Water molecules become increasingly disordered at the surface of a catalyst. Researchers found that this disordered interfacial water, shown transitioning from structured (left) to disorganized (right), plays a key role in speeding up the conversion of carbon monoxide into ethylene, a valuable fuel and chemical building block.
(Image: Courtesy of Shoji Hall)
Beneath the surface: Diving into water’s hidden carbon-cleaning capabilities
Penn materials scientist Shoji Hall and colleagues have found that manipulating the surface of water can allow scientists to sustainably convert greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide to higher energy fuel sources like ethylene.
The Polyhedral Structures Laboratory is housed at the Pennovation Center and brings together designers, engineers, and computer scientists to reimagine the built world. Using graphic statics, a method where forces are mapped as lines, they design forms that balance compression and tension. These result in structures that use far fewer materials while remaining strong and efficient.
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Designing cleaner, greener concrete that absorbs carbon dioxide
Penn engineers, materials scientists, and designers have developed a 3D-printed concrete solution based on diatomaceous earth that has enhanced carbon capture, is stronger, and uses fewer materials like cement.
ATLAS’s wheel-like end-cap reveals the maze of sensors primed to catch proton smash-ups at the LHC. Researchers comb through billions of events in search of fleeting “ghost” tracks that might expose cracks in string theory.
(Image: Courtesy of CERN)
Can data from the Large Hadron Collider snap string theory?
Theoretical physicist Jonathan Heckman of the School of Arts & Sciences has put a spin on ideas related to testing string theory: Rather than looking to verify it, he and his collaborators sought a novel way to falsify it. Heckman and Ph.D. candidate Rebecca Hicks explain string theory, researchers’ quest to unify physics, and what their new paper puts forward.
Record-breaking temperatures lingered over the Northwest during a historic heatwave in June, 2021 in Vancouver, Washington.
(Image: Nathan Howard via AP Images)
Heat domes and flooding have nearly tripled since the ’50s
New research led by Michael E. Mann links a surge in stalled jet stream events to human-driven climate change, with major implications for future heatwaves, wildfires, and floods.
A collaborative team from the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Perelman School of Medicine have unraveled the mathematics of a 500-million-year-old protein network that acts like the body’s bouncer, “deciding” which foreign materials get degraded by immune cells and which are allowed entry.
(Image / iStock Md Saiful Islam Khan)
Decoding ancient immunity networks
A collaborative team from Penn Medicine and Penn Engineering have unraveled the mathematics of a 500-million-year-old protein network that “decides” which foreign materials are friend or foe.
In eusocial superorganisms like leafcutter ant colonies, labor is divvied up according to body shape and size, but PIK Professor Shelley Berger and her team discovered that molecular signals can override that blueprint. Their findings reveal how simple neuropeptides can reprogram ant behavior, reshuffling roles in nature’s most disciplined workforce.
(Image: Courtesy of Tierney Scarpa)
What can ants and naked-mole rats teach about societal roles?
PIK Professor Shelley Berger and colleagues explored the genetic basis of labor distribution in communal-dwelling species and discovered that pathways dating back hundreds of millions of years are conserved across animal kingdoms. Their findings offer fundamental insights into complex social behaviors.
Penn’s AI x Science Postdoctoral Fellows Program is breaking down traditional scientific boundaries by integrating artificial intelligence across diverse research fields. Less than a year in, the program is already paying dividends in the form of new collaborations and research publications for inaugural fellows like Brynn Sherman (left) of the School of Arts & Sciences and Kieran Murphy (right) of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
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AI x Science Postdoctoral Fellows collaborate across disciplines
The new fellowship program, offered through the School of Arts & Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied Science, offers mentorship and peer engagement opportunities.
An interdisciplinary team led by School of Engineering and Applied Science’s Lee C. Bassett and Dani Bassett, also of the School of Arts & Sciences, have studied the mechanical properties of prions, the mysterious shape-shifting proteins that are infamous for mad cow disease yet essential for yeast survival
Researchers led by César de la Fuente of the Perelman School of Medicine have created new peptides that fight hard-to-treat “superbug” infections by punching holes in bacterial cells and stimulating immune cells to signal for more defenders.
(Image: Courtesy of Jianing Bai)
Delivering a one-two punch to superbugs to fight infections
Penn researchers create mirror-image molecules that both kill pathogens outright and rally the immune system—an advance aimed at the growing crisis of antimicrobial resistance.
Image: Courtesy of NASA’s Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory
Paris Perdikaris led research on lifesaving and more cost-effective weather predictions
Penn professor Paris Perdikaris and collaborators developed Aurora, a machine-learning model that has predictive capabilities for air quality, ocean waves, tropical cyclone tracks, and weather.
