To better visualize microplastics, researchers in the McBride Lab at Penn Engineering use fluorescent dyes like Nile Red, which attach to plastics and make them glow under specific light. Environmental researcher Derek Ho developed a system used in their lab called the Fluorescent Imaging Microplastic Analysis Platform, or FIMAP. It uses machine learning to detect and identify plastic particles larger than about 20 microns in complex water samples.
(Image: Sylvia Zhang)
The impact of microplastics—and how to limit exposure
Microplastics researchers Samantha McBride and Derek Ho of Penn Engineering and Vijay Bhatia of the Philadelphia Water Department discuss how microplastics get into ecosystems and human bodies, offering practical ways to minimize exposure.
Penn Engineers led by Xue “Sherry” Gao have developed a gene-editing tool built specifically for fungi, unlocking a hidden library of molecules—including some with early anti-cancer promise—from one of biology’s most overlooked kingdoms.
Transforming healthcare logistics with low-cost AI
Researchers from the Wharton School and Penn Engineering partnered with Sierra Leone’s government to build a low-cost AI tool that optimizes the allocation of essential medical supplies across the country. By accounting for missing data and navigating unexpected supply chain disruptions, the system ensures life-saving products reach the clinics that need them most.
With diesel prices on the climb, truckers across the United States are adopting fuel-saving measures like driving more slowly to reduce operating expenses.
(Image: Scott Olson / Staff via Getty Images)
Q&A: How big, loud trucks quietly shape people’s lives
Sociologist Steve Viscelli discusses the pain points many American truckers face as they contend with rising fuel costs and the shifting transportation landscape.
In conversation with Penn Today, mechanical engineer, tennis player, and soccer fan Paulo Arratia discusses the material differences between natural grass and synthetic turf.
Over the last decade, there’s been an explosion in phone-based gambling platforms owing to the 2018 Supreme Court ruling that struck down a federal sports betting ban. Neuroscientist Michael L. Platt says the gambling boom has as much to do with human biology as it does business.
(Image: Hispanolist)
Why is everything gambling now?
Neuroscientist Michael Platt discusses the biological basis of gambling as it relates to the over proliferation of gambling-based platforms.
The Fed explained: What it does and why it matters
Former Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker and financial historian Peter Conti-Brown, both Wharton professors, unpack the central bank’s origins, its unusual structure, and the quiet ways it shapes the economy
Nhlanhla Mavuso of Fluid Silicon at work in the Moore Building.
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Nhlanhla Mavuso: Innovating computer chips to run more efficiently
Fluid Silicon, a platform from President’s Sustainability Prize winner Nhlanhla Mavuso, allows computer chips to continuously monitor their health and self-tune as their characteristics change. The technology has the potential to reduce energy usage in data centers and improve reliability in mission-critical applications.
Image: Jessica Kourkounis / Stringer via Getty Images
When the Schuylkill swallowed the city
New Penn research shows that Hurricane Ida wasn’t a once-in-a-century anomaly but a preview of how climate change, urbanization, and aging infrastructure are rewriting flood risk.
A Penn Engineering and Penn Medicine team built CAMEL, an artificial intelligence model that forecasts dangerous cardiac rhythms before they strike. Their findings pave the way for a new era of real-time, predictive heart care.
