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What it’s like to be stationed at a particle accelerator
Inside the particle accelerator.

A photo from the installation of the detector. The large silver and orange striped tubes are the solenoid magnet, which is the largest toroidal magnet ever constructed. It provides a magnetic field of up to 3.5 Tesla. Now that Run 3 has started, the magnet is on even when we researchers are working underground, so they are required to use non-magnetic tools. (Image: Courtesy of Gwen Gardner and Lauren Osojnak)

What it’s like to be stationed at a particle accelerator

Gwen Gardner and Lauren Osojnak, Ph.D. candidates in physics, describe their work as part of the Penn ATLAS team at the Large Hadron Collider.

Blake Cole

Exploring what it means to be curious
Book cover of Curious Minds: The Power of Connection by Perry Zurn and Dani S. Bassett along side image of the two scholars

Exploring what it means to be curious

In a new book “Curious Minds: The Power of Connection,” Penn’s Dani S. Bassett and twin sibling Perry Zurn weave together history, linguistics, network science, neuroscience, and philosophy to unpack the concept of curiosity.

Katherine Unger Baillie

When curved materials flatten, simple geometry can predict the wrinkle patterns that emerge
A circular cutout with wrinkles forming in many patterns.

A circular cutout of a thin spherical cap carefully deposited onto a pool of water. The sheet forms a complex pattern of wrinkles to accommodate the change in geometry from a sphere to a plane. (Image: Monica Ripp, Paulsen Lab, Syracuse University)

When curved materials flatten, simple geometry can predict the wrinkle patterns that emerge

The findings—from a collaboration between Penn, Syracuse, and the University of Illinois Chicago—have a range of implications, from how materials interact with moisture to the way flexible electronics bend.

Michele W. Berger

A novel method for monitoring the ‘engine’ of pregnancy
fetus in the uterus showing connection to placenta

A novel method for monitoring the ‘engine’ of pregnancy

By combining optical measurements with ultrasound, researchers were able to study oxygen levels in the placenta, paving the way for a better understanding of this complex, crucial organ.

Erica K. Brockmeier , Katherine Unger Baillie

A new connection between topology and quantum entanglement
two figures, one showing a three dimensional polygon and another graph with four intersecting planes

A new connection between topology and quantum entanglement

The theoretical work led by physicist Charles Kane reveals an unexpected link between two major principles in physics that may inform future experimentation and an understanding of how to harness quantum information.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Inspired by nature, artificial microtubules can work against a current to transport tiny cargoes
graphic of microvascular networks showing how free-swimming microrobots disperse but a microcatheter propels robots against a flow to a target

W

hile free-swimming microrobots have been explored as a way to precisely deliver therapeutics within a blood vessel, they can disperse in the strong flows, failing to reach their target at high enough concentrations. In contrast, microrobots propelled along an artificial microtubule, developed by physicist Arnold Mathijssen and colleagues, can be transported precisely, even working against the current. (Image: Courtesy of Arnold Mathijssen/Nature Machine Intelligence)

Inspired by nature, artificial microtubules can work against a current to transport tiny cargoes

Technology developed by Arnold Mathijssen of the School of Arts & Sciences and colleagues could one day clear blockages in blood vessels or precisely target chemotherapy drugs to a tumor.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Music-making and the flow of aerosols
Person playing a tuba in a dark room with a green laser shedding light on water mist

Members of The Philadelphia Orchestra, including Carol Jantsch, principal tuba player, took part in a study led by Penn scientists Paulo Arratia and Douglas Jerolmack. Their investigation examined the aerosols professional musicians generate as they play. (Image: Courtesy of Paulo Arratia)

Music-making and the flow of aerosols

If simply breathing can spread the SARS-CoV-2 virus to others nearby, what about blowing into a tuba? Researchers from the School of Engineering the School of Arts & Sciences used fluid mechanics to study the movement of aerosols generated by musicians.

Katherine Unger Baillie