11/15
Science & Technology
Engineers manipulate color on the nanoscale, making it disappear
Engineers manipulate color on the nanoscale, making it disappear
A new system of nanoscale semiconductor strips uses structural color interactions to eliminate the strips’ intrinsic color entirely, with implications for holographic displays and optical sensors, or new types of microlasers and detectors.
New funding supports milestone initiative to advance solar energy research
Penn’s Vagelos Institute for Energy Science and Technology is a partner in a $40 million award from the Department of Energy that will accelerate fundamental research on solar technology.
Phase II of research resumption expands on-campus activities
An update about the second of Penn’s three-part reopening of research with Vice Provost for Research Dawn Bonnell.
Getting gene therapy to the brain
Getting gene therapy to the brain
Using a large animal model of genetic brain disease, researchers led by John H. Wolfe of the School of Veterinary Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia delivered an effective treatment across the blood-brain barrier to correct the whole brain.
What would it take to make the Delaware ‘swimmable’?
What would it take to make the Delaware ‘swimmable’?
With funding from the William Penn Foundation, the Water Center at Penn is investigating questions of water quality, access, and equity.
Interning virtually
Interning virtually
The Translational Research Internship Program, offered by the Perelman School of Medicine’s Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics Education Programs, provides mentorship for undergraduates as they complete a translational research project.
Pennovation Accelerator moves online
Pennovation Accelerator moves online
In its third summer, the six-week program for startup companies went entirely virtual, but that didn’t stop the cohort of entrepreneurs from learning, networking, and innovating.
Advancing knowledge on archaea
Advancing knowledge on archaea
An open-source data platform for researchers studying archaea is paving the way for new insights and educational opportunities.
Offsetting carbon emissions, one ton at a time
Offsetting carbon emissions, one ton at a time
Carbon offsets are a small but meaningful market in its mission to contribute to greenhouse gas reducing industries and practices in order to compensate for emissions made elsewhere.
Plato was right. Earth is made, on average, of cubes
Plato was right. Earth is made, on average, of cubes
The ancient Greek philosopher was on to something, the School of Arts & Sciences’ Douglas Jerolmack and colleagues found.
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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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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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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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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The Independent
Climate scientists fear Trump will destroy progress in his second term – and the outcome could be ‘grim’
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that a second Trump term and the implementation of Project 2025 represents the end of climate action in this decade.
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