4/22
Science & Technology
Government, Industry, Academics to Address Cutting-edge Energy Technologies at Penn Conference
PHILADELPHIA -- Following this week’s release of the Office of the Executive’s “A Policy Framework for the 21st Century Grid,” Jon Wellinghoff, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, willaddress Urban Smart Grid and Energy Innovation, a conference organized by the Penn Institute for Urban Researc
Penn Engineers: Two-Dimensional Graphene Metamaterials and One-Atom-Thick Optical Devices
PHILADELPHIA -- Two University of Pennsylvania engineers have proposed the possibility of two-dimensional metamaterials. These one-atom-thick metamaterials could be achieved by controlling the conductivity of sheets of graphene, which is a single layer of carbon atoms.
theCoursebook Takes Prize in Milken-Penn GSE’s Second Annual Education Business Plan Competition
PHILADELPHIA — Alexandre Scialom, creator of theCourseBook, has won $50,000 in the only business plan competition designed to use innovation to improve education.
Penn Offering Postdoctoral Fellowships to Promote Academic Diversity
PHILADELPHIA — The University of Pennsylvania is accepting applications for its Academic Diversity Postdoctoral Fellowship Program.
Penn Announces Partnership With Chinese Academy of Sciences for Center of Excellence in Brain Mapping
BEIJING, CHINA –- In a ceremony today, the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) announced a collaboration agreement with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) to develop a joint Center of Excellence in Brain Mapping for the purpose of collaborative research and education in neuroimaging.
Penn Researchers Help Nanoscale Engineers Choose Self-Assembling Proteins
PHILADELPHIA — Engineering structures on the smallest possible scales — using molecules and individual atoms as building blocks — is both physically and conceptually challenging.
Penn A-Z index to include social media offerings
The Penn A-Z index is like the Yellow Pages of the University, featuring an alphabetical listing of websites officially recognized by Penn, and pathways to departments, programs, publications, organizations and services.
Penn Researchers Monitoring Mississippi Delta Flood From Space
PHILADELPHIA — As floodwaters roll downstream, earth scientists at the University of Pennsylvania are keeping a watchful eye on the Mississippi Delta using satellite images and measurements of the sea surface in the Gulf of Mexico.
Penn Research Determines Region of the Brain Necessary for Making Decisions About Economic Value
PHILADELPHIA — Neuroeconomic research at the University of Pennsylvania has conclusively identified a part of the brain that is necessary for making everyday decisions about value.
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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