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Penn in the News
A round-up of Penn mentions in local, national, and international media.
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Penn In the News
Can a digital reality be jacked directly into your brain?
Researchers led by Daniel Yoshor of the Perelman School of Medicine are developing better electrode arrays, which are used to induce neural activity. Current arrays approved for human use are bulky and contain around 1,000 electrodes, whereas the arrays Yoshor and colleagues are working on would have 64,000 electrodes, and eventually 1,000,000 electrodes.
Penn In the News
Why the chip shortage drags on and on… and on
“We talk about COVID as if it's in the past,” said Gad Allon of the Wharton School, of the ongoing computer chip shortage. “But COVID is not in the past from a supply chain reality.”
Penn In the News
Why does asthma get worse at night?
Garret FitzGerald of the Perelman School of Medicine weighed in on a study that linked the circadian system to nighttime asthma symptoms. “This work highlights the value of small, carefully conducted studies,” and could inform future treatments, he said.
Penn In the News
Now that machines can learn, can they unlearn?
Aaron Roth of the School of Engineering and Applied Science spoke about his research on machine unlearning, which seeks to answer the question, “Can we remove all influence of someone’s data when they ask to delete it but avoid the full cost of retraining from scratch?”
Penn In the News
Don’t buy into Facebook’s ad-tracking pressure on iOS 14.5
Ron Berman of the Wharton School spoke about how a new Apple feature that allows users to block apps from tracking their online activities might affect Facebook’s revenues. “There are some types of ads, mostly retargeting, that will be harder to display, since now Facebook wouldn’t know who visited an app, put an item in the shopping cart, etc.,” he said.
Penn In the News
Even mild brain injuries raise the risk of dementia
Andrea Schneider of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about her new study, which found that head injuries, including mild ones, are linked to an increased risk of dementia, particularly among women and white people. “There’s a great deal more work that is needed to be done to look at reasons why we may have observed these differences,” she said.
Penn In the News
We still don’t know how well COVID vaccines stop transmission
Scott Halpern of the Perelman School of Medicine weighed in on two new studies, neither of which have been peer reviewed yet, that claim the COVID-19 vaccine can suppress transmission rates. “Once you’ve been bombarded with bad news long enough, any glimmer of good news is something we just emotionally latch onto,” said Halpern. “That’s just human nature.”
Penn In the News
As more women enter science, it’s time to redefine mentorship
Danielle Bassett of the School of Engineering and Applied Science spoke about how same-gender mentorship can help aspiring female scientists navigate gender bias. “There’s clear evidence that, for many graduate students, having a shared gender with their mentor is something that’s important to them and allows them to succeed in ways that they couldn’t otherwise, because they have a role model,” she said.
Penn In the News
Why are lines at polling places so long? Math
Stephen Pettigrew of the School of Arts & Sciences explained why the voting process can take longer than expected. “The steps in the system in most states are: You have a check-in step where they verify your voter registration status, and then there’s the step of actually voting. Lines out the door can be a consequence of bottlenecks at any of those steps,” he said.
Penn In the News
How an algorithm blocked kidney transplants to Black patients
Nwamaka Eneanya of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about her research on the use of a controversial formula for measuring kidney function and resultant disparities in transplant rates for Black patients.