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Illuminating interactions between decision-making and the environment
People in fishing boats on the water

Aunifying game theory model describing the feedbacks that occur between strategic decision making and environmental change captured dynamics that occur in fisheries, in human social interactions, in soil-microbe interactions, and much more. (Image: Erol Akçay) 

Illuminating interactions between decision-making and the environment

With a unifying model based in game theory, Andrew Tilman, Joshua Plotkin, and Erol Akçay of the School of Arts and Sciences inform dynamics in fields as diverse as ecology and economics.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Urban planning for biodiversity after bushfires
A bushfire burning in Queensland Australia

Urban planning for biodiversity after bushfires

The Weitzman School’s Richard Weller visited Sydney for a two-week intensive on critical urban challenges and converting a parkland into an incubator for wildlife.

Penn Today Staff

‘An Atlas for the Green New Deal’
a map of the united states with colored dots showing different types of land usage

‘An Atlas for the Green New Deal’

The McHarg Center releases a new collection of maps and datascapes capturing the spatial consequences of climate change in support of a coordinated national response.

Erica K. Brockmeier

Exploring cryptocurrency and blockchain in Iceland
zane cooper in iceland

Exploring cryptocurrency and blockchain in Iceland

A virtual reality film, photo series, and soundscape from Penn and Rutgers document the effect this fast-growing tech industry is having on the country’s natural resources and people.

Michele W. Berger

Fruit flies’ microbiomes shape their evolution
fruit fly close-up on a piece of vegetation

An ambitious outdoor experiment in fruit flies at Pennovation Works revealed that an altered microbiome can drive evolutionary change. (Photo: Seth Rudman)

Fruit flies’ microbiomes shape their evolution

In just five generations, an altered microbiome can lead to genome-wide evolution in fruit flies, according to new research led by Paul Schmidt and postdoc Seth Rudman of the School of Arts and Sciences.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Inferno in the rainforest
Map of Brazil and other parts of South America showing myriad points of orange

Sensors on NASA satellites Terra and Aqua captured a record of thousands of points of fire in Brazil in late August. The fires pose a threat to the Amazon rainforest and to people living in and around it. (Image: NASA Earth Observatory)

Inferno in the rainforest

Satellite images have detected more than 100,000 points of fire in the Amazon this year. Scientists Reto Gieré and Alain Plante illuminate some less obvious impacts of the fires, including health threats and climate impacts.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Making insights into ancient marine ecosystems with 3D-printed shells
Scientist looks at a 3D printer in a scientific lab

Erynn Johnson monitors the progress of the lab’s 3D printer in Hayden Hall as it produces a resin-based replica of a snail shell. Her research, which relies on mathematical modeling paired with paleontology, gives insights into how shelled marine creatures that lived hundreds of millions of years ago evolved to withstand the crunching jaws of predators.

Making insights into ancient marine ecosystems with 3D-printed shells

If you’re a snail hoping to survive an encounter with a hungry fish, it helps to have a strong shell. Paleoecology doctoral student Erynn Johnson is using 3D printing to understand how predator-prey interactions may have played out hundreds of millions of years ago.

Katherine Unger Baillie

The beauty and nuances of Iceland, through a multidisciplinary lens
iceland class on site in iceland

The beauty and nuances of Iceland, through a multidisciplinary lens

Tracing a circular path around Iceland, the students in Alain Plante’s Penn Global Seminar saw firsthand the nation’s unique geology, culture, politics, energy, people, and wildlife.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Not over the hill: ‘Design With Nature,’ Ian McHarg’s landmark book of ecological design turns 50

Not over the hill: ‘Design With Nature,’ Ian McHarg’s landmark book of ecological design turns 50

Bill Whitaker of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design spoke about Penn landscape architect Ian McHarg’s influence on ecological design and city planning. “He realized that people paid attention when you had scientific information and you had hard facts,” said Whitaker.