In a new study published in Science, Michael Platt, Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor and Faculty Director of the Wharton Neuroscience Initiative, shows how Hurricane Maria reshaped social behavior among rhesus macaques on Puerto Rico’s Cayo Santiago.
Alongside collaborators Professor Lauren Brent, University of Exeter, and Camille Testard, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Pennsylvania, Platt found that in the aftermath of environmental devastation, monkeys became more socially tolerant as a strategy to survive extreme heat and limited shade. The findings offer striking parallels to human resilience, showing how social connection can serve as a vital survival mechanism under climate stress.…Read More
How Small Talk Opens Up Deeper Connections In an article for MSN, Emily Falk, Associate Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, unpacks how small talk can spark deeper social bonds. Backed by neuroscience research, Falk explains how brief, everyday conversations help establish brain synchrony—laying…Read More 
