Through
11/26
Science & Technology
Teens Know Dangers of Driving and Cellphone Use, Yet Do It Anyway, Penn Research Shows
What happens when “Tom Hanks,” “Tom Cruise” and “Kesha” sit around a table? When the talkers are actually teens using researcher-requested pseudonyms they chose to anonymously discuss their driving habits, the results are surprising, maybe even more so than if the real celebrities got together.
HIV/AIDS Drugs Interfere With Brain’s ‘Insulation,’ Penn-CHOP Team Shows
Antiretroviral therapies, or ART, have enabled people with HIV and AIDS to live much longer lives, transforming what was considered a death sentence into a chronic condition. Yet concerns for these patients remain.
Penn Researchers Discover Why E. coli Move Faster in Syrup-like Fluids Than in Water
Swimming in a pool of syrup would be difficult for most people, but for bacteria like E. coli, it’s easier than swimming in water. Scientists have known for decades that these cells move faster and farther in viscoelastic fluids, such as the saliva, mucus, and other bodily fluids they are likely to call home, but didn’t understand why.
Penn Science Café: ‘A Story of the Southern Ocean’
WHO: Irina Marinov Assistant Professor
Penn’s Engheta and Ghrist Earn National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowships
When the Department of Defense offers researchers the chance to think big and take risks, and provides the funding to back it up, scientists tend to get really excited.
Penn Biologists Characterize New Form of mRNA Regulation
RNA, once thought to be a mere middleman between DNA and protein, is now recognized as the stage at which a host of regulatory processes can act to allow for flexibility in gene expression and thus the functions of cells and tissues.
Four Penn Professors Among Class of 2015 AAAS Fellows
Four faculty members at the University of Pennsylvania have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. They are among a class of 347 researchers that have been awarded this honor by AAAS because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications
Penn Chemists Put a New Twist on Chirality
Biological molecules are chiral. Like gloves, they have either left- or right-handed versions that can’t be superimposed on one another. Macromolecules like DNA are also chiral and are exclusively made of building blocks with the same handedness.
Ancient Mass Extinction Led to Dominance of Tiny Fish
When times are good, it pays to be the big fish in the sea. In the aftermath of disaster, however, smaller is better.
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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