Science & Technology

PHILADELPHIA — Even in trace quantities, the radioactive gas radon is very dangerous; it is second only to cigarette smoking as a cause of lung cancer deaths in the United States.

PHILADELPHIA — Penn researchers have helped develop a nanotech device that combines carbon nanotubes with olfactory receptor proteins, the cell components in the nose that detect odors.

PHILADELPHIA — Renaissance architects demonstrated their understanding of geometry and physics when they built whispering galleries into their cathedrals. These circular chambers were designed to amplify and direct sound waves so that, when standing in the right spot, a whisper could be heard from across the room.

PHILADELPHIA — Susan B.

PHILADELPHIA — Humans produce billions of clot-forming platelets every day, but there are times when there aren’t enough of them, such as with certain diseases or during invasive surgery.

PHILADELPHIA — An international team including University of Pennsylvania paleontologists is unearthing the appearance of ancient animals by using the world’s most powerful X-rays.

PHILADELPHIA -– Two faculty members from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science will be participating in the 17th annual Frontiers of Engineering Symposium in September.

Understanding the long-term impact of a warming climate is vexing for scientists and citizens alike; there are many variables and obscure, complex relationships between them. But one such relationship stands out, both in terms of directness and consequences: the relationship between rising temperatures and rising seas.

PHILADELPHIA — When semiconductor nanorods are exposed to light, they blink in a seemingly random pattern. By clustering nanorods together, physicists at the University of Pennsylvania have shown that their combined “on” time is increased dramatically providing new insight into this mysterious blinking behavior.

PHILADELPHIA -- Douglas Jerolmack, a professor of earth and environmental science at the University of Pennsylvania, has won the American Geophysical Union’s first Luna B.