Through
11/26
Science & Technology
Penn Researchers Develop Liquid-crystal-based Compound Lenses That Work Like Insect Eyes
The compound eyes found in insects and some sea creatures are marvels of evolution. There, thousands of lenses work together to provide sophisticated information without the need for a sophisticated brain. Human artifice can only begin to approximate these naturally self-assembled structures, and, even then, they require painstaking manufacturing techniques.
Beth Winkelstein Appointed Penn Vice Provost for Education
Beth Winkelstein has been named vice provost for education at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a professor of bioengineering and the associate dean for undergraduate education in Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science.
New Dinosaur’s Keen Nose Made it a Formidable Predator, Penn Study Finds
A researcher from the University of Pennsylvania has identified a species of dinosaur closely related to Velociraptor, the group of creatures made infamous by the movie "Jurassic Park.” The newly named species likely possessed a keen sense of smell that would have made it a formidable predator.
Penn Researchers Develop Custom Artificial Membranes to Study the Molecular Basis of Disease
By Madeleine Stone @themadstone Decorating the outside of cells like tiny antenna, a diverse community of sugar molecules acts like a telecommunications system, sending and receiving information, recognizing and responding to foreign molecules and neighboring cells.
Penn Research Points to Omega-3 as a Nutritional Intervention for Childhood Behavioral Problems
At the forefront of a field known as “neurocriminology,” Adrian Raine of the University of Pennsylvania has long studied the interplay between biology and environment when it comes to antisocial and criminal behavior.
Penn-Michigan State Team Develops Novel Gene Therapy for Achromatopsia
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Michigan State University presented new preclinical data this week that evaluates the efficacy of a gene therapy treatment for achromatopsia, a rare inherited retinal disease that involves cone cells. The disease affects humans as well as dogs.
Penn and UC Merced Researchers Match Physical and Virtual Atomic Friction Experiments
Technological limitations have made studying friction on the atomic scale difficult, but researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California, Merced, have now made advances in that quest on two fronts.
National Academy of Sciences Elects Penn Professor and Incoming Professor
Dorothy Cheney, a biologist at the University of Pennsylvania, and Abraham Nitzan, a chemist who will join Penn’s faculty in July, have been elected members of the National Academy of Scie
Penn Senior Matthew Lisle: Adapting to Climate Change Through Water Security
By Madeleine Stone @themadstone (This is the fifth and last in a series of features introducing the inaugural Penn President’s Engagement Prize winners.)
University of Pennsylvania’s Master of Chemical Sciences Program Partners with Baruch S. Blumberg Institute
Partnership offers research and work experience to Penn graduate students
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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