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Turning peels into pavers: How Penn designers turn food scraps into biodegradable building materials
Two students working with biodegradable food waste specimens.

At the DumoLab, research associate Yasaman Amirzehni is working to develop a biocomposite suitable for indoor and outdoor cladding applications, which could eventually serve as true structural components like load-bearing columns.

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Turning peels into pavers: How Penn designers turn food scraps into biodegradable building materials

The Weitzman School’s Laia Mogas-Soldevila and Yasaman Amirzehni transform unavoidable food waste—like fruit peels and eggshells, which account for 14.8% of post-consumer restaurant food waste—into durable, biodegradable building materials in collaboration with Penn Dining.
Five things to know about private credit
Traders at the New York Stock Exchange looking at monitors.

Michael M. Santiago via Getty Images

Five things to know about private credit

As investor withdrawals and liquidity concerns rattle a $1.8 trillion market, Wharton’s Itay Goldstein explains how private credit works, why experts are uneasy, and what it could mean for your finances.

3 min. read

Learning I had Lynch syndrome ‘saved my life’
Dennis Massimo and his sister Lauren Massimo.

Dennis Massimo and his sister Lauren Massimo in 2026.

(Image: Courtesy of Penn Medicine News)

Learning I had Lynch syndrome ‘saved my life’

Dennis Massimo was only 42 and symptom-free when he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer, thanks to a research study he signed up for with the Penn Medicine BioBank nearly a decade earlier.
Cutting through the cluttered media landscape
Duncan Watts and the lab members of Media Bias Lab.

Duncan Watts (far left) and managing director Jeanne Ruane (second from left) with members of Penn’s Computational Social Science Lab.

(Image: Courtesy of Inspiring Impact)

Cutting through the cluttered media landscape

Penn’s Computational Social Science Lab’s Media Bias Detector team, under founder and director Duncan Watts, explores how people behave, how media works, how society functions, and how the human mind operates.

From Penn Inspiring Impact

2 min. read

Mapping catalyst failure to advance clean hydrogen fuel production
A car at a hydrogen refueling station.

Image: David McNew via Getty Images

Mapping catalyst failure to advance clean hydrogen fuel production

A new study co-led by computational Penn engineering professor Aleksandra Vojvodic and collaborators offers an unprecedented view of the complicated degradation process of a material based on one of the rarest elements, iridium. Their findings, which show how this catalytic agent breaks down at the atomic scale, pave the way for better hydrogen fuel production.

3 min. read

The art of retelling ancient stories: A Q&A with Steven Weitzman
Steven Weitzman standing upright and smiling, facing forward, in the Library at the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, next to a wall with books on display

Steven Weitzman is the Ella Darivoff Director of the Katz Center of Advanced Judaic Studies.

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  • Q&A

    • The art of retelling ancient stories: A Q&A with Steven Weitzman

    In his new book, the Penn professor and scholar of religion examines how the biblical story of the 10 plagues has been reshaped by people across time and culture to make sense of their experiences and find meaning in disasters.

    3 min. read

    Five from Penn named 2025 AAAS Fellows
    Portraits from left to right, first row: Cherie Kagan, Danny Krashen, George Pappas. Second row: Kai Tan, Patrick Walsh.

    (Top, from left) Cherie Kagan, Daniel Krashen, and George Pappas. (Bottom, from left) Kai Tan and Patrick Walsh.

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    Five from Penn named 2025 AAAS Fellows

    Five faculty researchers representing the School of Arts & Sciences, School of Engineering and Applied Science, and the Perelman School of Medicine have been elected 2025 American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows. They are among the nearly 500 scientists, engineers, and innovators spanning 24 scientific disciplines who are being recognized for distinguished achievements.

    3 min. read

    Stress tested, testing stress: Novel organoid models how the adrenal gland develops
    Michinori Mayama (left) is showing a culture dish to Kotaro Sasaki (right) in a lab.

    Michinori Mayama (left) and Kotaro Sasaki (right). 

    (Image: Courtesy of Kotaro Sasaki)

    Stress tested, testing stress: Novel organoid models how the adrenal gland develops

    Researchers led by Penn Vet’s Kotaro Sasaki and Michinori Mayama have developed an organoid system that faithfully mimics how the human adrenal gland develops and forms complex tissue structures, providing a powerful tool to study adrenal biology and laying the groundwork for regenerative therapies targeting adrenal diseases.

    3 min. read

    Targeting tumor supporting cells: Advancing CAR T success in pancreatic cancer
    Pancreatic cancer cells.

    Image: Nemes Laszlo/Science Photo Library via Getty Images

    Targeting tumor supporting cells: Advancing CAR T success in pancreatic cancer

    Research led by Penn Vet’s Ellen Puré has used lipid nanoparticles to generate CAR T cells directed at a type of tumor support cells—cancer-associated fibroblasts—melting away the protective barrier around pancreatic tumor cells and paving the way for a potentially safer, more accessible, and cost-effective method to treat solid tumors.

    3 min. read