4/22
Science & Technology
Innovation Prize Awarded for Device That Continuously Tracks Body Temperature
The thermometer is one of science’s most iconic measurement tools, but, even as tubes of mercury and alcohol made way for digital equivalents, they all lacked a common, sought-after feature.
Penn Vet Students Bring Expertise and Supplies to Rural Haiti
By Patrick Ammerman
Penn Students Best Among U.S. Schools at Electric Racing Competition
by Patrick Ammerman
Penn Team Finds Mitochondrial Stress Induces Cancer-related Metabolic Shifts
Cancerous tumors must be fed. Their unregulated growth requires a steady stream of blood flow and nutrients. Thus, one way that researchers have tried to wipe out cancer is to target cells undergoing the metabolic shifts that enable a tumor’s rapid growth.
Assisting Parkinson’s Patients With Innovative Motion-tracking Device
A rough estimate of the amount of steps taken in a day might be enough for the average fitness tracker or smartwatch user, but, for people with movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease, more fine-grained data could be life changing.
Kleinman Center Supports On-the-ground Learning for Seven Penn Students
Beth Murray’s not your typical intern.
Penn Engineers Develop $2 Portable Zika Test
University of Pennsylvania engineers have developed a rapid, low-cost genetic test for the Zika virus. The $2 testing device, about the size of a soda can, does not require electricity or technical expertise to use. A patient would simply provide a saliva sample. Color-changing dye turns blue when the genetic assay detects the presence of the virus.
President’s Innovation Prize Winners, Fever Smart and XEED, Join Pennovation Center
The University of Pennsylvania’s Division of Facilities and Real Estate Services announced today that two award-winning start-up companies are joining the Pennovation Center – the University’s new business, technology and laboratory incubator opening in August 2016.
Animals ‘Inherit’ Their Social Network From Their Mothers, Penn Study Shows
Dolphins, lizards and hyenas may not be on Facebook or Twitter, but, as social species, their social networks influence every pivotal aspect of their lives: finding a mate, reproducing, becoming ill or surviving.
Penn Chemists Establish Fundamentals of Ferroelectric Materials
Ferromagnetic materials, like compass needles, are useful because their magnetic polarization makes them rotate to align with magnetic fields. Ferroelectric materials behave in a similar way but with electric, rather than magnetic, fields.
In the News
Here’s why experts don’t think cloud seeding played a role in Dubai’s downpour
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that many people blaming cloud seeding for Dubai storms are climate change deniers trying to divert attention from what’s really happening.
FULL STORY →
Can we stop AI hallucinations? And do we even want to?
Chris Callison-Burch of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says that auto-regressive generation can make it difficult for language learning models to perform fact-based or symbolic reasoning.
FULL STORY →
“Record-shattering” heat wave in Antarctica — yep, climate change is the culprit
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that persistent summer weather extremes like heat waves are becoming more common as people continue to warm the planet with carbon pollution.
FULL STORY →
How the solar eclipse will affect solar panels and the grid
Benjamin Lee of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says that the electrical grid will have to figure out how to match supply and demand during brief windows where the energy source goes away.
FULL STORY →
Scientists struggle to explain ‘really weird’ spike in world temperatures
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that tendencies to exaggerate climate science in favor of “doomist” narratives helps no one except the fossil fuel industry.
FULL STORY →
Spring is here very early. That’s not good
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that plant-flowering, tree-leafing, and egg-hatching are all markers associated with spring that are happening sooner.
FULL STORY →
Can your personal medical devices be recycled?
A lab at the School of Engineering and Applied Science led the development of a COVID test made from bacterial cellulose, an organic compound.
FULL STORY →
Could Florida electric bills go up because of a fuel made from manure?
Danny Cullenward of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design says that federal and California state subsidies have led to a gold rush of companies trying to get into the business of renewable natural gas around the country.
FULL STORY →
Why don’t we just ban fossil fuels?
Joseph Romm of the School of Arts & Sciences says that stronger action against fossil fuels is essential to save the planet.
FULL STORY →
Students can soon major in AI at this Ivy League university—it’ll prepare them for ‘jobs that don’t yet exist’
The Raj and Neera Singh Program in Artificial Intelligence at Penn will be the first AI undergraduate engineering major at an Ivy League school, led by George Pappas of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
FULL STORY →