Nathi Magubane

Science News Officer

Building bridges: A feat of engineering and artistry

At the Corning Museum of Glass, professor of architecture Masoud Akbarzadeh and his team have turned fragility into strength with a 30-foot-long span of shimmering glass, blending ancient wisdom with cutting-edge design to redefine the future of structural engineering and architecture.

Nathi Magubane

What can theoretical physics teach us about knitting?

Penn physicist Randall Kamien, visiting scholar Lauren Niu, and collaborator Geneviève Dion of Drexel bring unprecedented levels of predictability to the ancient practice of knitting by developing a mathematical model that could be used to create a new class of lightweight, ultra-strong materials.

Nathi Magubane

Quantum communications

Penn and CUNY researchers collaborated to develop a device that uses quantum principles to relay information securely—an advance that could improve encryption in critical service areas like banking and health care.

Nathi Magubane

Turning the desert into an oasis

Students from the Weitzman School of Design journeyed to Senegal to help with a massive ecological and infrastructural greening effort as part of their coursework. The Dakar Greenbelt aims to combat desertification and promote sustainable urban growth.

Nathi Magubane

A less clumpy, more complex universe?

Researchers combined cosmological data from two major surveys of the universe’s evolutionary history and found that it may have become “messier and complicated” than expected in recent years.

Nathi Magubane