Yesterday at Skirkanich Hall, a crowded computer-science class struggled with questions about programming code until Engineering sophomore Isaiah Greene explained the answers. For Greene, this wasn't a chance to impress his teacher. It was a chance to teach the class, which in this case was comprised of 12 high-school sophomores from Philadelphia's Science Leadership Academy.

Spending a little extra on a can of soda might actually be worth more than you think. Many of the College House convenience stores - which sell everything from childhood relics like Dunkaroos to urgently-needed late-night coffee - mark up their prices in order to attempt to break even.

Last week's shooting at Northern Illinois University - when a gunman fired into a lecture hall, killing five people before turning the gun on himself - has brought the issue of campus security into the spotlight. But as major tragedies, such as the NIU shooting and last April's massacre at Virginia Tech, are difficult to predict, universities' efforts must focus on response preparation, Penn officials and outside experts say.

Sometimes it's better to be the math Olympiad winner than to be crowned homecoming queen. The Benjamin Franklin Scholars program, which offers students access to Benjamin Franklin seminars, undergraduate research opportunities and a four-year advisor, will invite newly admitted high-school students to become scholars this spring, based primarily on students' academic standing.

A biker was struck by a car door at about 8:45 p.m. yesterday in front of Savory, located near 37th and Spruce streets. According to witnesses, a driver's side car door opened and the biker collided with it. The biker then flipped over the door and landed on the pavement.

U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.) spoke about prose and politics last night at the Penn Bookstore. In front of a crowd of about 50 students - many of whom were from the Penn Democrats - Murphy promoted his new book, Taking the Hill: From Philly to Baghdad to the United States Congress, and conveyed the common democratic theme of change.

The Faculty Senate has debated self-disclosure for prospective professors over the past year, and now students are also getting a chance to voice their views. With two weeks remaining until the Faculty Senate Executive Committee meets to discuss the proposed criminal self-disclosure policy for faculty, student leaders have been meeting with members of the Faculty Senate to discuss the divisive issue.

Wharton freshman Ben Lewis would like nothing more than to walk into any convenience store and see GIVE, his own brand of water, for sale. That just might become a possibility very soon. Lewis was 18 years old when he founded his own bottled water company called PurBlu with his cousin and two high school friends, including current Wharton freshman Jesse Rudolph.

In an effort to enhance campus safety, a nine-member panel led by Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush discussed a new system to inform students about campus emergencies last night in Houston Hall.

It has killed a Hollywood actor and been the subject of a Superbowl ad - prescription drug abuse is definitely on the national radar. Marijuana and alcohol are still more popular on college campuses than prescription drugs, but adolescents who abuse substances for the first time are beginning to choose prescription drugs more often than marijuana, according to the most recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

A new show featuring paintings and photography by Frida Kahlo at the Philadelphia Museum of Art has Philadelphia art buffs and Latin American art enthusiasts in a frenzy.

Local officials are brushing up on what it takes to handle a terrorist attack. More than 20 law-enforcement and public-safety officials, including Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and Mayor Michael Nutter, participated in a security forum aimed at improving communication yesterday.

Girls who missed out on rush, don't lose hope: formal recruitment is not the only time of year that offers the opportunity for sorority membership. During Continuous Open Bidding, the informal process that sororities use to acquire new members during the fall and spring semesters after rush, houses may offer bids to girls that either did not participate in rush at all or dropped out early.

Last week, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter released his first budget for the city, which began to address his ambitious inaugural goals - including a reduction in crime and improvement in the city's education system.

Recent cell phone registration numbers for the UPennAlert notification system show an approximately 10 percent increase from the beginning of October. Sixty-one percent of students and 31 percent of faculty and staff have registered their cell-phone numbers, compared to about 50 percent of students who had done so in the beginning of October, according to Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush.

If a recession is on the horizon for the economy, Penn officials and finance experts say the University should not be too worried. In the last quarter of 2007, the U.S. economy saw a staggeringly low growth rate of 0.6 percent. While growth was not negative, as it would be during a recession, it might be a signal that the nation is headed there in the coming years.