There's now yet another way to chat with friends online. In the latest of a series of updates, the online social-networking site Facebook released a new chat application last week. Users can now see when their friends are online and chat with them in real-time, eliminating the need for a separate buddy list.

As is often the case with politicians, Pennsylvania House speaker Dennis O'Brien has been accused of occasionally practicing contradictory politics. His desire to keep criminals from going unpunished is unmistakable, as is his concern for the safety and well-being of Pa.

From hominid to homo sapien, human evolution has shaped who you are. And this weekend you can discover more about your past at the opening of the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology's newest exhibit, "Surviving: The Body of Evidence," an exploration of the human body and its evolutionary roots.

With plans to adjust the information it collects for its annual ranking of colleges, the U.S. News and World Report might be seeking to make its annual rankings more rounded. The magazine announced plans last week to make its rankings more qualitative by collecting information from high-school guidance counselors for the first time.

In a few months, Penn researchers may simultaneously transform HIV treatment and the entire technology of gene therapy. Researchers are submitting a proposal to the Federal Drug Administration for approval to test in humans, for the first time, a new protein specially engineered to create HIV-resistant immune cells.

Among college students, Sen. Hillary Clinton could use the "Colbert bump" right about now. According to a recent Daily Pennsylvanian/CBS News poll, Clinton (D-N.Y.) lags far behind Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) among Penn voters on campus. Among Penn students, 73 percent of registered Democrats favor Obama for the nomination, compared to just 26 percent for Clinton - who appeared in Colbert's show, filmed on campus, last night in an appeal to young voters before Tuesday's primary.

Podcasts might be the next step toward making Penn greener. Last week, Penn's Green Campus Partnership - an umbrella organization for all efforts to improve environmental awareness on campus - launched a Web site that links to all student- and administration-led initiatives to improve environmental sustainability on campus.

Despite the shaky numbers from the U.S. Department of Commerce, area retailers say the ailing economy has not uniformly impacted business in University City. The data released Monday by the Department shows a tiny rise of 0.2 percent in consumer spending caused mostly by high fuel and food prices, a small jump after a 0.

Hospitals are in the business of curing what ails their patients, but in 2006 about 19 out of every 1,000 patients developed an infection while being treated at Pennsylvania hospitals. This data, released last Thursday by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, is the group's second state-wide report on hospital-acquired infections.

Twice a year, Penn safety personnel who act on behalf of students, faculty and staff with outstanding bravery and dedication are publicly recognized by colleagues and student organizations, illustrating a campus-wide appreciation. Leading the way, University President Amy Gutmann welcomed the nearly 100 uniformed officers and student heroes to receive awards at the Division of Public Safety Commendations ceremony and the Penn Police Department Oath of Office ceremony last night.

The substance of last night's presidential debate at the National Constitution Center appears unlikely to change the tone or dynamic of the race, with five days before Pennsylvania's primary. After the debate, campaign officials were busy responding to questions about mistakes their candidates have made in recent weeks - which were featured prominently in the debate.

Art History professor Michael Leja and Annenberg visiting scholar Don Mitchell were recently awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation. This year, more than 2,600 applicants applied for the fellowship, which provides grant money to scholars, artists and writers conducting research in over 75 diverse fields of study.

From supposed sniper fire in Bosnia to comments about "bitter" Americans, Sens. Hillary Clinton and. Barack Obama have dealt with several campaign mishaps in recent weeks. In this primary season's 21st debate at the National Constitution Center last night, ABC moderators Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos wouldn't let them forget that fact.

Last April's shooting at Virginia Tech prompted a push for universities to revamp their emergency-notification systems. Now, there's a push from Congress to continue emergency alerts - but faster. A bill proposed in the U.S. House of Representatives would require colleges to implement their emergency-notification systems within 30 minutes of confirming that alert was necessary.

Psychology has traditionally targeted mental illness, but Psychology professor Martin Seligman is trying to turn this focus to "mental wellness." Seligman, who is considered the father of positive psychology and serves as the director of Penn Positive Psychology Center, continues to draw international attention to his theory of positive psychology.

Amid the morning bustle of Penn's campus yesterday, students stopped to remember the terrible events on another college campus one year ago. To commemorate the one-year anniversary of the shootings at Virginia Tech, the Undergraduate Assembly organized a campus-wide moment of silence at 11 a.

Is the meaning of life simply to reproduce? Daniel Dennett says no. Dennett, a Tufts University philosophy professor, spoke to a packed Meyerson auditorium yesterday evening as this year's lecture at the Philomathian Society's Annual Oration. The event, sponsored by the Provost's office and various academic departments, was entitled "From Animal to Person: The Role of Cultural Evolution.