Physics

The Big Bang at 75

Theoretical physicist Vijay Balasubramanian discusses the 75th anniversary of the alpha-beta-gamma paper, what we know—and don’t know—about the universe and the “very big gaps” left to discover.

Kristina García

Wormhole-like dynamics

Theoretical physicists Vijay Balasubramanian and Jonathan Heckman of the School of Arts & Sciences speak with Penn Today to explain the implications of new research claiming to have observed wormhole-like teleportation on a quantum computer.

Nathi Magubane , Nathi Magubane



In the News


Inc.

Neuroscience explains why Bill Gates’ weird reading trick is so effective

A study by Penn researchers working in physics, neuroscience, and bioengineering found that people instinctively seek patterns and similarities in the data they absorb.

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The Guardian

UK joins international effort to uncover first moments of the universe

In a statement for the Simons Observatory, Mark Devlin of the School of Arts & Sciences says that new telescopes and researchers from the UK will make a significant addition to their efforts to examine the origins of the universe.

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Physics World

Liquid crystals bring robotics to the microscale

In collaboration with the University of Ljubljana, Kathleen Stebe of the School of Engineering and Applied Science has built a swimming microrobot that paddles by rotating liquid crystal molecules.

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Quanta Magazine

The new math of wrinkling

Eleni Katifori of the School of Arts & Sciences is credited for her work simulating wrinkle patterns, which were crucial to an overall theory of geometric wrinkle prediction.

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New Scientist

Researchers have worked out the rules for how some things wrinkle

Eleni Katifori of the School of Arts & Sciences and colleagues used simulations of curving plastic pieces to predict the formation of wrinkling patterns.

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Scientific American

Why some fluids flow slower when pushed harder

Paulo Arratia of the School of Engineering and Applied Science commented on a study that explored how fluids flow under different pressures. “Visualizing flow inside a 3-D porous media literally gives a window into something that was impossible to see,” he said. “If you could actually see the molecules stretching and recoiling, that would be wonderful [to] connect the molecular point of view to the microscopic.”

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