Through
11/26
Science & Technology
Sugar Triggers Plants to Mature to Adulthood, Penn Biologists Find
Like animals, plants go through several stages of development before they reach maturity. It has long been thought that some of the transitions between these stages are triggered by changes in the nutritional status of the plant.
Penn Engineers Enable ‘Bulk’ Silicon to Emit Visible Light for the First Time
Electronic computing speeds are brushing up against limits imposed by the laws of physics. Photonic computing, where photons replace comparatively slow electrons in representing information, could surpass those limitations, but the components of such computers require semiconductors that can emit light.
Penn: Nurse Understaffing Increases Infection Risk in Very Low Birth Weight Babies
Very low birth weight infants, those weighing less than 3.25 pounds, account for half of infant deaths in the United States each year, yet a new study released in today’s issue of JAMA-Pediatrics documents that these critically ill infants do not receive optimal nursing care, which can lead to hospital-acquired infectio
Penn Museum Mummies Contribute to Emerging Medical Understanding of Atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, has been widely assumed to be a disease of modern times, brought on by modern foods and lifestyles — until now.
Willenbring to Discuss Antarctica, Climate Change at Penn Science Café March 12
WHO: Jane Willenbring Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Science
Engineering Professor Elected to the Club of Rome
Noam Lior, professor of mechanical engineering and applied mechanics in the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, has been elected to the Club of Rome, an interdisciplinary, international think tank dedicated to sustainability issues.
Penn Campaign Raises $4.3 Billion, Transforming the University
After seven years of widespread support and alumni participation, the University of Pennsylvania culminated its Making History Campaign, raising $4.3 billion, strengthening Penn’s position among the world’s foremost universities and making major breakthroughs in addressing society’s most complex challenges, Penn President Amy Gutmann announced today.
The Penn Science Café and Penn Lightbulb Café Return
PHILADELPHIA-- The Penn Science Café and the Penn Lightbulb Café are back, bringing the University of Pennsylvania’s top scholars out on the town to share their re
Penn student takes flight to study coastal sediment
In the spring of 2011, Nicole Khan, a doctoral student in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science in the School of Arts & Sciences, was wrapping up a few weeks of field work in Puerto Rico. She had been studying the island’s mangrove forests in an attempt to reconstruct ancient sea levels.
Penn Researchers Develop Protein ‘Passport’ That Helps Nanoparticles Get Past Immune System
The body’s immune system exists to identify and destroy foreign objects, whether they are bacteria, viruses, flecks of dirt or splinters. Unfortunately, nanoparticles designed to deliver drugs, and implanted devices like pacemakers or artificial joints, are just as foreign and subject to the same response.
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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