Physics | Penn Today

Decoding how the brain accurately depicts ever-changing visual landscapes

A collaborative study finds that deeper regions of the brain encode visual information more slowly, enabling the brain to identify fast-moving objects and images more accurately and persistently.

the NEID spectrometer inside of a telescope dome

On the hunt for new exoplanets

A state-of-the-art instrument called NEID, from the Tohono O’odham word meaning “to see,” has officially started its scientific mission: discovering new planets outside of the solar system.

two people talking to each other inside of a research lab

New grant aims to broaden participation in cutting-edge materials research

As one of eight teams to be awarded National Science Foundation funding, a partnership between Penn and the University of Puerto Rico will continue its long-running collaboration focused on innovative research and STEM career pathway support.

an image of the night sky with an object circled and annotated with Bernardinelli-Bernstein (C/2014-UN271)

Giant comet found in outer solar system

The discovery of the comet estimated to 100-200 kilometers across was made by Penn researchers following a comprehensive search of data from the Dark Energy Survey. Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is the most distant comet ever discovered and possibly the largest seen in modern times.

a soil hillside with trees that has eroded

Shifting sands, creeping soils, and a new understanding of landscape evolution

New experiments show that, even when undisturbed, piles of sand grains are in constant motion, challenging theories of how soils and other types of disordered materials behave.

a start in the center of a dark sky surrounded by orbiting planets and a ring of dust

Connecting a star’s chemical composition and planet formation

Along with developing a new statistical method for studying exoplanets, researchers from Penn found that the majority of stars in their dataset are similar to the sun, implying that many stars in the Milky Way could host their own Earthlike planets.

an image of distant galaxies taken by the dark energy camera

Dark Energy Survey interim analysis sheds light on the evolution of the universe

Analysis of the survey’s first three years of data, which were used to make the most precise 3D map of the universe to date, is a key step towards understanding dark matter and dark energy.

a person wearing darkened glasses adjusting lenses on an optics table

Insights into new ‘dials’ for controlling a material’s magnetism

New research demonstrates how small amounts of strain can be used to control a material’s properties, with possible applications ranging from spintronic devices to faster hard drives.

Beyond topological insulators

Charlie Kane and Eugene Mele’s groundbreaking theories on the existence of a new class of materials continues to inspire an upcoming generation of physics researchers.

27 million galaxy morphologies quantified and cataloged with the help of machine learning

Using data from the Dark Energy Survey, researchers from the Department of Physics & Astronomy produced the largest catalog of galaxy morphology classifications to date.

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