

In his October 20 Penn Lightbulb Café talk on “The Anatomy of Violence,” Adrian Raine, a Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor with appointments in Penn Arts and Sciences’ Departments of Criminology and Psychology, discussed the neuroscience of crime and its implications for societal views of moral responsibility, free will, and punishment.

Using historical examples of criminal perpetrators with neurological damage, the Richard Perry University Professor challenged the audience to ponder the ethics of punishing prisoners if the neural circuitry underlying their morality is compromised.

“I was amazed at the engagement of the people and vibrancy of the questions," said Raine. "It was really like a class, a really good class where students ask a lot of questions and are very open-minded.”

Read the full article here.

Arts & Sciences News

University of Pennsylvania, Neubauer Family Foundation, and Philadelphia Police Department Partner to Support Police Leadership Education

The first-of-its-kind graduate degree in the U.S. for police leaders launches this fall at the School of Arts & Sciences.

View Article >
Marisa C. Kozlowski Named Next Associate Dean for the Natural Sciences

Kozlowski, who joined the Penn faculty in 1997, succeeds Mark Trodden, who transitions to the Dean of Penn Arts & Sciences on June 1.

View Article >
One Fourth Year, One Alum Receive 2025 Hertz Fellowship

Eric Tao, C’25, Gr’25 (left), and Suraj Chandran, C’23, were awarded the honor, part of a group of 19 fellows selected this year. Each one receives five years of funding toward a doctoral program.

View Article >
Benjamin Nathans Wins 2025 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction

Nathans, Alan Charles Kors Endowed Term Professor of History, won for his book “To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement.”

View Article >
Mark Devlin Elected to National Academy of Sciences

He joins three others from Penn to receive the honor this year, all recognized for “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.”

View Article >
Michael Jones-Correa and Sophia Rosenfeld Elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences

They join three others from the University of Pennsylvania, selected as part of the Academy’s mission to convene leaders from “every field of human endeavor to examine new ideas, address issues of importance to the nation and the world, and work together.”

View Article >