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Science & Technology
President’s Innovation Prize Contenders Vie for $100K Seed Money and Big Perks at Penn
In April, one enterprising senior or team of graduates-to-be at the University of Pennsylvania will be named the inaugural President’s Innovation Prize winners. The award comes with $100,000 in seed money and a $50,000 living stipend per team member. And that is just the start.
Clues to Climate Change Reside in 300 Million-year-old Forest
Penn Professor of Earth and Environmental Science Hermann Pfefferkorn and Chinese Academy of Sciences Professor of Geology and Paleontology Jun Wang made a discovery in 2003 that expanded our kno
Penn Team Devises Easier Way to Make ‘Bijels,’ a Complex New Form of Liquid Matter
Oil and water famously don't mix, but finely dispersing one in the other produces a liquid mixture with many useful properties. An emulsion consisting of tiny droplets of one of those liquids immersed in the other is the most common form, found in everything from salad dressings, to cosmetics to industrial lubricants.
Penn Professor Robert Ghrist Brings Complicated Math to the Masses
It’s not easy to make confusing mathematics topics understandable, let alone interesting, to non-mathematicians, but University of Pennsylvania professor Robert Ghrist has figured out the formula.
Penn Vet’s Gustavo Aguirre to Receive Louis Braille Award for Blindness Research
The Associated Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired will recognize the University of Pennsylvania’s Gustavo D.
Penn Science Café Presents ‘Friendship and Your Brain’
WHO: Michael Platt Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor James S. Riepe University Professor of NeurosciencePerelman School of Medicine
Penn Computer Scientists Join NSF ‘DeepSpec’ Expedition to Eliminate Software Bugs
The transformative power of computer software is everywhere, from the smartphone apps that connect the world to the laptop programs that simplify daily tasks at work and home to the software hidden inside physical objects like automobiles and pacemakers that is crucial for their safe operation.
Penn Engineering Student Shares Love of Science and Sustainability
Senior David Shields is an aspiring engineer who focuses on making a difference locally by volunteering with the University of Pennsylvania chapter of Engineers Without Borders.
Penn’s Online Learning Initiative Launches New Robotics Specialization
Beginning in January, the University of Pennsylvania will roll out a new robotics specialization, an online five-course sequence, via the University’s Online Learning Initiative on the Coursera platform.
Penn Postdoctoral Research Fellow: Minorities Less Likely to Trust Physicians
When it comes to trust in their physicians, minority groups in the United States are less likely than white people to believe their doctors care about them, according to research by University of Pennsylvania’s Abigail Sewell.
In the News
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Pa. environmental, religious and other groups criticize Shapiro plan for ignoring climate change
A study by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design found that Pennsylvania would benefit overall from joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
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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.
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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.
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We don’t have time for climate misinformation
In a co-written Op-Ed, Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that meaningful decarbonization in the U.S. is in jeopardy of being blocked or slowed if a significant portion of the electorate does not accept the basic scientific facts and implications of climate change.
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Penn to become first Ivy League to offer AI degree, looks to ‘train the leaders’ in emerging field
Penn is the first Ivy League university to offer a degree in artificial intelligence, with remarks from Robert Ghrist of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
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A famous climate scientist is in court, with big stakes for attacks on science
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences is suing a right-wing author and a policy analyst for defamation against the “hockey stick” climate change graph.
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