Through
4/26
Science & Technology
Carnegie Mellon University and Penn Engineering Receive $3.5 Million for Innovative Transportation Research
PITTSBURGH — The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded Carnegie Mellon’s College of Engineering and the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science a $3.5 million grant for the next two years to conduct research and implement technologies for improving the safety and efficiency of transportation.
Penn Psychologists Find 6- to 9-Month-Olds Understand the Meaning of Many Spoken Words
PHILADELPHIA — At an age when “ba-ba” and “da-da” may be their only utterances, infants nevertheless comprehend words for many common objects, according to a new study.
Governor Proposes Commonwealth Funding for Penn Vet for 2012-13
PHILADELPHIA -- Governor Tom Corbett’s FY2012-2013 Commonwealth budget proposes funding of $26.7 million for the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine, the only veterinary school in Pennsylvania and one of only 28 veterinary schools in the United States. The recommended funding is equal to the support received for FY2011-2012.
Penn Biologist Daniel Janzen Honored With BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award
PHILADELPHIA — Daniel Janzen of the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Biology is the recipient of the 2011 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Ecology and Conservation Biology category.
Penn Researchers Uncover a Mechanism to Explain Dune Field Patterns
PHILADELPHIA — In a study of the harsh but beautiful White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, University of Pennsylvania researchers have uncovered a unifying mechanism to explain dune patterns.
Penn Director of Rare Book and Manuscript Library to Speak at Symposium
PHILADELPHIA – MAGPI, the University of Pennsylvania's Internet2 hub, will host the Advanced Networks and the Arts & Humanities Symposium on Thursday Feb.
Penn Receives NSF Grant to Research Geological Record of Chilean Earthquakes
PHILADELPHIA — Geological evidence of earthquakes and tsunamis aids in anticipating the timing and magnitude of future events. This natural warning system now influences building codes and planning in the United States, Canada and Japan, particularly where the geological record demonstrates prehistoric earthquakes larger than those known from written and instrumental records.
Robotic hockey teams face-off at Penn Engineering
For students in the School of Engineering and Applied Science’s Design of Mechatronic Systems class, “the finals” are more than an exam; they are a tournament in which the winners hoist a trophy high above their heads in victory.
Penn Anthropologists Clarify Link Between Asians and Early Native Americans
PHILADELPHIA — A tiny mountainous region in southern Siberia may have been the genetic source of the earliest Native Americans, according to new research by a University of Pennsylvania-led team of anthropologists.
In the News
The Washington Post
Forecast group predicts busiest hurricane season on record with 33 storms
A research team led by Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences is predicting the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season will produce the most named storms on record, fueled by exceptionally warm ocean waters and an expected shift from El Niño to La Niña.
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SciTechDaily
Satellite images capture extraordinary flooding in the United Arab Emirates
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences explains how three low-pressure systems formed a train of storms that battered the United Arab Emirates.
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WHYY (Philadelphia)
My Climate Story: Philly students take science from abstract to personal
The “My Climate Story” project at the Environmental Humanities Department helps students and teachers learn about climate change’s impact in everyday backyards, with remarks from Bethany Wiggin. The idea is credited to María Villarreal, a College of Arts and Sciences second-year from Tampico, Mexico.
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Technical.ly Philly
Penn professor on gen AI’s rapacious use of energy: ‘One of the defining challenges of my career’
Benjamin Lee of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says that hardware and infrastructure costs are growing at high rates for generative AI.
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Associated Press
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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Big Think
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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Salon.com
“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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CNET
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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Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
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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Vox.com
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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