Through
4/26
Science & Technology
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 Neuroscience Perelman 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.
Penn Researchers Use Network Science to Help Pinpoint Source of Seizures
For the third of all epilepsy patients who don’t respond to medication, an alternative is to locate the small cluster of neurons that act as the seed of a seizure’s aberrant electrical activity and surgically remove it. Unfortunately, such surgeries often fail to bring any relief.
Penn Biologists-in-training Used Genomic Techniques to Study Campus Microbes
The premier scientists at the University of Pennsylvania rely on next-generation sequencing techniques to elicit new information about the living world. Now, freshmen can do the same thing.
East Antarctic Ice Sheet Has Stayed Frozen for 14 Million Years, Penn Team Reports
Antarctica was once a balmier place, lush with plants and lakes. Figuring out just how long the continent has been a barren, cold desert of ice can give clues as to how Antarctica responded to the effects of past climates and can perhaps also indicate what to expect there as Earth’s atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide grows.
In the News
The Washington Post
Forecast group predicts busiest hurricane season on record with 33 storms
A research team led by Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences is predicting the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season will produce the most named storms on record, fueled by exceptionally warm ocean waters and an expected shift from El Niño to La Niña.
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SciTechDaily
Satellite images capture extraordinary flooding in the United Arab Emirates
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences explains how three low-pressure systems formed a train of storms that battered the United Arab Emirates.
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WHYY (Philadelphia)
My Climate Story: Philly students take science from abstract to personal
The “My Climate Story” project at the Environmental Humanities Department helps students and teachers learn about climate change’s impact in everyday backyards, with remarks from Bethany Wiggin. The idea is credited to María Villarreal, a College of Arts and Sciences second-year from Tampico, Mexico.
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Technical.ly Philly
Penn professor on gen AI’s rapacious use of energy: ‘One of the defining challenges of my career’
Benjamin Lee of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says that hardware and infrastructure costs are growing at high rates for generative AI.
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Associated Press
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.
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Big Think
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.
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Salon.com
“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.
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CNET
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.
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Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
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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Vox.com
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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