Science & Technology

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 ・

Colorful fluorescent labeled cells appear in a tissue sample of a lung

Lung cell transplant boosts healing after the flu

A serious case of the flu can cause lasting damage to the lungs. In a study in mice, researchers found that transplanting cells from the lungs of healthy animals enhanced healing in others that had had a severe respiratory infection.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・

david saldana behind a table of his modular flying robots in front of a white board of equations and a TV screen

GRASP Lab’s high-flying robots

Postdoctoral researcher David Saldaña is working on algorithms and designs for autonomous airborne robots which can link together, break apart, and work together to complete tasks.

Gina Vitale Erica K. Brockmeier ・

angelica padilla working in a lab on a crowded optics table looking at a computer

Solving complex problems with purpose

Senior Angelica Padilla, who recently completed research through the Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter undergraduate summer program, shares her passion for fluid mechanics.

Erica K. Brockmeier ・



In the News


The Washington Post

Forecast group predicts busiest hurricane season on record with 33 storms

A research team led by Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences is predicting the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season will produce the most named storms on record, fueled by exceptionally warm ocean waters and an expected shift from El Niño to La Niña.

FULL STORY →

WHYY (Philadelphia)

My Climate Story: Philly students take science from abstract to personal

The “My Climate Story” project at the Environmental Humanities Department helps students and teachers learn about climate change’s impact in everyday backyards, with remarks from Bethany Wiggin. The idea is credited to María Villarreal, a College of Arts and Sciences second-year from Tampico, Mexico.

FULL STORY →

Technical.ly Philly

Penn professor on gen AI’s rapacious use of energy: ‘One of the defining challenges of my career’

Benjamin Lee of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says that hardware and infrastructure costs are growing at high rates for generative AI.

FULL STORY →

SciTechDaily

Satellite images capture extraordinary flooding in the United Arab Emirates

Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences explains how three low-pressure systems formed a train of storms that battered the United Arab Emirates.

FULL STORY →

Associated Press

Here’s why experts don’t think cloud seeding played a role in Dubai’s downpour

Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that many people blaming cloud seeding for Dubai storms are climate change deniers trying to divert attention from what’s really happening.

FULL STORY →

Big Think

Can we stop AI hallucinations? And do we even want to?

Chris Callison-Burch of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says that auto-regressive generation can make it difficult for language learning models to perform fact-based or symbolic reasoning.

FULL STORY →

Salon.com

“Record-shattering” heat wave in Antarctica — yep, climate change is the culprit

Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that persistent summer weather extremes like heat waves are becoming more common as people continue to warm the planet with carbon pollution.

FULL STORY →

CNET

How the solar eclipse will affect solar panels and the grid

Benjamin Lee of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says that the electrical grid will have to figure out how to match supply and demand during brief windows where the energy source goes away.

FULL STORY →

Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)

Scientists struggle to explain ‘really weird’ spike in world temperatures

Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that tendencies to exaggerate climate science in favor of “doomist” narratives helps no one except the fossil fuel industry.

FULL STORY →

Vox.com

Spring is here very early. That’s not good

Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that plant-flowering, tree-leafing, and egg-hatching are all markers associated with spring that are happening sooner.

FULL STORY →