11/15
Science & Technology
Harnessing an innate protection against Ebola
Harnessing an innate protection against Ebola
School of Veterinary Medicine researchers have identified a cellular pathway that keeps Ebola virus from exiting human cells, with implications for developing new antivirals.
How species partnerships evolve
How species partnerships evolve
Biologists from the School of Arts & Sciences explored how symbiotic relationships between species evolve to become specific or general, cooperative, or antagonistic.
Eight Penn professors elected 2022 AAAS Fellows
Eight Penn professors elected 2022 AAAS Fellows
Researchers from the School of Arts & Sciences, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Perelman School of Medicine, and School of Veterinary Medicine join a class of scientists, engineers, and innovators spanning 24 scientific disciplines.
RNA lipid nanoparticle engineering stops liver fibrosis in its tracks
RNA lipid nanoparticle engineering stops liver fibrosis in its tracks
A successful lipid nanoparticles drug delivery system targets notoriously hard-to-target activated fibroblasts in the liver.
Five things to know about this year’s ‘tripledemic’
Five things to know about this year’s ‘tripledemic’
The Perelman School of Medicine’s E. John Wherry and Scott Hensley discuss the season’s confluence of COVID-19, influenza, and RSV and how our bodies are responding.
Penn scientist Nader Engheta wins the Benjamin Franklin Medal
Penn scientist Nader Engheta wins the Benjamin Franklin Medal
The H. Nedwill Ramsey Professor in Electrical and Systems Engineering is awarded for his advances in engineering and physics.
OCTOPUS, an optimized device for growing mini-organs in a dish
OCTOPUS, an optimized device for growing mini-organs in a dish
With OCTOPUS, Dan Huh’s team expands organoid research with a platform superior to conventional gel droplets, allowing researchers to replicate biological systems outside of the body.
New cell characterization method hints at reasons for resistance to cancer therapies
New cell characterization method hints at reasons for resistance to cancer therapies
Penn experts have developed new analysis tool that combines a cell’s unique gene expression data with information about the cell’s origins. The method can be applied to identify new cell subsets throughout development and better understand drug resistance.
How sex differences may influence lung injury
How sex differences may influence lung injury
Comparing lung cells from male and female mice, School of Veterinary Medicine scientists found gene expression differences that may explain why older males are at a higher risk than females for worse outcomes from COVID-19 and similar diseases.
Identifying a vulnerability in critical spacecraft networks
Identifying a vulnerability in critical spacecraft networks
Penn Engineering’s Linh Thi Xuan Phan and a team of researchers have identified a critical security flaw in the networking approach used in aerospace and other safety-critical systems.
In the News
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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Associated Press
California air regulators approve changes to climate program that could raise gas prices
Danny Cullenward of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design says that many things being credited in California’s new climate program don’t help the climate.
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Times of India
Self shocks turn crystal to glass at ultralow power density: Study
A collaborative study by researchers from the School of Engineering and Applied Science has shed new light on amorphization, the transition from a crystalline to a glassy state at the nanoscale.
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Interesting Engineering
U.S. achieves billion-fold power-saving semiconductor tech; could challenge China
A collaborative effort by Ritesh Agarwal of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and colleagues has made phase-change memory more energy efficient and could unlock a future revolution in data storage.
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