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Science & Technology
Fish Skin Immune Responses Resemble That of the Gut, Penn Study Finds
Fish skin is unique in that it lacks keratin, the fibrous protein found in mammalian skin that provides a barrier against the environment. Instead, the epithelial cells of fish skin are in direct contact with the immediate environment: water.
Penn researchers determine three dinosaur species are actually one
Psittacosaurus (sih-TACK-oh-sore-us) is a genus of short, beak-faced dinosaurs that lived in Asia 120-125 million years ago, roaming China, Mongolia, Siberia, and possibly Thailand. The plant-eaters lived for about 10 million years in an era after Stegosaurus and before Tyrannosaurus rex, at a time when most dinosaurs were small.
Cultivating knowledge
[flickr]72157635183569499[/flickr] Photos by Scott Spitzer A stone’s throw from bustling 38th Street, just off Hamilton Walk, lies a carefully curated green oasis, and nearby, a soaring glass-walled structure where plants from the exotic to the mundane are cared for and studied.
Penn Scientists Demonstrate New Method for Harvesting Energy from Light
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated a new mechanism for extracting energy from light, a finding that could improve technologies for generating electricity from solar energy and lead to more efficient optoelectronic devices used in communications.
Two Penn Students Awarded HHMI International Research Fellowships
Two doctoral students from the University of Pennsylvania, Nam Woo Cho of the Perelman School of Medicine and Maryam Yousefi of the School of Veterinary Medicine, have received International Student Research Fellowships from the Howar
Penn Science Café: Studying Self-Control
Associate Professor of Psychology Robert Kurzban studies how the mind has adapted over time to the challenges of the social world, such as how to make decisions about cooperation, morality and punishment. Kurzban will talk about one trait we associate with these challenges: willpower.
Penn Develops Computer Model That Will Help Design Flexible Touchscreens
Electronic devices with touchscreens are ubiquitous, and one key piece of technology makes them possible: transparent conductors.
Delivering Drugs With Plants, Penn’s Henry Daniell Aims to Save Lives
An admonishment to eat your greens may take on a whole new meaning if Henry Daniell, who recently joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, has anything to do with it.
Penn Team Begins Five-Year Sky-Mapping Mission as Part of Dark Energy Survey
For hundreds of nights during the next five years, the world’s most powerful digital camera will turn skyward, helping a team of physicists and astronomers from around the globe answer fundamental questions about our universe.
Penn: Protein That Protects Nucleus Also Regulates Stem Cell Differentiation
The human body has hundreds of different cell types, all with the same basic DNA, and all of which can ultimately be traced back to identical stem cells.
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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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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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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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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