Natural Sciences | Penn Today
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Archived: 2026-04-23 17:13
Natural Sciences | Penn Today
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The science of winemaking
Students listened to an information session in a vineyard at Cobos winery prior to a sit-down tasting.
(Image: Kelly Williamson)
The science of winemaking
The Biochemical Engineering of Wine course provides a real-world application of engineering principles, teaching students about the science behind the processes involved with making wine.
3 min. read
What happens when an iceberg melts?
Research from Hugo Ulloa, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth & Environmental Science, and Daisuke Noto of Hokkaido University, models how icebergs melt and move in their environments.
(Image: Gabi Musat / 500px via Getty Images)
What happens when an iceberg melts?
With ice balls, lasers, and cameras, School of Arts & Sciences’ Hugo Ulloa recreated a melting iceberg in his lab. This project revealed that icebergs don’t sit passively on the water’s surface but actually release dense, cold water and jet across the surface, churning and mixing everything in their paths.
2 min. read
Gravity follows Newton and Einstein’s rules, even at cosmic scales
The cosmic microwave background, the faint afterglow of the Big Bang that fills all of space, passes through massive galaxy clusters whose motion slightly alters the light, allowing scientists to measure how fast the clusters are moving toward one another and test how strongly gravity pulls across the largest distances in the universe.
(Image: Courtesy of Lucy Reading/Simons Foundation)
Gravity follows Newton and Einstein’s rules, even at cosmic scales
By tracking galaxy clusters hundreds of millions of lightyears apart, Penn physicist Patricio Gallardo and collaborators find that the laws of gravity written by Newton and Einstein still hold, leaving little doubt that invisible dark matter exists.
3 min. read
The Artemis II mission: Reflections on an ever-evolving relationship with space exploration
Image: NASA via AP Images
The Artemis II mission: Reflections on an ever-evolving relationship with space exploration
Penn Today spoke with three Penn experts about the Artemis II crew’s use of social media during the mission, how space images are more than just pretty pictures, and why space continues to fascinate.
3 min. read
Caitlyn Chen’s path to becoming a physician-scientist
nocred
Caitlyn Chen’s path to becoming a physician-scientist
The fourth-year in the College of Arts & Sciences, who will pursue medical school after graduation, spent her time at Penn applying deep knowledge of the natural sciences to research more affordable microsensors for medical devices.
3 min. reada
Shujie Yang harnesses sound to build the next generation of microrobotic medicine
Shujie Yang is at the frontier of single-cell acoustic manipulation, an emerging field that blends physics, mechanobiology, and medicine.
(Image: Courtesy of Penn Engineering)
Shujie Yang harnesses sound to build the next generation of microrobotic medicine
Yang’s lab at Penn Engineering uses precisely-controlled ultrasound waves to develop microscale tools that can manipulate cells, viruses, and soft materials without physical contact.
2 min. read
Building better delivery vehicles for medicine
Image: Courtesy of Penn Engineering
Building better delivery vehicles for medicine
Penn researchers in the Mitchell Lab are modifying lipid nanoparticles, the delivery vehicles for mRNA therapies, to make them more potent, precise, and better tolerated.
2 min. read
Topology helps build more robust photonic networks
(From left) Xilin Feng, Liang Feng, and Tianwei Wu developed a microring array that allows multiple beams of light to travel simultaneously, protected by topology.
(Image: Sylvia Zhang)
Topology helps build more robust photonic networks
Researchers at Penn Engineering draw insights from topology to help drive promising, light-based technological advances in computing and communications.
2 min. read
Turning peels into pavers: How Penn designers turn food scraps into biodegradable building materials
At the DumoLab, research associate Yasaman Amirzehni is working to develop a biocomposite suitable for indoor and outdoor cladding applications, which could eventually serve as true structural components like load-bearing columns.
nocred
Turning peels into pavers: How Penn designers turn food scraps into biodegradable building materials
The Weitzman School’s Laia Mogas-Soldevila and Yasaman Amirzehni transform unavoidable food waste—like fruit peels and eggshells, which account for 14.8% of post-consumer restaurant food waste—into durable, biodegradable building materials in collaboration with Penn Dining.
4 min. read
Mapping catalyst failure to advance clean hydrogen fuel production
Image: David McNew via Getty Images
Mapping catalyst failure to advance clean hydrogen fuel production
A new study co-led by computational Penn engineering professor Aleksandra Vojvodic and collaborators offers an unprecedented view of the complicated degradation process of a material based on one of the rarest elements, iridium. Their findings, which show how this catalytic agent breaks down at the atomic scale, pave the way for better hydrogen fuel production.
