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Proving climate science right
A young person pouring water over their head.

Image: Courtesy of Environmental Innovations Initiative

Proving climate science right

Research from climate scientist Michael Mann, Presidential Distinguished Professor of Earth & Environmental Science, and colleagues vindicates climate models and reframes the record heat of 2024.

From Omnia

2 min. read

How quickly can a bubble pop?

How quickly can a bubble pop?

Assistant professor of physics and astronomy Saurabh Nath designed an “air-loving” membrane that can pop underwater bubbles in milliseconds, while discovering a fundamental law that governs these ephemeral spheres.

When the Schuylkill swallowed the city
Two people looking at the flooded highway overpass in Philadelphia after flooding from Hurricane Ida.

Image: Jessica Kourkounis / Stringer via Getty Images

When the Schuylkill swallowed the city

New Penn research shows that Hurricane Ida wasn’t a once-in-a-century anomaly but a preview of how climate change, urbanization, and aging infrastructure are rewriting flood risk.

5 min. read

The science of winemaking
Students listen to explanation at winery.

Students listened to an information session in a vineyard at Cobos winery prior to a sit-down tasting.

(Image: Kelly Williamson)

The science of winemaking

The Biochemical Engineering of Wine course provides a real-world application of engineering principles, teaching students about the science behind the processes involved with making wine.

3 min. read

Making ‘light’ work of computing  
Futuristic digital intelligent chip data processing technology

Image: Chayanan via Getty Images

Making ‘light’ work of computing  

Penn physicists led by Bo Zhen have created hybrid light-matter particles that interact strongly enough to compute, pointing toward ultrafast, low-energy optical AI hardware.

2 min. read

What happens when an iceberg melts?
An iceberg in Iceland.

Research from Hugo Ulloa, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth & Environmental Science, and Daisuke Noto of Hokkaido University, models how icebergs melt and move in their environments.

(Image: Gabi Musat / 500px via Getty Images)

What happens when an iceberg melts?

With ice balls, lasers, and cameras, School of Arts & Sciences’ Hugo Ulloa recreated a melting iceberg in his lab. This project revealed that icebergs don’t sit passively on the water’s surface but actually release dense, cold water and jet across the surface, churning and mixing everything in their paths.

From Omnia

2 min. read

Gravity follows Newton and Einstein’s rules, even at cosmic scales
An artist's depiction of two galaxies, side-by-side, swriling at different velocites.

The cosmic microwave background, the faint afterglow of the Big Bang that fills all of space, passes through massive galaxy clusters whose motion slightly alters the light, allowing scientists to measure how fast the clusters are moving toward one another and test how strongly gravity pulls across the largest distances in the universe.

(Image: Courtesy of Lucy Reading/Simons Foundation)

Gravity follows Newton and Einstein’s rules, even at cosmic scales

By tracking galaxy clusters hundreds of millions of lightyears apart, Penn physicist Patricio Gallardo and collaborators find that the laws of gravity written by Newton and Einstein still hold, leaving little doubt that invisible dark matter exists.

3 min. read

Caitlyn Chen’s path to becoming a physician-scientist
Caitlyn Chen.

nocred

Caitlyn Chen’s path to becoming a physician-scientist

The fourth-year in the College of Arts & Sciences, who will pursue medical school after graduation, spent her time at Penn applying deep knowledge of the natural sciences to research more affordable microsensors for medical devices.

3 min. reada

Shujie Yang harnesses sound to build the next generation of microrobotic medicine
Shujie Yang

Shujie Yang is at the frontier of single-cell acoustic manipulation, an emerging field that blends physics, mechanobiology, and medicine.

(Image: Courtesy of Penn Engineering)

Shujie Yang harnesses sound to build the next generation of microrobotic medicine

Yang’s lab at Penn Engineering uses precisely-controlled ultrasound waves to develop microscale tools that can manipulate cells, viruses, and soft materials without physical contact.

Melissa Pappas

2 min. read