Over spring break, 13 students in the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science travelled to Beijing and Shanghai to learn more about engineering and technology innovations happening in China. They went as part of a new semester-long global immersion class launched this spring.[flickr]72157682064286286[/flickr]

Evan Lerner, Ali Sundermier ・April 3, 2017

For a trove of examples of the rich outcomes of interdisciplinary work, look no further than Darko Stefanovski’s research portfolio.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・March 30, 2017

How do male peacocks size up their competition? Not by looking at the brightly colored tail feathers and upper eyespots for which these birds are known, but instead by focusing on their lower feathers and legs. The birds also pay more attention when their competitors shake their tails and move rather than when they are sitting still.

March 27, 2017

Prompted in part by the 500th anniversary of Thomas More’s Utopia, the “Ecotopian Toolkit” conference at the University of Pennsylvania will celebrate how utopian imaginaries from across disciplines can address environmental challenges.

Katherine Unger Baillie, Jacquie Posey ・March 21, 2017

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania are investigating a new technology that, if proven, could lead to small, chip-size sensors capable of sensing molecules and detecting illnesses or even possibly the presence of viruses.

Ali Sundermier March 16, 2017

Mast cells, components of the immune system, are responsible for alleriges and asthma, conditions that debilitate millions. Yet relatively few scientists study them.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・March 9, 2017

The field of metamaterials, an intersection of materials science, physics, nanotechnology and electrical engineering, aims to produce structures with unusual electromagnetic properties. Through the careful combination of multiple materials in a precise periodic arrangement, the resulting metamaterials exhibit properties that otherwise couldn’t exist, such as a negative index of refraction.

Evan Lerner, Ali Sundermier ・March 9, 2017

A University of Pennsylvania-led project, the Spectroscopic Terahertz Airborne Receiver for Far-InfraRed Exploration, or STARFIRE, has received a $700,000 grant from NASA to investigate a longstanding mystery in cosmology.

Ali Sundermier March 8, 2017

A dendritic molecule is one that grows by branching in several directions from its center core. At each branching point, the molecule branches again into a new generation. These molecules can be used for a broad range of biomedical applications, including gene and drug delivery.

Ali Sundermier March 7, 2017