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Science & Technology
Penn Engineers Develop More Effective MRI Contrast Agent for Cancer Detection
Many imaging technologies and their contrast agents — chemicals used during scans to help detect tumors and other problems — involve exposure to radiation or heavy metals, which present potential health risks to patients and limit the ways they can be applied.
Five Penn Researchers Named American Physical Society Fellows
PHILADELPHIA — The American Physical Society has elected five University of Pennsylvania faculty members to its 2011 APS Fellowship class. They are Mark Devlin, Alan “Charlie” Johnson, Joshua Klein, Feng Gai and Howard Hu.
Penn Geneticists Help Show Bitter Taste Perception Is Not Just About Flavors
PHILADELPHIA — Long the bane of picky eaters everywhere, broccoli’s taste is not just a matter of having a cultured palate; some people can easily taste a bitter compound in the vegetable that others have difficulty detecting. Now a team of Penn researchers has helped uncover the evolutionary history of one of the genes responsible for this trait.
Penn and Brown Researchers Demonstrate Earthquake Friction Effect at the Nanoscale
PHILADELPHIA — Earthquakes are some of the most daunting natural disasters that scientists try to analyze. Though the earth’s major fault lines are well known, there is little scientists can do to predict when an earthquake will occur or how strong it will be.
Penn: A More Flexible Window Into the Brain
PHILADELPHIA - A team of researchers co-led by the University of Pennsylvania has developed and tested a new high-resolution, ultra-thin device capable of recording brain activity from the cortical surface without having to use penetrating electrodes.
Penn and Rutgers Psychologists Increase Understanding of How the Brain Perceives Shades of Gray
PHILADELPHIA — Vision is amazing because it seems so mundane. Peoples’ eyes, nerves and brains translate light into electrochemical signals and then into an experience of the world around them.
Penn Celebrates Launch of First-of-Its-Kind Program in Market and Social Systems Engineering
WHO: University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science faculty, guest speakers from Google, Hunch, Northwestern University and Cornell University
SEAS students hack gaming device to help visually impaired
Despite amazing advances in computers and cameras, people with serious visual impairments are often aided with the most basic technology imaginable: a cane.
Wistar looking up
A Penn neighbor will soon reach grand new heights.
In the News
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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The New York Times
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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Tampa Bay Times
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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The New York Times
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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CNBC
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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