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Science & Technology
Penn Joins MIT-led Project on ‘Printable Robots’
PHILADELPHIA — The University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University are taking part in an ambitious new project, led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to reinvent how robots are designed and produced.
Penn Bioethicist Jonathan Moreno Appointed to UNESCO International Bioethics Committee
PHILADELPHIA — The University of Pennsylvania’s Jonathan Moreno has been invited to join the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s
Penn Biologists Identify a Key Enzyme Involved in Protecting Nerves From Degeneration
PHILADELPHIA –- A new animal model of nerve injury has brought to light a critical role of an enzyme called Nmnat in nerve fiber maintenance and neuroprotection.
Benjamin Garcia Appointed Presidential Term Professor at Penn
PHILADELPHIA — Benjamin Garcia has been named the first Presidential Term Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, effective June 1. The announcement was made by Penn President Amy Gutmann and Provost Vincent Price.
Penn Research Points to New Way of Preserving Fertility for Boys Undergoing Cancer Treatment
PHILADELPHIA — Treatments for childhood cancers are increasingly successful with cure rates approaching 80%, but success often comes with a downside for the surviving men: the cancer treatments they received as boys can leave them sterile as adults.
Penn Works With Columbia Engineers to Increase Speed of Single-molecule Measurements
PHILADELPHIA — As nanotechnology becomes ever more ubiquitous, researchers are using it to make medical diagnostics smaller, faster and cheaper in order to better diagnose diseases, learn more about inherited traits and more.
Q&A with Nader Engheta
We live in a world of waves. The radio waves hitting your car’s antenna and the light coming in through its windshield, the X-rays that can detect a tumor, and the gamma radiation that can destroy it are all different facets of the same phenomenon: electromagnetism. As one of the fundamental forces of nature, its imprint can be felt on almost everything in the universe.
Owl Monkey Twins Give Penn's Eduardo Fernandez-Duque Insight Into Monogamy
PHILADELPHIA -- In 15 years of studying owl monkeys in Argentina, this was a first: Late last November, Eduardo Fernandez-Duque, assistant professor in the Anthropology Department at the University of Pennsylvania, got news from his field assistants that they had spotted a
Penn Researchers Find Epstein Barr-like Virus Infects and May Cause Cancer in Dogs
PHILADELPHIA -- More than 90 percent of humans have antibodies to the Epstein Barr virus. Best known for causing mononucleosis, or “the kissing disease,” the virus has also been implicated in more serious conditions, including Hodgkin’s, non-Hodgkin’s and Burkitt’s lymphomas.
March 13 Penn Science Café to Explore the Life, Death and Rebirth of the Mississippi River Delta
PHILADELPHIA – At the Penn Science Café on Tuesday, March 13, Douglas Jerolmack, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania, will discuss his research on river patterns and what his findings mean for the future of the Mississippi Delta.
In the News
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.
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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.
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“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.
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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.
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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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