4/22
Science & Technology
Penn President Amy Gutmann to Welcome Incoming Freshmen
WHO: Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania, and incoming freshmen WHAT: Move-in for Penn's Class of 2018 WHEN: Aug. 22, 2014, 11am
Penn Doctoral Candidate Minh Nguyen Sets His Sights on Curing Diseases
Minh Nguyen says he dropped out of medical school after just one year when he realized that there was a better way to save lives.
Penn Engineers Help Record an Electron’s Quantum Behavior
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Chicago, University of California, Santa Barbara and University of Konstanz, Germany, have developed a technique to record the quantum mechanical behavior of an individual electron contained within a nanoscale defect in diamond.
Penn Undergrad Startup Aims to Make Finding Grants Easier
By Madeleine Stone @themadstone
Penn Physicists Receive Kaufman Foundation Award to Study ‘Living Optical Devices’
A pair of University of Pennsylvania physicists will receive one of the nine grants being awarded this year by the Charles E.
Penn Astronomers Will Use Newly Funded Telescope in Hunt for Dark Energy
After more than a decade of development and planning, the National Science Foundation has approved federal construction of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, of which the University of Pennsylvania is a member, will manage the $473 million construction project.
Penn Physicist’s NIH Award to Advance Rapid, Graphene-based Gene Sequencing
Marija Drndić, a professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy in the University of Pennsylvania's School of Arts & Sciences has been awarded a two-year, $880,000 grant for a project aimed at reducing the cost and time of genome sequencing.
Rehabilitation With the Help of Robots
From automated assembly lines to personalized flying drones, robots are opening up new possibilities in the realms of both work and play.
Penn Physics/Medicine Receives $2.8 Million Grant for Stroke Research
The National Institutes of Health have awarded University of Pennsylvania researchers a five-year, $2.8 million grant to further research on techniques for monitoring blood flow in the brain following strokes.
Penn Team Makes Cancer Glow to Improve Surgical Outcomes
The best way to cure most cases of cancer is to surgically remove the tumor. The Achilles heel of this approach, however, is that the surgeon may fail to extract the entire tumor, leading to a local recurrence.
In the News
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.
FULL STORY →
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.
FULL STORY →
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.
FULL STORY →
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.
FULL STORY →
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.
FULL STORY →
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.
FULL STORY →
The New York Times
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.
FULL STORY →
Tampa Bay Times
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.
FULL STORY →
WESA Radio (Pittsburgh)
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.
FULL STORY →
The New York Times
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.
FULL STORY →