4/22
Science & Technology
On a different wavelength, Nader Engheta leads a community in light
2023 Franklin Medal winner Engheta is one of the world’s biggest names in wave physics. The Penn Engineering professor is renowned for his unique approach to science, combining technical brilliance, creativity, and care.
Why is machine learning trending in medical research but not in our doctor’s offices?
Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor Konrad Kording will lead Penn’s NIH-funded cohort for making advancements in the field of machine learning in biomedical research by creating the Community for Rigor, which will provide open-access resources on conducting sound science.
Nanorobotic system presents new options for targeting fungal infections
Researchers from Penn Dental and Penn Engineering have developed a nanorobot system that precisely and rapidly targets fungal infections in the mouth.
Virtual reality in an ancient world
Students create films to document the reimagining of the Penn Museum’s Ancient Egypt and Nubia galleries.
Safe and sound: Sonura supports newborn development by sequestering disruptive noise
A team of five recent graduates from the School of Engineering and Applied Science and recipients of the 2023 President’s Innovation Prize have developed a beanie that filters out harmful noises for infants in neonatal intensive care units.
Lithography-free photonic chip offers speed and accuracy for AI
Penn engineers have created a novel photonic device that provides programmable on-chip information processing without lithography, offering the speed, accuracy, and flexibility for AI applications.
A grant to upgrade Simons Observatory
Mark Devlin and colleagues have been awarded an NSF grant to upgrade the prominent observatory in the high Atacama Desert in Northern Chile.
Penn welcomes energy justice scholar Sanya Carley
Carley will be the Presidential Distinguished Professor of Energy Policy and City Planning in the Weitzman School with an affiliation with the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy.
2018 graduate awarded Knight-Hennessy Scholarship
Focused on tackling climate change, 2018 Penn graduate Krish Mehta, from Mumbai, has been awarded a 2023 Knight-Hennessy Scholarship for graduate studies and global leadership training at Stanford University.
Beyond the pipette and the stethoscope, students explore biology’s societal impacts
The new Biology and Society course, supported by SNF Paideia, gave biology majors the chance to explore how scientists must contend with subjects such as health equity and vaccine hesitancy.
In the News
Here’s why experts don’t think cloud seeding played a role in Dubai’s downpour
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that many people blaming cloud seeding for Dubai storms are climate change deniers trying to divert attention from what’s really happening.
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Can we stop AI hallucinations? And do we even want to?
Chris Callison-Burch of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says that auto-regressive generation can make it difficult for language learning models to perform fact-based or symbolic reasoning.
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“Record-shattering” heat wave in Antarctica — yep, climate change is the culprit
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that persistent summer weather extremes like heat waves are becoming more common as people continue to warm the planet with carbon pollution.
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How the solar eclipse will affect solar panels and the grid
Benjamin Lee of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says that the electrical grid will have to figure out how to match supply and demand during brief windows where the energy source goes away.
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Scientists struggle to explain ‘really weird’ spike in world temperatures
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that tendencies to exaggerate climate science in favor of “doomist” narratives helps no one except the fossil fuel industry.
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Spring is here very early. That’s not good
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that plant-flowering, tree-leafing, and egg-hatching are all markers associated with spring that are happening sooner.
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Can your personal medical devices be recycled?
A lab at the School of Engineering and Applied Science led the development of a COVID test made from bacterial cellulose, an organic compound.
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Could Florida electric bills go up because of a fuel made from manure?
Danny Cullenward of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design says that federal and California state subsidies have led to a gold rush of companies trying to get into the business of renewable natural gas around the country.
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Why don’t we just ban fossil fuels?
Joseph Romm of the School of Arts & Sciences says that stronger action against fossil fuels is essential to save the planet.
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Students can soon major in AI at this Ivy League university—it’ll prepare them for ‘jobs that don’t yet exist’
The Raj and Neera Singh Program in Artificial Intelligence at Penn will be the first AI undergraduate engineering major at an Ivy League school, led by George Pappas of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
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