3.30
Science & Technology
What craigslist can teach us about Web 2.0
What craigslist can teach us about Web 2.0
In a new book, Annenberg’s Jessa Lingel views modern online life through the lens of a site that hasn’t changed much in look or feel since it began 25 years ago.
What to do when cutting emissions alone is no longer enough
What to do when cutting emissions alone is no longer enough
Four factors to consider in the race to solve the climate crisis, including how to scale up a tool called negative emissions and why the oceans can only help so much.
A new way of thinking about motion, movement, and the concept of time
A new way of thinking about motion, movement, and the concept of time
Eadweard Muybridge’s “Animal Locomotion” was the first scientific study to use photography. Now, more than 130 years later, Muybridge’s work is seen as both an innovation in photography and the science of movement, alongside his personal legacy as someone with an eccentric 19th century style and a dark past.
Advancing an oral drug for pulmonary arterial hypertension
Advancing an oral drug for pulmonary arterial hypertension
With a protein drug grown in the leaves of lettuce plants, the School of Dental Medicine’s Henry Daniell and colleagues hope to provide new treatment options for patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension, a rare but deadly disease.
Future collaborators and scientific pioneers at the Women in STEM symposium
Future collaborators and scientific pioneers at the Women in STEM symposium
Graduate students and faculty across Penn met to share their work and discuss solutions for issues faced by women in STEM.
Three Penn faculty named 2020 Sloan Research Fellows
Three Penn faculty named 2020 Sloan Research Fellows
Liang Feng of the School of Engineering and Applied Science
Answers to microbiome mysteries in the gills of rainbow trout
Answers to microbiome mysteries in the gills of rainbow trout
In trout, the School of Veterinary Medicine’s J. Oriol Sunyer and colleagues discovered that a particular type of primitive antibody is essential for fighting microbes that cause disease while preserving others that make up a healthy microbiome.
Designs for what the future can be
Designs for what the future can be
The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s “Designs for Different Futures” exhibition includes contributions and installations from several Penn faculty and alumni who seek to answer questions about what the not-so-distant future may look like.
Treatment in a FLASH
Treatment in a FLASH
A clinical trial in dogs with cancer, co-led by the Perelman School of Medicine and the School of Veterinary Medicine, is testing the feasibility, safety, and effectiveness of delivering a full dose of radiation therapy in a split second.
The many lives of charcoal
The many lives of charcoal
Catherine Nabukalu, an alumna of the Master in Environmental Studies program, worked with School of Arts and Sciences Professor Reto Gieré to track the charcoal supply chain through research in Nabukalu’s native Uganda.
In the News
Vox.com
This AI breakthrough in antibiotics might one day save your life
César de la Fuente of the School of Engineering and Applied Science commented on new MIT research that might speed up antibiotic discovery. “I think it’s a breakthrough in a field of much unmet need,” he said. “After all, no new classes of antibiotics have been discovered for decades. This one is definitely structurally different from conventional antibiotics.”
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“All Things Considered,” National Public Radio
At 25 years, understanding the longevity of Craigslist
Jessa Lingel of the Annenberg School for Communication spoke about the founders of Craigslist. “They’re both just old-school engineer type guys who just really believe in keeping the design as simple and functional as possible,” she said. “[I]t’s never had a competitor that was really able to swallow up its user base. It’s had loyal customers all along, loyal users all along, so it’s just never been forced to adapt.”
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WHYY (Philadelphia)
Can algorithms help judges make fair decisions?
Michael Kearns of the School of Engineering and Applied Science said algorithms force us to be more detailed in our decision-making. “You should never expect machine learning to do something for free that you didn’t explicitly ask it to do for you, and you should never expect it to avoid behavior that you want it to avoid that you didn’t tell it explicitly to avoid,” he said.
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The New York Times
Westminster and work: Some show dogs serve, search or soothe
Cynthia Otto of the School of Veterinary Medicine said that a working dog’s appearance is not nearly as important as its drive to seek scents. “They’re not what most would want as your average house pet,” she said.
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Mashable.com
Experts warn smartphone voting is ‘extremely risky,’ yet here it comes
Matt Blaze of the School of Engineering and Applied Science weighed in on a Washington state district’s plans to implement smartphone voting. “This extremely risky decision runs counter to the findings of the authoritative National Academies ‘Securing the Vote’ study, which represents the consensus of experts,” he said.
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The Hill
Critics fear Facebook fact-checkers losing misinformation fight
Eugene Kiely of the Annenberg Public Policy Center spoke about Factcheck.org and how the site manages Facebook content for review.
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The New York Times
Shuttered Philadelphia refinery may get new life after fire
Mark Alan Hughes of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy spoke about the possibility of converting the old Philadelphia refinery into a hybrid plant that also produces renewable fuels. “They’re predicting a steadily declining place for things like the refinery that was,” he said. “The kind of mix that tries to lower the profile of fossil fuel activity is, I think, the most likely outcome.”
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Scientific American
Artificial intelligence is rushing into patient care—and could raise risks
PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel and Saurabh Jha of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about the potential hazards of using artificial intelligence in medicine.
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The New York Times
How Narwhal the ‘unicorn’ puppy may have grown a tail on his head
Margret Casal of the School of Veterinary Medicine explained that the puppy with a tail on its face that went viral is likely the result of another embryo that didn’t fully separate in utero.
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Forbes
The real story about organoids: What you should know about ‘brains in a dish’
Hongjun Song of the Perelman School of Medicine explained how brain organoids were developed. “In the last five years scientists figured out how to turn stem cells into 3D cell structures, and eventually [developed] so-called brain organoids, which look like not only cell types in the brain but also cell architectures,” he said.
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