11/15
Science & Technology
Climate Change’s Weather Swings Bring Trials for Plants, Penn Experts Say
It was a lovely day on the University of Pennsylvania campus: sunny and 70 degrees. Students sunbathed and tossed Frisbees on College Green, near cherry trees on the verge of blooming. The only incongruity? It was still winter.
Penn Researchers Investigate How Songbirds Teach Themselves Songs
Music can be a powerful form of expression. It’s especially important for songbirds such as zebra finches, which learn the songs of their fathers in order to court mates.
Two University of Pennsylvania Students Win Goldwater Scholarship
University of Pennsylvania students Michael Tran Duong and Tiberiu Mihaila have been awarded the Goldwater Scholarship.
Penn Engineering Course Gives Students a Global Perspective
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]
Mathematical Models Lend Penn Vet Professor Insights Into Diabetes
For a trove of examples of the rich outcomes of interdisciplinary work, look no further than Darko Stefanovski’s research portfolio.
Penn Senior Jordan Doman Wins Hertz Fellowship
University of Pennsylvania senior Jordan Doman has been selected as one of only twelve recipients of the prestigious Hertz Fellowship by the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation. The 12 newest Hertz Fellows were chosen from more than 700 applicants interested in pursuing graduate work in applied physical and biological sciences, mathematics and engineering.
Peacocks, Eye Tracking, and the Brains Behind Decisions
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.
Penn Program in Environmental Humanities’ Event Explores the Idea of an ‘Ecotopian Toolkit’
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.
Penn Researchers Control the Size of 2-D Nanopores With Light
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.
Penn Dental Medicine Professor Unlocks the Mysteries of Mast Cells
Mast cells, components of the immune system, are responsible for alleriges and asthma, conditions that debilitate millions. Yet relatively few scientists study them.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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