Professor Philip Rea wins Jesse H. Neal Award for Scientific Journalism Professor Philip Rea wins Jesse H. Neal Award for Scientific Journalism Rea, professor of biology in Penn’s School of Arts & Sciences and Belldegrun Distinguished Director of the Vagelos Program in Life Sciences & Management has won the Jesse H. Neal Award for Best Technical/Scientific Content for his article “Gliflozins for Diabetes: From Bark to Bench to Bedside,” published in American Scientist.
Exhibition as conversation Exterior view of “(Ex)Urban Futures of the Recent Past” at Galleria Thomas Schultz in Berlin.(Image: Courtesy of Weitzman News) Exhibition as conversation For three faculty members in the Department of Fine Arts, curating exhibitions offers the opportunity to explore relationships between works of art, art and politics, history, and the environment. 2 min. read
Huan Tang on the financial power of data-sharing among firms Huan Tang on the financial power of data-sharing among firms In her study, “Data as a Networked Asset,” assistant professor of finance at Wharton Huan Tang finds that companies are connected not only by products or supply chains, but by the information they exchange. 2 min. read
Weitzman team selected for Special Recognition in the Los Angeles Small Lots, Big Impacts Design Competition Weitzman team selected for Special Recognition in the Los Angeles Small Lots, Big Impacts Design Competition FORMA (led by associate professor of practice Daniel Markiewicz and Miroslava Brooks) and Studio Zimm (led by Weitzman alum Michael Zimmerman) teamed up to design a project for the Los Angeles Small Lots, Big Impacts design competition, and received Special Recognition for their work on both sites within the Gentle Density category.
Decoding ancient immunity networks A collaborative team from the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Perelman School of Medicine have unraveled the mathematics of a 500-million-year-old protein network that acts like the body’s bouncer, “deciding” which foreign materials get degraded by immune cells and which are allowed entry.(Image / iStock Md Saiful Islam Khan) Decoding ancient immunity networks A collaborative team from Penn Medicine and Penn Engineering have unraveled the mathematics of a 500-million-year-old protein network that “decides” which foreign materials are friend or foe. 5 min. read
New chair of Orthopaedics starts a new chapter in a lifetime of service Benjamin “Kyle” Potter demonstrates how the OPRA implant (Integrum LLC), which is FDA-approved for osseointegration following transfemoral amputation, fits into the AXOR II failsafe device, directly linking a patient's residual bone to an external prosthesis.(Image: Courtesy of Penn Medicine News) New chair of Orthopaedics starts a new chapter in a lifetime of service Following a distinguished military career, Benjamin ‘Kyle’ Potter is bringing his battle-tested expertise to Penn. 2 min. read
‘Elusive Cures: Why Neuroscience Hasn’t Solved Brain Disorders—and How We Can Change That’ Tackling brain conditions, says psychology professor Nicole Rust, requires thinking about the brain not as a domino chain but as a complex dynamical system with feedback loops.nocred Q&A ‘Elusive Cures: Why Neuroscience Hasn’t Solved Brain Disorders—and How We Can Change That’ The first book from psychology professor Nicole Rust of the School of Arts & Sciences dives into why research on conditions like Alzheimer’s and depression hasn’t translated more effectively into better treatments. 5 min. read
‘The most human gesture’ brings the gift of a hand transplant at Penn Medicine (Image: Courtesy of Luka Krizanac) ‘The most human gesture’ brings the gift of a hand transplant at Penn Medicine Penn’s first bilateral hand transplant since the COVID pandemic gives a Swiss man new hands 16 years after childhood amputations. 7 min. read
Ants and naked mole-rats and societal roles In eusocial superorganisms like leafcutter ant colonies, labor is divvied up according to body shape and size, but PIK Professor Shelley Berger and her team discovered that molecular signals can override that blueprint. Their findings reveal how simple neuropeptides can reprogram ant behavior, reshuffling roles in nature’s most disciplined workforce.(Image: Courtesy of Tierney Scarpa) Ants and naked mole-rats and societal roles PIK Professor Shelley Berger and colleagues explored the genetic basis of labor distribution in communal-dwelling species and discovered that pathways dating back hundreds of millions of years are conserved across animal kingdoms. Their findings offer fundamental insights into complex social behaviors. 5 min. read
What is an NPU? A Penn expert explains Image: Narumon Bowonkitwanchai via Getty Images Q&A What is an NPU? A Penn expert explains Benjamin C. Lee, a professor of electrical and systems engineering, explains what a neural processing unit (NPU) is and why it matters in the age of artificial intelligence. 5 min. read