Science & Technology

Students holding up cardboard virtual reality reader devices.

A new, virtual tool in the very real fight against opioid overdoses

Researchers from Penn Nursing and the Annenberg School have found that an immersive Narcan training video is as effective as in-person simulation trainings.

BLAST telescope with Mark Devlin and students

Up, up, and away

Mark Devlin and his team behind BLAST are about to embark on another scientific adventure in Antarctica, this time measuring how stars form in our galaxy.

line drawing of two heads and lightbulbs implying intelligence

Bigger brains are smarter, but not by much

Using a large dataset and controlling for a variety of factors, including sex, age, height, socioeconomic status, and genetic ancestry, Gideon Nave of the Wharton School and Philipp Koellinger of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam found that people with larger brains rated higher on measures of intelligence, but only accounts for two percent of the variation in smarts.

Data from Planck Satellite mapping Ort Clouds.

Where do comets originate?

A new technique developed by team of Penn astronomers may allow the scientists to measure radiation from celestial bodies that are only theorized to exist.

Modeling the most common form of vision loss in older adults

Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of vision loss in people older than 50. Kathleen Boesze-Battaglia and colleagues have developed a model system that mimics many features of the human condition, giving scientists a platform to gain a deeper understanding of risk factors and possible treatments.

A diagram explains the action of the protein Del-1 and macrophages

To resolve inflammation, location matters

A single protein can both restrain the initiation of inflammation and help to actively resolve it, according to new research led by George Hajishengallis of the School of Dental Medicine. He and his colleague found that the type of cell that secretes the protein determines which activity the protein promotes.

Marching toward the market

Rui Jing Jiang and Brandon Kao, winners of the 2018 President’s Innovation Prize, are well on their way to their goal: to gain FDA approval for a device to treat glaucoma.

woman with cell phone clicking on an image of a heartbeat

Two apps target cancer risk in marginalized populations

The tech-based mobile health interventions from Nursing’s Anne Teitelman focus on preventive health actions, including the HPV vaccine.

Drivers of inflammation provide valuable targets for new gum disease therapies

A subset of T cells contributes to the inflammation and bone loss that characterizes periodontitis, a severe form of gum disease. According to new research by George Hajishengallis and scientists at the National Institutes of Health, drugs that specifically inhibit these cells may offer an effective therapy.

Multidisciplinary team to develop stem cell-based approaches to restore vision

Gene therapies have had success in treating blindness but can’t save areas of the retina where cells have already died. In a new effort, School of Veterinary Medicine scientists John Wolfe and William Beltran will attempt to develop a stem-cell-based approach that restores vision.

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