Through
11/26
Science & Technology
Penn Researchers Develop New Technique for Filling Gaps in Fossil Record
PHILADELPHIA — University of Pennsylvania evolutionary biologists have resolved a long-standing paleontological problem by reconciling the fossil record of species diversity with modern DNA samples.
Student Spotlight with Kevin Conley
WHIZ KID: A self-proclaimed computer hacker, Kevin Conley, 21, a senior in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, has developed a social networking application called SMSPersonFinder
Penn Research Team Hosts Interactive Exhibit on Climate Change and Urban Space for “Parking Day”
WHO: University of Pennsylvania faculty, graduate and undergraduate members of Partnerships for International Research and Education Mongolia and School of Arts and Sciences staffWHAT: Scientists transform a parking space into an interactive exhibit on Mongolian climate change research
Penn Researchers Awarded $1.5 Million to Advance Nanotechnology for Gene Sequencing
PHILADELPHIA -- A research team led by Marija Drndić of the University of Pennsylvania has been awarded a three-year, $1.5 million grant to apply nanotechnology and materials science to the development of “third generation” techniques for DNA sequencing and to lower the cost of sequencing.
Penn’s Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter Awarded $21.7 Million NSF Grant
PHILADELPHIA — The University of Pennsylvania’s Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter has been awarded a six-year, $21.7 million center grant from the National Science Foundation to support LRSM’s work in cutting-edge materials.
Penn Receives $1.5 Million Grant to Predict Sea-Level Rise and Flooding from Hurricanes
PHILADELPHIA — In an effort to better understand sea-level rise and flooding from hurricanes along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has awarded a three-year, $1.5 million grant to a research team led by the University of Pennsylvania’s Benjamin Horton
Penn Physicists Develop New Insight Into How Disordered Solids Deform
PHILADELPHIA — In solid materials with regular atomic structures, figuring out weak points where the material will break under stress is relatively easy. But for disordered solids, like glass or sand, their disordered nature makes such predictions much more daunting tasks.
Penn Molecular Scientists Develop Color-Changing Stress Sensor
PHILADELPHIA — It is helpful — even life-saving — to have a warning sign before a structural system fails, but, when the system is only a few nanometers in size, having a sign that’s easy to read is a challenge.
Penn Physicists Undo the ‘Coffee Ring Effect’
PHILADELPHIA — A team of University of Pennsylvania physicists has shown how to disrupt the “coffee ring effect” — the ring-shaped stain of particles left over after coffee drops evaporate — by changing the particles' shape. The discovery provides new tools for engineers to deposit uniform coatings.
In the News
Technical.ly Philly
Celebrate Philly’s winners of the 2024 Technical.ly Awards
Jeffrey Babin of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Wharton School is Technical.ly’s 2024 Educator of the Year. The Pennovation Accelerator, a six-week program hosted at the Pennovation Works, is Technical.ly’s 2024 Program of the Year.
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Philadelphia Inquirer
Decoding Trump’s climate priorities—or lack thereof
In an opinion essay, Sanya Carley of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design examines the implications and possibilities of Donald Trump’s energy and climate agenda.
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Rolling Stone
RFK Jr.’s 10 wildest medical theories
Kenneth R. Foster of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says studies haven’t provided clear evidence that exposure to levels of radio frequency energy below accepted limits, such as Wi-Fi, disrupts the blood-brain barrier.
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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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