At four areas around The Woodlands, Rohr will be checking weekly to see how many lanternflies he finds. The insect prefers ailanthus trees, but also feeds on dozens of other species.
Predilections of a destructive pest
The spotted lanternfly is emerging as a serious threat to agriculture and forested areas. At The Woodlands Cemetery near campus, Benjamin Rohr hopes to determine the types of trees the insect prefers to shape control strategies moving forward.
The report notes that declining biodiversity takes a toll not only on the species directly affected, but also on human livelihoods and health.
With unprecedent threats to nature at hand, how to turn the tide
One million plant and animal species are on the verge of extinction due to human activity, according to a U.N. assessment issued earlier this month. Here, experts highlight the report’s major messages and offer ideas for moving from inertia to action to stem threats to biodiversity.
Karen Wisnia rides to her Penn Medicine office rain or shine, a waterproof bag being a crucial piece of gear. (Photo: Eric Sucar)
The beauty of the two-wheeled commute
On Bike to Work Day, Penn will fete two-wheeled commuters with snacks, showers, and swag. For many at the University, commuting by bike is a way of life. Five Penn staff and faculty share how they make it work and why they keep riding.
Roderick Coover, whose work merges cinema, science, and history, is the 2019 Mellon Artist-in-Residence for the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities (PPEH). His recent film “Toxi-City: A Climate Change Narrative” screened at PPEH’s “Teaching and Learning with Rising Waters” event.
Mitochondrial damage is linked to the bone degradation seen in osteoporosis, according to Penn Vet researchers. Macrophages, a type of immune cell, that had dysfunctional mitochondria (right) were more likely to become osteoclasts—cells that break down bone—than control macrophages (left). (Image: Courtesy of Avadhani Lab)
A link between mitochondrial damage and osteoporosis
In healthy people, a tightly controlled process balances the activity of osteoblasts, which build bone, and osteoclasts, which break it down. Damage to cells’ mitochondria can make that process go awry, meaning exposure to cigarette smoke, alcohol, environmental toxins can increase the risk of osteoporosis.
Senior Ahsen Kayani checks on the tanks, set up alongside the BioPond.
Putting mussels to the test
With a mussel hatchery in the future for the Schuylkill River, students in Byron Sherwood’s field biology course used scientific rigor to ask how effectively these filter feeders might render the water clean.
With a precise, controlled movement, microrobots clear a glass plate of a biofilm in this time-lapse sequence.
(Image: Geelsu Hwang and Edward Steager)
An army of microrobots can wipe out dental plaque
A swarm of microrobots, directed by magnets, can break apart and remove dental biofilm, or plaque, from a tooth, thanks to a partnership led by Dental Medicine’s Hyun (Michel) Koo and Engineering’s Edward Steager.
Patricia Corby has joined Penn Dental Medicine with a eye toward advancing clinical research at the School.
Expanding opportunities to leverage science in the clinic
Patricia Corby, who recently joined the School of Dental Medicine as associate dean for translational research, is bringing her research to bear for cancer patients undergoing radiation, while looking to advance clinical research School-wide.
Do you change direction when you see a black cat approaching? A game theory-driven model developed by two theoretical biologists at Penn shows how such superstitions can catch on.
How superstitions spread
Superstitious beliefs may seem irrational, but they catch on in a society. Using an evolutionary approach to studying the emergence of coordinated behaviors, Erol Akçay and Bryce Morsky showed how a jumble of individual beliefs, including superstitions, coalesce into an accepted social norm.
