News from

News Archive

Every story published by Penn Today—all in one place.
Reset All Filters
7158 Results
Three things to know about a sustainable energy breakthrough
Photo of lightening striking a city at night.

“The air contains an enormous amount of electricity,” says Jun Yao, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering in the College of Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the paper’s senior author. “Think of a cloud, which is nothing more than a mass of water droplets. Each of those droplets contains a charge, and when conditions are right, the cloud can produce a lightning bolt—but we don’t know how to reliably capture electricity from lightning. What we’ve done is to create a human-built, small-scale cloud that produces electricity for us predictably and continuously so that we can harvest it.”

(Image: iStock/Matt Grehan)

Three things to know about a sustainable energy breakthrough

Penn Engineering’s James Pikul explains how a new method of harnessing energy by using water trapped in the air is possible and discusses the implication of the research.
On a different wavelength, Nader Engheta leads a community in light
nader engheta in his lab

nocred

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.

Devorah Fischler

School buildings in crisis
An empty schoolyard in a city.

Image: iStock/serkanozalp

School buildings in crisis

May graduate Alisa Ghura researched safety hazards in school buildings in low-income school districts and examined barriers to change.

From Omnia

$10M gift from Robin and Marc Wolpow’s Arbour Way Foundation launches healthcare entrepreneurship opportunities at Venture Lab
Five people engaged in conversation seated in a lounge.

Student entrepreneurs engaging with each other in Tangen Hall, the home of Venture Lab and innovative student programs such as those supported by the Wolpows and The Arbour Way Foundation.

(Image: Jay Kan/Venture Lab)

$10M gift from Robin and Marc Wolpow’s Arbour Way Foundation launches healthcare entrepreneurship opportunities at Venture Lab

The landmark gift will create vibrant programming focused on health care innovation and co-curricular learning and collaboration across the University of Pennsylvania.
Smoke safety: What to know and how to keep safe with poor air quality
A person crosses the Schuylkill River on a blue bike. The city skyline behind him is obscured with smoke haze.

A person cycles past the skyline in Philadelphia shrouded in haze, Thursday, June 8, 2023. Intense Canadian wildfires are blanketing the northeastern U.S. in a dystopian haze, turning the air acrid, the sky yellowish gray and prompting warnings for vulnerable populations to stay inside.

(Image: AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

  • Q&A

    • Smoke safety: What to know and how to keep safe with poor air quality

    Olajumoke O. Fadugba of the Perelman School of Medicine addresses why smoke irritates the body, why people with allergies and asthma are particularly affected, and how to stay safe. Writer: Kristina García

    Kristina García

    Putting biomedical research advances within reach
    A medical worker gives a person a Covid vaccine.

    Image: Courtesy of Penn Medicine Magazine

    Putting biomedical research advances within reach

    Treatments and vaccines are only useful in the hands of the people who need them, and Penn Medicine is working toward better access and equity for biomedical innovations.

    Karen L. Brooks for Penn Medicine Magazine

    The evolution of societal cooperation
    Graphic ilustration of people holding hands in a concentric circle formation.

    Image: iStock/melitas

    The evolution of societal cooperation

    Research led by the School of Arts & Sciences’ Joshua Plotkin and Taylor Kessinger sheds light on the impact of social contexts and multilayered societies on promoting cooperative behavior.
    Black Law Student Association: Serving Black communities across the globe
    Members of Penn’s BLSA in Ghana.

    Image: Penn Carey Law

    Black Law Student Association: Serving Black communities across the globe

    The Penn Carey Law BLSA members have been traveling to and working in Ghana since the early 2000s. This year, BLSA worked with partner law firm B&P establishing and growing the firm’s pro bono practice.

    From Penn Carey Law

    ‘Undoing Slavery: Bodies, Race and Rights in the Age of Abolition’
    Left side of image shows a book cover reading "Undoing Slavery" and the right side of the image shows the author, Kathleen Brown.

    Kathleen Brown's new book sheds new light on the abolitionist movement.

    (Image: Courtesy of Penn Press/Kathleen Brown)

  • Q&A

    • ‘Undoing Slavery: Bodies, Race and Rights in the Age of Abolition’

    Historian Kathleen M. Brown’s new book reexamines the antislavery struggle and is the focus of the first episode of a new podcast series from the McNeil Center for Early American Studies.

    Kristen de Groot