11/15
Science & Technology
Penn Study: Bacteria in the Cervix May be Key to Understanding Premature Birth
Depending on the specific type, bacteria in a woman’s vagina and cervix may increase the risk of premature birth or protect against it, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Penn Senior Lucy Chai Awarded Churchill Scholarship
University of Pennsylvania senior Lucy Chai of Acton, Mass., has received a Churchill Scholarship from the Winston Churchill Foundation. She is among 15 recipients of the honor, awarded annually to American students to fund a year of master’s study in science, mathematics and engineering
Penn IUR Fellow, Design Professor Wins International Best Paper Award
The University of Pennsylvania’s Megan S. Ryerson, of the School of Design, has received the Transportation Research Board’s 2016 Fred Burggraf Award.
Invasive Sedge Protects Dunes Better Than Native Grass, Penn-led Study Finds
The invasive species Carex kobomugi, or Asiatic sand sedge, was first found along the East Coast of the United States at New Jersey’s Island Beach State Park in 1929. The species is aggressive, outcompeting native vegetation and reducing local biodiversity. In many places, land managers have made great efforts to remove it.
Penn Researchers Solve a Decades-old Question About Glass Transitions
If one were to take a liquid — any liquid — and cool it down rapidly enough so that it doesn’t have a chance to crystallize, the result would be glass. Glass is so viscous that it takes too long to flow for anyone to realize that it is liquid rather than solid.
Penn Research Describes Missing Step in How Cells Move Their Cargo
Every time a hormone is released from a cell, every time a neurotransmitter leaps across a synapse to relay a message from one neuron to another, the cell must undergo exocytosis. This is the process responsible for transporting cellular contents via lipid-encapsulated vesicles to the cell surface membrane and then incorporating or secreting them through membrane fusion.
Penn Researchers Devise a Theory That Describes Mysterious Rafts in Membranes
If you held a ball up to a mirror, it would produce an image that, if pulled out, would sit perfectly on top of the ball. Yet if you held your right hand up to a mirror, the image produced would be a left hand, which is not identical to the original; a glove for one hand cannot comfortably fit the other.
Penn Vet Research Identifies New Target for Taming Ebola
Viruses and their hosts are in a eternal game of one-upmanship. If a host cell evolves a way to stop a virus from spreading, the virus will look for a new path. And so on and so forth.
Penn Paleobiologist Lauren Sallan Selected as a 2017 TED Fellow
The University of Pennsylvania’s Lauren Sallan, an assistant professor in the School of Arts & Sciences’ Department of Earth and Environmental Science, has been selected as a
Penn Student-Athlete Arabella Uhry Explores the Financial Side of Health Care
At 7 years old, Arabella Uhry, now a junior at the University of Pennsylvania, developed a relationship that sparked her interest in health care.
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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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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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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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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Interesting Engineering
U.S. achieves billion-fold power-saving semiconductor tech; could challenge China
A collaborative effort by Ritesh Agarwal of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and colleagues has made phase-change memory more energy efficient and could unlock a future revolution in data storage.
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