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Katherine Unger Baillie
Senior Science News Officer
kbaillie@upenn.edu
Earth and Environmental Science
Penn group wins EPA Campus RainWorks Challenge
Penn group wins EPA Campus RainWorks Challenge
The student-led project will reimagine the campus of West Philadelphia’s Andrew Hamilton School, including vegetable gardens, a food forest, and other green stormwater-management tools.
Communicating change in a ‘land of extremes’
Communicating change in a ‘land of extremes’
In Aurora MacRae-Crerar’s Penn Global Seminar, students are grappling with the impacts of a shifting and unpredictable climate in Mongolia.
‘Pompeii of prehistoric plants’ unlocks evolutionary secret
‘Pompeii of prehistoric plants’ unlocks evolutionary secret
An international research team, including Hermann Pfefferkorn of the School of Arts & Sciences, has solved the mystery of where 300-million-year-old specimens fit into the plant family tree.
From animals to people and back again
From animals to people and back again
Penn researchers are studying the propensity of SARS-CoV-2 to cross between species, and they are working to protect people, pets, and wildlife from COVID-19 infection.
The outlook for science under the Biden-Harris administration
The outlook for science under the Biden-Harris administration
Penn Today spoke with experts in various areas of science and environmental policy about what they anticipate will shift now that President Biden has assumed the nation’s leadership.
America’s first fossil fuel state
America’s first fossil fuel state
History course looks at Pennsylvania’s role in helping fossil fuel power the making of the modern world.
Climate change doesn’t spare the smallest
Climate change doesn’t spare the smallest
Changing conditions have taken a toll on insects in the tropics, according to research by School of Arts & Sciences biologists Daniel Janzen and Winnie Hallwachs. But education and science offer a path forward, they say.
Rare sparrows make guest appearance at Penn
Rare sparrows make guest appearance at Penn
Earlier this year, Penn Medicine epidemiologist Doug Wiebe glimpsed two small all-white birds outside Van Pelt Library that turned out to be albino house sparrows. Their coloration is likely the result of a genetic condition in which a bird’s feathers lack pigment.
Treeswift’s autonomous robots take flight to save forests
Treeswift’s autonomous robots take flight to save forests
From Penn Engineering’s GRASP Lab, Treeswift uses swarms of autonomous, flying robots equipped with LiDAR sensors to monitor, inventory, and map timberland.
In paleontology, Peter Dodson is a king begetting kings
In paleontology, Peter Dodson is a king begetting kings
World-renowned paleontologist Peter Dodson names his greatest accomplishment: being a mentor.
Media Contact
In the News
The New York Times
Businesses aim to pull greenhouse gases from the air. It’s a gamble
Jennifer Wilcox of the School of Engineering and Applied Science spoke about companies pledging to eliminate their carbon emissions within decades. “Carbon removal shouldn’t be seen as a get-out-of-jail-free card,” she said. “It has a role to play, particularly for sectors that are very difficult to decarbonize, but it shouldn’t be an excuse for everyone to keep emitting greenhouse gases indefinitely.”
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The Hill
Wealthy households have 25 percent higher carbon impacts than lower-income homes
Vincent Reina of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design spoke about how class affects access to sustainable energy alternatives. “For higher income individuals, it's a function of choice," he said. "For lower income individuals, it's a function of constraints.”
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The New York Times
Southern Iraq’s toxic twilight
Marilyn Howarth of the Perelman School of Medicine says oil rain, a byproduct of oil production, can be carcinogenic. “The oil itself can contain traces of heavy metals, arsenic, and radioactivity, which could be a source of lung cancer,” she said.
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Science
No asteroids needed: ancient mass extinction tied to ozone loss, warming climate
Lauren Sallan of the School of Arts & Sciences spoke about the end of the Devonian period 359 million years ago, in which the ozone layer was damaged, resulting in a mass extinction. The discovery is significant to today’s climate change research.
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WHYY (Philadelphia)
When it comes to coronavirus, air pollution may put marginalized communities in danger
Anil Vachani of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about the combined effects of air pollution and coronavirus on marginalized communities. “We’re certainly recognizing that exposure to chronic air pollution results in a number of adverse health outcomes which are increasingly recognized. It may even contribute to a whole host of other illnesses that we’re now understanding the links to, to poor air quality and air pollution,” he said.
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The Hill
R&D, not Greenland, can solve our rare earth problem
Research into rare earth metals by Eric Schelter, Patrick Carroll, Ph.D. student Justin Bogart, and alumnus Connor Lippincott of the School of Arts and Sciences was cited.
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