Mathias Basner, MD

As a professor at the Perelman School of Medicine, Dr. Mathias Basner specializes in sleep and chronobiology. His research focuses on several key areas, including:

• Astronaut behavioral health on long-duration space missions, studying how microgravity affects human cognition and behavior.
• Effects of sleep loss on neurobehavioral and cognitive functions.
• Noise effects on sleep and health, particularly the impact of traffic and aircraft noise.

His work has contributed to understanding how environmental factors influence sleep and overall health. 

• View a complete list of publications chronologically by year.
• View a complete list of publications by citation.

The New Yorker: Can the Human Body Endure a Voyage to Mars?

TED Talk: Why noise is bad for your health -- and what you can do about it

Podcast: Exploration Medicine, "The Effects of Isolated, Confined and Extreme Environments on the Human Brain"

Podcast: This Is Your Brain With Dr. Phil Stieg, "How Noise Affects Our Brains"

Podcast: NPR's The Pulse, "How Noise Annoys"

Podcast: Stats + Stories, "The Best Friend on Friends"

Honors and Awards

Additional Affiliations

• President, International Commission of Biological Effects of Noise (ICBEN)
• Member, Impacts and Science Group of the Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP) of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
• Investigator, University of Pennsylvania in FAA’s Aviation Sustainability Center (ASCENT)

Dr. Basner sometimes engages in projects that could be considered “odd”, but always have the goal to highlight scientific principles.

Chandler, Joey, Monica, Phoebe, Rachel or Ross? A systematic analysis to find the best Friend. 

Avoiding a Christmas Catastrophe: Rudolph the Bright White-Nosed Reindeer? A Nap for Saint Nick? An analysis of global fatigue-related sleigh crash risk analysis.