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Nathi Magubane

Science News Officer
  • nathi@upenn.edu
  • (215) 898-8562
  • A portrait of science writer Nathi Magubane
    Articles from Nathi Magubane
    Recession or soft landing?
    Closeup Benjamin Franklin face on USD banknote with stock market chart graph for currency exchange and global trade forex concept.

    Susan Wachter, of the Wharton School and the Penn Institute for Urban Research, co-hosts the monthly webinar with William Glasgall, a Penn IUR Fellow, featuring panel discussions about the COVID-19 pandemic’s fiscal effects on cities and states. Penn Today spoke with Wachter and Glasgall about the latest episode, which explores effects of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes.

    (Image: iStock / Dilok Klaisataporn)

    Recession or soft landing?

    Susan Wachter and William Glasgall of the Penn Institute for Urban Research discuss key takeaways from their webinar on interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve.
    Decoding acoustic objects
    Photo of Lily Wei.

    Mentored by Vijay Balasubramanian of the School of Arts & Sciences, third-year Lily Wei spent the summer deciphering how the brain recognizes auditory objects.

    (Image: Eric Sucar)

    Decoding acoustic objects

    Third-year student Lily Wei spent the summer conducting research in the lab of Vijay Balasubramanian using algorithms to propose how the brain may recognize acoustic objects.
    The crisis of climate-driven extinction
    Erol Akçay, Michael Mann, Zinta Zommers, and Simon Richter seat4ed on stage in front of a crowd.

    From left: Erol Akçay, associate professor of biology in the School of Arts & Sciences; Michael Mann, Presidential Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science in the School of Arts & Sciences, with a secondary appointment in the Annenberg School for Communication; Zinta Zommers, humanitarian affairs officer with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and served as the Wolk Visiting Fellow (2021-22) and a Visiting Fellow (2022-23) at the Perry World House; and Simon Richter, professor of Germanic languages and literatures, a Perry World House faculty fellow, a faculty fellow of Penn Institute of Urban Research, and a faculty advisory board member of the Water Center at Penn.

    (Image: Courtesy of Gabrielle Szcepanek)

    The crisis of climate-driven extinction

    In a session moderated by Simon Richter, panelists Erol Akçay, Michael Mann, and Zinta Zommers discussed the impact of climate change on efforts to conserve biological diversity.
    Engineering changemakers: Honoring Cora Ingrum and Donna Hampton
    Cora ingrum and Donna Hampton stand beside portraits in their likeness.

    Image: Courtesy of Penn Engineering

    Engineering changemakers: Honoring Cora Ingrum and Donna Hampton

    Sharing a legacy of leadership and decades of service in Penn Engineering’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Cora Ingrum and Donna Hampton had a transformative impact on academic life at the school.
    A suit of armor for cancer-fighting cells
    3d render of T cells attacking cancer cells

    Chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR T) therapy has delivered promising results, transforming the fight against various forms of cancer, but for many, the therapy comes with severe and potentially lethal side effects. Now, a research team led by Michael Mitchell of the School of Engineering and Applied Science has found a solution that could help CAR T therapies reach their full potential while minimizing severe side effects.

    (Image: iStock / Meletios Verras)

    A suit of armor for cancer-fighting cells

    New research from the University of Pennsylvania offers a safer path for CAR T cell immunotherapy.
    Biophysics summer school in Crete
    Photograph of Cretian landscape overlooking a body of water.

    This summer, Eleni Katifori and Arnold Mathijssen of the School of Arts & Sciences organized a weeklong summer program in Crete where students from Penn and other institutions could network about topics and ideas in active biophysics research.

    (image: Courtesy of Eleni Katifori)

    Biophysics summer school in Crete

    Eleni Katifori and Arnold Mathijssen spent a week in Crete, introducing students from Penn and other institutes to various topics and ideas in active biophysics research.
    Shifting the climate narrative
    The sky glows yellow and purple after a strong summer storm in Philly.

    On Sept. 12, PBS, WHYY, and the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media are set to gather a group of community leaders, journalists, science communicators, and scientists to explore the role of storytelling in climate change education.

    (Image: iStock / Luke Chen)

    Shifting the climate narrative

    In a Q&A with Penn Today, Michael Mann of the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media shares his views on the role of storytelling in the fight against climate change.
    SCALAR: A microchip designed to transform the production of mRNA therapeutics and vaccines
    Silicon wafer with chips lightinhg in neon light.

    Led by Michael Mitchell and David Issadore of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, a team of researchers has developed a platform that could rapidly accelerate the development of mRNA-based lipid nanoparticle vaccines and therapeutics at both the small and large scale, SCALAR.

    (Image: iStock / Anatoly Morozov)

    SCALAR: A microchip designed to transform the production of mRNA therapeutics and vaccines

    Researchers have developed a platform that could rapidly accelerate the development of mRNA-based lipid nanoparticle vaccines and therapeutics at both the small and largescale, SCALAR.
    Could the age of the universe be twice as old as current estimates suggest?
    Thousands of small galaxies appear across this view. Their colors vary. Some are shades of orange, while others are white. Most appear as fuzzy ovals, but a few have distinct spiral arms. In front of the galaxies are several foreground stars. Most appear blue, and the bright stars have diffraction spikes, forming an eight-pointed star shape. There are also many thin, long, orange arcs that curve around the center of the image.

    NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has produced the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is rich with detail.

    Thousands of galaxies—including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared—have appeared in Webb’s view for the first time. The image shows the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago. The combined mass of this galaxy cluster acts as a gravitational lens, magnifying much more distant galaxies behind it.

    Webb’s Near-Infra Red Cam has brought those distant galaxies into sharp focus—they have tiny, faint structures that have never been seen before, including star clusters and diffuse features.

    (Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)

    Could the age of the universe be twice as old as current estimates suggest?

    Penn Professors Vijay Balasubramanian and Mark Devlin offer a broader understanding of a recent paper’s claim that the universe could be 26.7 billion years old.
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