Science & Technology

The function of a plant’s roots go well beyond simply serving as an anchor in the ground. The roots act as the plant’s mouth, absorbing, storing and channeling water and nutrients essential for survival.

Ivan Kuznetsov, an M.D./Ph.D.

A team of neuroscientists at the University of Pennsylvania has shown for the first time that electrical stimulation delivered when memory is predicted to fail can improve memory function in the human brain. That same stimulation generally becomes disruptive when electrical pulses arrive during periods of effective memory function.

Named for Friedrich Best, who characterized the disease in 1905, Best disease, also known as vitelliform macular dystrophy, affects children and young adults and can cause severe declines in central vision as patients age. The disease is one in a group of conditions known as bestrophinopathies, all linked to mutations in the BEST1 gene.

On many farms in the Cuban countryside, yellow flowers bookend certain crops, placed in such a way to concentrate insects there rather than on the produce growing in the rows between. Equipment-toting oxen and tractors are equally common sights, and combined with a self-sustaining water system, minimize the need to transport fuel across great distances.

Research from the University of Pennsylvania could shed light on the distribution of one of the most mysterious substances in the universe.

Last fall, Stefano Yushinski, now an incoming freshman at the University of Pennsylvania, built and programmed his first robot. He, along with about 50 other Philadelphia high school students, was participating in a one-day event through a program called Tech It Out Philly.

Many factors go into evaluating the prognosis of a critically ill animal, usually involving a combination of objective metrics, such as blood pressure or blood oxygenation, and more subjective clinical signs, such as alertness or lethargy.

This spring, several art and design installations will extend from Bartram's Garden Community Boathouse. Moored to the banks, and addressing the shoreline, they aim to influence the surrounding area.

University of Pennsylvania professors Robert Aronowitz, Rita Copeland, Daniel J. Mindiola and Daniel K.