Science & Technology

A brown cow standing in a mountain landscape in the Italian Alps.

Crowdsourcing 10,000 years of land use

More than 250 archaeologists from around the world contributed their knowledge to ArchaeoGLOBE, an effort to better understand the prevalence of agriculture, pastoralism, and hunting and gathering at different points in human history.

Michele W. Berger ・

Two people face each other, smiling widely and looking into each other's eyes.

No evidence that testosterone reduces cognitive empathy

In the largest study of its kind, researchers found that testosterone administration did not affect cognitive empathy, a measure of the ability to recognize another’s feelings and motivations. The finding calls into question the theory that the symptoms of autism are caused by a hyper-masculinized brain.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・

Pixelated image of a brain with red, blue, and purple regions

‘Information gerrymandering’ poses a threat to democratic decision making

Concern over fake news and online trolls is widespread and warranted, but researchers have identified another impediment to the free flow of information in social networks. The phenomenon, which they term “information gerrymandering,” arises from the structure of a social network and introduces bias into collective decisions.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・

Wide-angle view of a heavily mined landscape with a refinery or energy facility in the background.

Climate lecture series will call for ‘unprecedented action,’ 1.5 minutes at a time

With a nod to the stated goal of the Paris Agreement of keeping global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid the worst effects of climate change, a new 90-second lecture series kicks off today to give faculty and students a platform to briefly share how their work addresses climate change, and what we can do to help.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・

Cartoon drawing of Edgar Fahs Smith in a lab circa 1927

Stories of Penn scientists: Edgar Fahs Smith

The story of the professor and provost whose affinity for science and history led him to amass a collection that stands as a testament to his passion for chemistry.

Erica K. Brockmeier ・

aerial view of five kids laying and sitting on the ground working on laptops in a school hallway

Coding with kids

Since 2017, Penn Engineering computer science students have taught Philadelphia-area middle school students in multiple after-school coding clubs. The goals are to nurture an interest in computer science and increase confidence.

Penn Today Staff ・

a microscopic view of bone metal

A new bone-like metal foam can ‘heal’ at room temperature

Penn Engineers have developed a way to repair metal at room temperature, rather than welding. They call their technique “healing” because of its similarity to the way bones heal, recruiting raw material and energy from an external source.

Penn Today Staff ・

Paddlers in bright red boats on the water, smiling and posing for the camera.

Dragon boating, on the world stage

Computer and information science doctoral student Barry Slaff trains six days a week for dragon boating on the Schuylkill River, and is headed to Thailand to compete in the World Dragon Boat Racing Championships.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・



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.

FULL STORY →

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.

FULL STORY →

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.

FULL STORY →

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.

FULL STORY →

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.

FULL STORY →

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.

FULL STORY →

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.

FULL STORY →

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.

FULL STORY →

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.

FULL STORY →

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.

FULL STORY →