3 min. read
Load More
Skip to Content
Skip to Content
News from
University of Pennsylvania
Try Advanced Search
The science of winemaking
Students listened to an information session in a vineyard at Cobos winery prior to a sit-down tasting.
(Image: Kelly Williamson)
The science of winemaking
The Biochemical Engineering of Wine course provides a real-world application of engineering principles, teaching students about the science behind the processes involved with making wine.
3 min. read
What happens when an iceberg melts?
Research from Hugo Ulloa, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth & Environmental Science, and Daisuke Noto of Hokkaido University, models how icebergs melt and move in their environments.
(Image: Gabi Musat / 500px via Getty Images)
What happens when an iceberg melts?
With ice balls, lasers, and cameras, School of Arts & Sciences’ Hugo Ulloa recreated a melting iceberg in his lab. This project revealed that icebergs don’t sit passively on the water’s surface but actually release dense, cold water and jet across the surface, churning and mixing everything in their paths.
2 min. read
Gravity follows Newton and Einstein’s rules, even at cosmic scales
The cosmic microwave background, the faint afterglow of the Big Bang that fills all of space, passes through massive galaxy clusters whose motion slightly alters the light, allowing scientists to measure how fast the clusters are moving toward one another and test how strongly gravity pulls across the largest distances in the universe.
(Image: Courtesy of Lucy Reading/Simons Foundation)
Gravity follows Newton and Einstein’s rules, even at cosmic scales
By tracking galaxy clusters hundreds of millions of lightyears apart, Penn physicist Patricio Gallardo and collaborators find that the laws of gravity written by Newton and Einstein still hold, leaving little doubt that invisible dark matter exists.
3 min. read
The Artemis II mission: Reflections on an ever-evolving relationship with space exploration
Image: NASA via AP Images
The Artemis II mission: Reflections on an ever-evolving relationship with space exploration
Penn Today spoke with three Penn experts about the Artemis II crew’s use of social media during the mission, how space images are more than just pretty pictures, and why space continues to fascinate.
3 min. read
Caitlyn Chen’s path to becoming a physician-scientist
nocred
Caitlyn Chen’s path to becoming a physician-scientist
The fourth-year in the College of Arts & Sciences, who will pursue medical school after graduation, spent her time at Penn applying deep knowledge of the natural sciences to research more affordable microsensors for medical devices.
3 min. reada
Shujie Yang harnesses sound to build the next generation of microrobotic medicine
Shujie Yang is at the frontier of single-cell acoustic manipulation, an emerging field that blends physics, mechanobiology, and medicine.
(Image: Courtesy of Penn Engineering)
Shujie Yang harnesses sound to build the next generation of microrobotic medicine
Yang’s lab at Penn Engineering uses precisely-controlled ultrasound waves to develop microscale tools that can manipulate cells, viruses, and soft materials without physical contact.
2 min. read
Building better delivery vehicles for medicine
Image: Courtesy of Penn Engineering
Building better delivery vehicles for medicine
Penn researchers in the Mitchell Lab are modifying lipid nanoparticles, the delivery vehicles for mRNA therapies, to make them more potent, precise, and better tolerated.
2 min. read
Topology helps build more robust photonic networks
(From left) Xilin Feng, Liang Feng, and Tianwei Wu developed a microring array that allows multiple beams of light to travel simultaneously, protected by topology.
(Image: Sylvia Zhang)
Topology helps build more robust photonic networks
Researchers at Penn Engineering draw insights from topology to help drive promising, light-based technological advances in computing and communications.
2 min. read
Turning peels into pavers: How Penn designers turn food scraps into biodegradable building materials
At the DumoLab, research associate Yasaman Amirzehni is working to develop a biocomposite suitable for indoor and outdoor cladding applications, which could eventually serve as true structural components like load-bearing columns.
nocred
Turning peels into pavers: How Penn designers turn food scraps into biodegradable building materials
The Weitzman School’s Laia Mogas-Soldevila and Yasaman Amirzehni transform unavoidable food waste—like fruit peels and eggshells, which account for 14.8% of post-consumer restaurant food waste—into durable, biodegradable building materials in collaboration with Penn Dining.
4 min. read
Mapping catalyst failure to advance clean hydrogen fuel production
Image: David McNew via Getty Images
Mapping catalyst failure to advance clean hydrogen fuel production
A new study co-led by computational Penn engineering professor Aleksandra Vojvodic and collaborators offers an unprecedented view of the complicated degradation process of a material based on one of the rarest elements, iridium. Their findings, which show how this catalytic agent breaks down at the atomic scale, pave the way for better hydrogen fuel production.
3 min. read
Load More