11/15
Science & Technology
Penn Researchers Shed Light on the Roundworm’s Curious Swimming Behavior
The round worm Caenorhabditis elegans, a nematode, is a puzzling creature.
Penn Researchers Show That Cubic Membranes Might Provide Defense of Sick Cells
It’s well known that, when cells are subject to stress, starvation or viral infection, they sometimes adopt a cubic architecture. Unlike the simple spherical structure of membranes in healthy cells, these cubic membranes, or cubosomes, are very complex, forming an interconnected network of water channels resembling a “plumber’s nightmare.”
Penn: Epigenetic Change Ties Mitochondrial Dysfunction to Tumor Progression
Mitochondria, the mighty energy factories of the cell, often malfunction in cancer, as well as in other conditions such as aging, neurodegenerative disease and heart disease. Whether these changes in mitochondria actually contribute to the spread of cancer, however, has been controversial.
Penn Sociologist Tackles Electronic Health Records, Cybersecurity and Passwords
More than 90 percent of acute care hospitals and more than 75 percent of office-based physicians use electronic health records, or digital versions of patient charts, typi
Penn Study Finds Link Between HIV Treatment and Neuronal Degeneration
Antiretroviral drugs have been life-changing therapies for HIV patients, but they can have significant side effects.
A Quest to Better Understand the Universe
Mark Trodden, chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy in Penn’s School of Arts & Sciences, has devoted his career to studying the intersection of what he calls the physics
Penn Researchers Expand Research on Simplifying Recycling of Rare-earth Metals
In a previous study, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania pioneered a process that could enable the efficient recycling of two rare-earth metals, neodymium and dysprosium, which are found in the small, powerful magnets in many high-tech
Penn Engineers Calculate Interplay Between Cancer Cells and Environment
Interactions between an animal cell and its immediate environment, a fibrous network called the extracellular matrix, play a critical role in cell function, including growth and migration. But less understood is the mechanical force that governs those interactions.
Fish Fossils Reveal How Tails Evolved, Penn Professor Finds
Despite their obvious physical differences, elephants, lizards and trout all have something in common. They possess elongated, flexible structures at the rear of their bodies that we call tails.
Penn Chemists Uncover New Information About a Protein Linked to Alzheimer’s
Although the protein tau, which is associated with Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases, has been heavily studied for decades, its role in maintaining cell function is poorly understood.
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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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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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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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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