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Earth and Environmental Science
Confronting inequities, sharing solutions
At the annual meeting of the Global Water Alliance, faculty, students, and practitioners shared solutions and challenges around the issues of water access, sanitation, and hygiene in the U.S. and around the world.
Unearthing a botanical legacy, one seed at a time
Painstaking work by Penn Museum archaeobotanist Chantel White and students has verified what the Bartrams sold and exported to Europe in the 1800s, and shed light on the family’s daily dietary habits.
The flower that blooms in the winter
The witchhazel is a species of flower that blooms in cold temperatures and lives around campus, and in abundance at the Morris Arboretum. The Arboretum’s Anthony Aiello talks the ins and outs of the strange species.
How one gene in a tiny fish may alter an aquatic ecosystem
Linking genomics to evolution to ecology, the work takes an unusual approach to reveal broad implications of how species adapt to their local environment.
Celebrating science
Eight Penn faculty share their favorite general interest books about science.
Keeping campus trees—all 6,800 of them—healthy and vibrant
Caring for the trees on Penn’s campus—an official arboretum since last year—is no small undertaking. Staff from Facilities and Real Estate Services and the Morris Arboretum lead the way in ensuring that the University’s trees remain safe, vibrant, diverse, and beautiful.
A new-to-us mineral
Reto Gieré of the School of Arts and Sciences and colleagues say the new mineral, isolated from a sample of igneous rock in central Madagascar, may help immobilize nuclear waste.
Tracing the evolutionary origins of fish to shallow ocean waters
Coral reefs are envisioned as the seats of great biodiversity, but they may not be where all that diversity got its start. In a new study in Science, paleobiologist Lauren Sallan and colleagues reveal that the earliest fish may have diversified in shallower waters near shore.
Analyzing roadside dust to identify potential health concerns
Reto Gieré is working with collaborators across the world to identify an overlooked but significant factor in traffic-related air pollution: Tiny bits of tires, brake pads, and road materials that become suspended in the air when vehicles pass over.
Floating art installation brings Schuylkill River history to life
Jacob Rivkin, an artist-in-residence for the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities and an instructor in the School of Design, will present a public art installation on the Schuylkill River called “Floating Archives,” starting this weekend. (Video)
In the News
The world’s oceans just broke an important climate change record
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that the warming of the oceans is helping to destabilize ice shelves and fuel more powerful hurricanes and tropical cyclones.
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Forecast group predicts busiest hurricane season on record with 33 storms
A research team led by Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences is predicting the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season will produce the most named storms on record, fueled by exceptionally warm ocean waters and an expected shift from El Niño to La Niña.
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My Climate Story: Philly students take science from abstract to personal
The “My Climate Story” project at the Environmental Humanities Department helps students and teachers learn about climate change’s impact in everyday backyards, with remarks from Bethany Wiggin. The idea is credited to María Villarreal, a College of Arts and Sciences second-year from Tampico, Mexico.
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Satellite images capture extraordinary flooding in the United Arab Emirates
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences explains how three low-pressure systems formed a train of storms that battered the United Arab Emirates.
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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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“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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