Two solids made of the same elements but with different geometric arrangements of the atoms, or crystal phases, can produce materials with different properties. Coal and diamond offer a spectacular example of this effect.

Natural selection in an extreme environment has gradually sculpted the giant clam into an exceedingly efficient farmer; it turns the fierce sunlight in its equatorial ocean home into algae, and those single-celled plants into food.

University of Pennsylvania researchers have made another advance in understanding how the brain detects errors caused by unexpected sensory events. This type of error detection is what allows the brain to learn from its mistakes, which is critical for improving fine motor control.  

An interdisciplinary team of engineers from the University of Pennsylvania has made a discovery regarding the surface properties of graphene, the Nobel-prize winning material that consists of an atomically thin sheet of carbon atoms.

By Madeleine Stone  @themadstoneScience and art are often perceived to be at odds with each other, two fundamentally different ways of understanding the world. But University of Pennsylvania researcher Danielle Bassett believes science and art can inform each other in very tangible ways.

By Madeleine Stone  @themadstone

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Chicago, University of California, Santa Barbara and University of Konstanz, Germany, have developed a technique to record the quantum mechanical behavior of an individual electron contained within a nanoscale defect in diamond.

By Madeleine Stone  @themadstone

A pair of University of Pennsylvania physicists will receive one of the nine grants being awarded this year by the Charles E.

After more than a decade of development and planning, the National Science Foundation has approved federal construction of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, of which the University of Pennsylvania is a member, will manage the $473 million construction project.