By Madeleine Stone @themadstone

Two University of Pennsylvania physicists have been selected as 2015 recipients of the Benjamin Franklin Medal, one of the world's oldest science and technology awards. The laureates will be honored April 23 at an award ceremony at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.

Pagophagia—or a compulsive desire to eat ice—is very common in individuals with iron deficiency anemia, across ages and cultures, even in places where ice is a rare commodity. The roots of this craving have long been unknown, but a new Penn study sheds light on the mystery, showing that eating ice gives people with anemia a mental boost.

Ferroelectric materials, commonly used in transit cards, gas grill igniters, video game memory and more, could become strong candidates for use in next-generation computers, thanks to new research led by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Pennsylvania.

By Madeleine Stone On Wednesday, Oct. 22, the University of Pennsylvania’s Nano/Bio Interface Center hosted its annual NanoDay@Penn, a public education and outreach event that featured a series of talks, demonstrations and exhibits concerning nanotechnology, a rapidly expanding scientific discipline that involves the manipulation of matter on the atomic and molecular scale.

One of the biggest mysteries in modern science is the speed at which the universe is expanding. Galaxies that have been moving apart since the Big Bang billions of years ago should be slowing down due to gravity, but instead, they are accelerating.

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation announced Wednesday that Alison Sweeney, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania, will receive a 2014 Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering.

The brain has a complex system for keeping track of which direction a person is facing as he or she moves about; remembering how to get from one place to another would otherwise be impossible.

The brain has a complex system for keeping track of which direction you are facing as you move about; remembering how to get from one place to another would otherwise be impossible. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have now shown how the brain anchors this mental compass.

Martin Seligman, the director of the Positive Psychology Center and the Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology in the University of Pennsylvania's School of Arts & Sciences, will be honored with the inaugural