News from

Natural Sciences

Reset All Filters
130 Results
Nanoparticle blueprints reveal path to smarter medicines
Hannah Yamagata, Research Assistant Professor Kushol Gupta and postdoctoral fellow Marshall Padilla, holding 3D-printed models of nanoparticles in a lab.

(From left) Doctoral student Hannah Yamagata, research assistant professor Kushol Gupta, and postdoctoral fellow Marshall Padilla holding 3D-printed models of nanoparticles.

(Image: Bella Ciervo)

Nanoparticle blueprints reveal path to smarter medicines

New research involving Penn Engineering shows detailed variation in lipid nanoparticle size, shape, and internal structure, and finds that such factors correlate with how well they deliver therapeutic cargo to a particular destination.

Ian Scheffler

2 min. read

How a coral stiffens its skeleton on demand
Chenhao Hu holds up a 3D-printed model of a sclerite.

Penn Engineering doctoral student Chenhao Hu holding a 3D-printed model of a sclerite, the tiny mineral particles that make up the coral’s skeleton and whose unique shape allows the organism to tune its own stiffness.

(Image: Bella Ciervo)

How a coral stiffens its skeleton on demand

Researchers at Penn Engineering have discovered how a coral’s skeleton compacts itself to ward off danger, a novel discovery of “granular jamming” in a living organism.

Ian Scheffler

2 min. read

Penn Vet’s Wildlife Futures seek to unravel the mystery of the disappearing barn owl
Jennifer Grell holding a barn owl.

Penn Vet student Jennifer Grell is gaining wildlife field work experience with Penn Vet’s Wildlife Futures Program.

(Image: Courtesy of Penn Vet News)

Penn Vet’s Wildlife Futures seek to unravel the mystery of the disappearing barn owl

A multiyear study looks at the causes of declining populations, which will help inform conservation efforts in the future.

2 min. read

A massive chunk of ice, a new laser, and new information on sea-level rise
A researcher walking through a glacier in Greenland.

nocred

A massive chunk of ice, a new laser, and new information on sea-level rise

For nearly a decade, Leigh Stearns and collaborators aimed a laser scanner system at Greenland’s Helheim Glacier. Their long-running survey reveals that Helheim’s massive calving events don’t behave the way scientists once thought, reframing how ice loss contributes to sea-level rise.

5 min. read

Where water meets artificial intelligence
A large body of water with a large drop of water superimposed over it.

Image: Floriana via Getty Images

Where water meets artificial intelligence

As part of the new Water-AI Nexus Center of Excellence collaboration, The Water Center at Penn is helping answer key questions around technology and sustainability.

From Omnia

2 min. read

A ‘Rosetta stone’ for molecular systems
Prashant Purohit (left) and Penn Engineering’s Celia Reina (right) in front of a whiteboard.

Penn Engineering’s Prashant Purohit (left) and Celia Reina.

(Image: Bella Ciervo)

A ‘Rosetta stone’ for molecular systems

Penn Engineering’s Prashant Purohit (left) and Celia Reina (right), in collaboration with recent doctoral graduate Travis Leadbetter, have spent years developing a mathematical “Rosetta stone” that can translate molecular movements into predictions of larger effects.

Ian Scheffler

2 min. read

Can tiny ocean organisms offer the key to better climate modeling?
Researcher Xin Sun injects substance into glass vials.

Xin Sun prepares samples collected from the Eastern Tropical North Pacific aboard a research vessel. By adding stable isotope tracers to these vials, Sun and her team can track how different microbial groups convert nitrogen compounds into nitrous oxide, revealing how subtle shifts in oxygen and organic matter change the ocean’s chemistry.

 
 

(Image: Courtesy of Xin Sun)

Can tiny ocean organisms offer the key to better climate modeling?

In the shadowy layers of the Pacific, microbes decide how much nitrous oxide—a potent greenhouse gas—rises skyward. New research from Penn’s Xin Sun offers an improved understanding of microbial ecology and geochemistry—key to forecasting global emissions in response to natural and man-made climate change.

3 min. read

Penn Engineering’s Dohyung Kim named 2025 Packard Fellow for Science and Engineering

Penn Engineering’s Dohyung Kim named 2025 Packard Fellow for Science and Engineering

The assistant professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering has been named a 2025 Packard Fellow for Science and Engineering by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Kim leads the Kim Laboratory of Electrochemistry and Interfaces at the Nanoscale, which investigates how chemical reactions occur on the surfaces of solid catalysts—materials that drive processes central to energy production, fuel generation, and chemical manufacturing.

Two Penn faculty elected American Physical Society Fellows
Ritesh Agarwal and Doug Jerolmack.

Ritesh Agarwal (left), Srinivasa Ramanujan Distinguished Scholar in Materials Science and Engineering, and Douglas Jerolmack, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Professor of Earth and Environmental Science and professor of mechanical engineering and applied mechanics.

nocred

Two Penn faculty elected American Physical Society Fellows

Ritesh Agarwal of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Douglas Jerolmack of the School of Arts & Sciences and Penn Engineering have been elected by their peers in recognition of their contributions to the field.

2 min. read

Inspiring interest in water quality at Cobbs Creek
Two people in waders in Cobbs Creek getting water samples.

nocred

Inspiring interest in water quality at Cobbs Creek

Faculty and staff, high school and Penn students, and community members are working together to collect and analyze the most detailed water quality data to date at the West Philadelphia stream.

4 min. read