Through
11/26
Science & Technology
Modern-Day Ben Franklin Conducts Electrifying Science Demonstrations at Penn
As the founder of the University of Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin’s legacy and spirit of innovation continues each day in the College of Arts and Sciences. In fact, there’s a modern-day “Ben Franklin” at Penn.
University of Pennsylvania Announces 2014 Thouron Award Winners
Four University of Pennsylvania students have received Thouron Awards to pursue graduate studies in the United Kingdom. The scholarship recipients are:
Frederick Ding: Penn Ambassador, Leader and Mentor
Frederick Ding’s interest in making an impact by improving the lives of others begins with his work on campus assisting fellow students at the University of Pennsylvania.
Liquid Crystal Turns Water Droplets Into ‘Gemstones,’ Penn Research Shows
Liquid crystals are remarkable materials that combine the optical properties of crystalline solids with the flow properties of liquids, characteristics that come together to enable the displays found in most computer monitors, televisions and smartphones.
Same Cell Death Pathway Involved in Three Forms of Blindness, Penn Team Finds
Gene therapies developed by University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine researchers have worked to correct different forms of blindness.
University of Pennsylvania Student Wins Churchill Scholarship
Sarah Foster, a senior at the University of Pennsylvania, has been awarded a Winston Churchill Scholarship, a merit-based award for American college students who are outstanding in engineering, mathematics and physical and biological sciences.
Penn-Designed ‘Swiss Army Knife’ Molecule Captures RNA From Single Cells
A multi-disciplinary team from the University of Pennsylvania has published in Nature Methods a first-of-its-kind way to isolate RNA from live cells in their natural tissue microenvironment without damaging nearby cells. This allows the researchers to analyze how cell-to-cell chemical connections influence individual cell function and overall protein production.
Penn Research Helps Lay Out Theory for Metamaterial That Acts as an Analog Computer
The field of metamaterials has produced structures with unprecedented abilities, including flat lenses, invisibility cloaks and even optical “metatronic” devices that can manipulate light in the way electronic circuitry manipulates the flow of electrons.
The ‘Personalized Advantage Index,’ a Decision-Making Tool, Developed at Penn
One of the primary social motivations for scientific research is the ability to make better decisions based on the results.
Penn Biologists Establish New Method for Studying RNA’s Regulatory ‘Footprint’
Increasingly, biologists have come to realize that RNA is not merely a transitional state between DNA and proteins but plays a major role in determining whether and how genes are turned into a protein product. Gaining a deeper understanding of RNA regulation can help scientists shed light on diseases that arise when this function goes awry.
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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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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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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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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Interesting Engineering
U.S. achieves billion-fold power-saving semiconductor tech; could challenge China
A collaborative effort by Ritesh Agarwal of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and colleagues has made phase-change memory more energy efficient and could unlock a future revolution in data storage.
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