11/15
Science & Technology
Thrashed by Hurricane Maria, Monkey Island Tries to Rebuild, Bolstered by Support From Scientific Community
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and other international universities are working to save an invaluable scientific resource badly damaged during Hurricane Maria: a population of rhesus macaques living on a remote island, as well as the staff and facilities that support them.
Penn Engineering Launches A. James Clark Scholars Program with $15M gift from the A. James and Alice B. Clark Foundation
The A. James Clark Scholars Program has been established in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania with an extraordinary $15 million gift from the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation. It is the largest one-time gift to undergraduate support in the University’s history.
Penn Junior Embraces ‘Trial and Error’ of Chemistry Research
by Erica AndersenWhen University of Pennsylvania undergraduate Kyle Kersey wants to describe his research, he finds it difficult to delve into the intricacies of coordination, solubility and steric effects. So he’s settled on a different tactic.“The word I like to use is ‘humbling,’” says Kersey.
Penn’s Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter Awarded $22.6 Million NSF Grant
The University of Pennsylvania’s Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter has been awarded a six-year, $22.6 million center grant from the National Science Foundation to support LRSM’s work in cutting-edge materials.
Penn Researchers Focus on Optimizing Mental Health Treatments Using Big Data
What if with the click of a button, a clinician could improve and personalize a patient’s treatment for a mental illness like post-traumatic stress disorder, depression or panic disorder?
Penn Researchers Lay Fundamental Groundwork to Better Understanding Optical Properties of Glass
Glass is everywhere. Whether someone is gazing out a window or scrolling through a smartphone, odds are that there is a layer of glass between them and whatever it is they’re looking at.
Penn Summer Program in STEM Teaches Middle Schoolers to Overcome Communication Barriers
Mark Licurse didn’t know what to expect when he decided to group together middle schoolers from two very different schools for a week-long STEM Summer Science Camp held by the Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter at the University of Pennsylvania.
Penn: How Openings in Antarctic Sea Ice Affect Worldwide Climate
In 1974, images acquired from NOAA satellites revealed a puzzling phenomenon: a 250,000 square kilometer opening in the winter sea ice in the Weddell Sea, south of South America. The opening, known as a polynya, persisted over three winters. Such expansive ice-free areas in the ocean surrounding Antarctica have not been seen since, though a small polynya was seen last year.
Penn Engineers Develop the “WorMotel,” Simultaneously Study the Aging Process in Thousands of Model Organisms
The roundworm C. elegans is one of the most important model organisms in biological research. With a transparent, millimeter-long body containing only about a thousand cells and a lifespan of a few weeks, there is no better way of deciphering the role of a given gene on a living creature’s anatomy or behavior.
Penn Researchers Discover New Law Guiding the Way Humans Perceive the World
Laws of perception explain why people see the world the way they do.
In the News
Scientific American
Grumpy voters want better stories. Not statistics
In a Q&A, PIK Professor Duncan Watts says that U.S. voters ignored Democratic policy in favor of Republican storytelling.
FULL STORY →
WHYY (Philadelphia)
Climate policy under a second Trump presidency
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences discusses how much a president can do or undo when it comes to environmental policy.
FULL STORY →
Technical.ly Philly
A sneak peek inside Penn Engineering’s new $137.5M mass timber building
Amy Gutmann Hall aims to be Philadelphia’s next big hub for AI and innovation while setting a new standard for architectural sustainability.
FULL STORY →
Salon.com
Exxon CEO wants Trump to stay in Paris climate accord
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences voices his concern about the possibility that the U.S. could become a petrostate.
FULL STORY →
Interesting Engineering
Superhuman vision lets robots see through walls, smoke with new LiDAR-like eyes
Mingmin Zhao of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and colleagues are using radio signals to allow robots to “see” beyond traditional sensor limits.
FULL STORY →
Associated Press
Amid Earth’s heat records, scientists report another bump upward in annual carbon emissions
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that total carbon emissions including fossil fuel pollution and land use changes such as deforestation are basically flat because land emissions are declining.
FULL STORY →
The Wall Street Journal
How can we remove carbon from the air? Here are a few ideas
Jennifer Wilcox of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design says that the carbon-removal potential of forestation can’t always be reliably measured in terms of how much removal and for how long.
FULL STORY →
Associated Press
California air regulators approve changes to climate program that could raise gas prices
Danny Cullenward of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design says that many things being credited in California’s new climate program don’t help the climate.
FULL STORY →
Times of India
Self shocks turn crystal to glass at ultralow power density: Study
A collaborative study by researchers from the School of Engineering and Applied Science has shed new light on amorphization, the transition from a crystalline to a glassy state at the nanoscale.
FULL STORY →
The Independent
Climate scientists fear Trump will destroy progress in his second term – and the outcome could be ‘grim’
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that a second Trump term and the implementation of Project 2025 represents the end of climate action in this decade.
FULL STORY →