11/15
Science & Technology
The nanotopography of an atomic world
The nanotopography of an atomic world
Physicists offer insights into the structure of atomically thin materials using nanoscale images of 2D membranes.
Marking the winter solstice, from Neolithic times to today
Marking the winter solstice, from Neolithic times to today
For millennia, people have marked the winter solstice with rituals and celebrations—and they continue to do so today. Penn Museum anthropologists Lucy Fowler Williams and Megan Kassabaum discuss both ancient and contemporary customs associated with attending to the shortest day of the year.
Electric bond
Electric bond
Behind the discovery of a new class of electronic materials is a 20-year collaboration between two Penn physicists, winners of the 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.
Celebrating science
Celebrating science
Eight Penn faculty share their favorite general interest books about science.
Student club highlights interdisciplinary art of making video games
Student club highlights interdisciplinary art of making video games
Undergraduate students Luigi Mangione and Josh Nadel lead a group of 60 students who gather and collaborate weekly to develop video games at Huntsman Hall.
Thoughts from a medical ethicist on gene editing babies
Thoughts from a medical ethicist on gene editing babies
In a Q&A, PIK Professor Jonathan Moreno discusses using CRISPR technology on humans and the future of the field.
Podcast series charts a path for Latin Americans in science
Podcast series charts a path for Latin Americans in science
Concerned about the scarcity of Latin Americans in scientific careers, doctoral students Kevin Alicea-Torres and Enrique Lin-Shiao took action to prime the pump. On their Spanish-language podcast, “Caminos en Ciencia,” they chat with Latinx scientists who discuss their career paths and provide advice for young scientists-to-be.
‘The Pitch’ podcast comes to Penn
‘The Pitch’ podcast comes to Penn
Senior molecular biology major Katherine Sizov won the judges over with her fruit biosensor company Strella Biotech.
A new, virtual tool in the very real fight against opioid overdoses
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.
Up, up, and away
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.
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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