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Science & Technology
Brookings Again Tops List in University of Pennsylvania’s Annual World Think Tank Rankings
PHILADELPHIA –- For the third consecutive time, the Brookings Institution has been ranked Think Tank of the Year in the University of Pennsylvania Global Go-To Think Tank Report.
Nanotech center continues to grow
Construction on the $91.5 million Krishna P. Singh Center for Nanotechnology on the 3200 block of Walnut Street is proceeding on time and on budget.
Owl Monkeys Who ‘Stay True’ Reproduce More Than Those With Multiple Partners, Penn Study Finds
PHILADELPHIA — Breaking up is hard to do — and can be detrimental to one’s reproductive fitness, according to a new University of Pennsylvania study.
Penn Vet Study Reveals a Promising New Target for Parkinson’s Disease Therapies
PHILADELPHIA — With a new insight into a model of Parkinson’s disease, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine have identified a novel target for mitigating some of the disease’s toll on the brain.
Penn Research Team Awarded $2.75 Million as Part of New ‘Swarm’ Computing Center
PHILADELPHIA — Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania are participating in a massive, interdisciplinary collaboration known as the TerraSwarm Research Center, which will study the potential applications — and risks — of “swarm-based” computing and robotics.
Penn Physicists Help Show Math Behind Growth of 'Coffee Rings'
PHILADELPHIA — Last year, a team of University of Pennsylvania physicists showed how to undo the “coffee-ring effect,” a commonplace occurrence when drops of liquid with suspended particles dry, leaving a ring-shaped stain at the drop’s edges.
After Six Decades, Penn Archaeologists Carry on a Tradition of Research and Discovery in Turkey
In 1950, the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology sent scholars to a site in central Turkey, about 50 miles southwest of Ankara.
Penn Physicists Help Create ‘Recipe Book’ for Building New Materials
PHILADELPHIA — By showing that tiny particles injected into a liquid crystal medium behave as predicted by existing mathematical theorems, physicists have opened the door for the creation of a host of new materials with properties that do not exist in nature.
University of Pennsylvania to Release Annual Index of World’s Top Think Tanks Jan. 17
WHO: Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program of the International Relations Program at the
Penn Research Shows Mountains Are Only Minor Contributors to Sediment Erosion and Climate Regulation
PHILADELPHIA — Though churning smokestacks, cud-chewing cows and gasoline-burning vehicles are contributing constantly to greenhouse gas emissions, there are also many processes that do the reverse, pulling molecules like carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. One of these is chemical weathering, which occurs when rock turns into soil.
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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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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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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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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