Through
4/30
Science & Technology
Two Penn Seniors to Aid Parkinson’s Patients With Innovative Motion-tracking Device
This is the first of two features introducing the University of Pennsylvania’s 2016 President’s Innovation Prize winners. A rough estimate of the amount of steps taken in a day might be enough for the average fitness tracker or smartwatch user, but, for people with movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease, more fine-grained data could be life changing.
Placental RNA May Help Protect Embryo from Viruses, Penn Study Finds
The human placenta is an organ unlike any other. During the course of nine months it is formed by the embryo, sustains life and then is shed.
Penn Bioengineers Show Why Lab-made Stem Cells Might Fail: Errors in DNA Folding
Induced pluripotent stem cells hold promise for regenerative medicine because they can, in theory, turn into any type of tissue and because they are made from a patient’s own adult cells, guaranteeing compatibility.
Three Penn Students Named HHMI Medical Research Fellows
Three graduate students from the University of Pennsylvania have been selected as Medical Research Fellows by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Good Nutrition Positively Affects Social Development, Penn Research Shows
Proper nutrition during childhood can positively affect a child’s social behaviors and development.
Extreme Rainfall Doesn’t Always Mean Extreme Erosion, Penn Study Finds
In the Puerto Rican rain forest, a strong storm can drop a meter of rain in a single day. All that water rushes into mountain rivers and causes a torrent as the water overflows the riverbanks and charges downstream.
Penn Study Points to Path for Antibiotic-free Treatment for Atopic Dermatitis
Atopic dermatitis, or AD, a chronic inflammatory skin condition and the most common form of eczema, is estimated to afflict as much as 10 percent of the population in the United States, and it is much more common now than it was 50 years ago. Veterinary clinical estimates also show that approximately 10 percent of dogs have atopic dermatitis.
PIK Professor Michael Platt Earns $2.9 Million NIH Award for Neural Circuitry Work
Michael Platt of the University of Pennsylvania has received a five-year, $2.9 million Method to Extend Research In Time, or MERIT, award from the National Institute of Mental Health to continue his work on the neural circuits that mediate compl
Penn Vet’s William Beltran Honored for Translational Research to Treat Blindness
The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology has recognized the University of Pennsylvania’s William Beltran with the ARVO Foundation’s 2016
Penn’s 2016 Summer Undergraduate Research Group Grant Winners Announced
The Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania has announced the inaugural recipients of the Summer Undergraduate Research Group Grant. Alison Buttenheim and Mark Devlin have been selected by a committee comprised of faculty members representing all 12 of Penn’s schools.
In the News
Newsweek
Man does DNA test, not prepared for what comes back ‘unusually high’
César de la Fuente of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Perelman School of Medicine says that Neanderthal DNA provides insights into human evolution, population dynamics, and genetic adaptations, including correlations with traits such as immunity and susceptibility to diseases.
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The Washington Post
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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SciTechDaily
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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WHYY (Philadelphia)
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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Technical.ly Philly
Penn professor on gen AI’s rapacious use of energy: ‘One of the defining challenges of my career’
Benjamin Lee of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says that hardware and infrastructure costs are growing at high rates for generative AI.
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Associated Press
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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Big Think
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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Salon.com
“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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CNET
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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Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
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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