11/15
Science & Technology
Seven Penn researchers receive NIH Director Awards
Seven researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine, and School of Engineering and Applied Science are to receive National Institutes of Health Director Awards, highly competitive grants to support innovative biomedical research.
By the Numbers: Penn Center for Innovation
The Penn Center for Innovation presented its fiscal 2018 “Year in Review,” showcasing its achievements in commercial activities.
Ventilating with mixture of helium and oxygen improves outcomes for horses in surgery
Horses are so large that their weight can cause their lungs to collapse while under anesthesia. In a new study, Klaus Hopster and colleagues at the School of Veterinary Medicine found that ventilating horses with a mixture of helium and oxygen can lead to better pulmonary gas exchange.
Teachers become students to become better teachers at GRASP Lab’s RET program
The Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program run by the GRASP Lab in the School of Engineering and Applied Science is part of a larger National Science Foundation effort to get students interested in science and engineering at an early age. This summer, one cohort of students worked with robots in the Rehabilitation Robotics Lab at the Perelman School of Medicine.
Penn Engineering groups awarded NSF grants to work toward ‘quantum leap’
One group will design robust, integrated quantum memory devices based on defects in diamond, and the other group will develop materials to encode and decode quantum information in single photons. These technologies will be part of the safest and most secure information network ever seen.
Learn from the experts with the Penn Science and Lightbulb Cafes
The lecture series, hosted by the School of Arts and Sciences, offers a casual setting in which researchers can present their work and engage with the attendees during a Q&A period, giving a glimpse into the research at Penn.
First particle tracks seen in prototype for international neutrino experiment
Neutrinos are the most abundant, and most mysterious, type of matter in the universe. Physicists from the School of Arts and Sciences had a hand in designing a massive instrument, the ProtoDUNE, that has detected the first evidence of these particles of matter.
Targeting a viral vulnerability to treat disease
Robert Ricciardi company ViRAZE utilizes interdisciplinary approaches to drug discovery. Its first target is molluscum contagiosum, a disease that targets children and immune-compromised adults with no current FDA-approved therapy.
Physicist theorizes that dark matter is a superfluid
A hypothesis by Justin Khoury of the Department of Physics and Astronomy stands to shake up how scientists consider dark matter.
A bustling summer at the Pennovation Center
It was a season full of excitement, to kick off an academic year that will, undoubtedly, see even more fulfillment.
In the News
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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