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A new way to fly, built up from the nanoscale
closeup image of nanocardboard

A new way to fly, built up from the nanoscale

Super-thin “nanocardboard” can levitate using only the power of light, opening the door to tiny flying machines with no moving parts.

Gwyneth K. Shaw

Philadelphia: The new city of science
a large group of people in front of the Franklin Institute building with a science demonstration (with smoke and the aftermath of an explosion that caused colored balls to fly into the air) in the foreground

The Philadelphia Science Festival, happening from April 26th until May 4th, brings together hundreds of institutions from the Greater Philadelphia area and culminates in the grand finale Science Carnival along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway (Photo credit: Philadelphia Science Festival). 

Philadelphia: The new city of science

Penn researchers will be involved in a weeklong series of interactive activities and events across the city as part of the Philadelphia Science Festival.

Erica K. Brockmeier

‘Metallic wood’ has the strength of titanium and the density of water
microscopic sample of metallic wood

A microscopic sample of “metallic wood.” Its porous structure is responsible for its high strength-to-weight ratio, and makes it more akin to natural materials, like wood. (Photo: Penn Engineering)

‘Metallic wood’ has the strength of titanium and the density of water

In a study published in Nature Scientific Reports, researchers at the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, and the University of Cambridge have built a sheet of nickel with nanoscale pores that make it as strong as titanium, but four to five times lighter.

Penn Today Staff

The nanotopography of an atomic world
landscape of mountains made with small colored dots

The nanotopography of an atomic world

Physicists offer insights into the structure of atomically thin materials using nanoscale images of 2D membranes.

Erica K. Brockmeier

Marching toward the market
Visiplate team members

Marching toward the market

Rui Jing Jiang and Brandon Kao, winners of the 2018 President’s Innovation Prize, are well on their way to their goal: to gain FDA approval for a device to treat glaucoma.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Penn Engineering groups awarded NSF grants to work toward ‘quantum leap’
Optics Close Up

Two teams in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have received NSF grants for research in quantum information science, which explores how to send and store secure information at the nanometer level.

Penn Engineering groups awarded NSF grants to work toward ‘quantum leap’

One group will design robust, integrated quantum memory devices based on defects in diamond, and the other group will develop materials to encode and decode quantum information in single photons. These technologies will be part of the safest and most secure information network ever seen.

Jacob Williamson-Rea Evan Lerner

Penn collaboration works to answer a fundamental nanotechnology question

    • Penn collaboration works to answer a fundamental nanotechnology question

    Physicists have invented a new type of graphene-based sensor that could one day be used as a low-cost diagnostic system able to test for biomarker molecules, which are indicative of disease states.

    Ali Sundermier

    Using nanotechnology to expand health care access

    • Using nanotechnology to expand health care access

    A team is using commercially available nanotechnology to develop a low-cost, handheld diagnostic device that can monitor HIV. This device would increase access to high-quality treatment of HIV in developing countries and lower the cost of health care in the U.S.