Pseudo-giant number fluctuations and nematic order in microswimmer suspensions Giant number fluctuations (GNFs), whereby the standard deviation $ΔN$ in the local number of particles $\langle N \rangle$ grows faster than $\sqrt{\langle N \rangle}$, are a hallmark property of dry ...

Happy to share our recent preprint on (the absence of) giant number fluctuations in microswimmer suspensions.

arxiv.org/abs/2503.18068

Excited to share our new paper in Nature Physics
@naturephysics.bsky.social: Cooperative hydrodynamics accompany multicellular-like colonial organization in the unicellular Stentor!

How do single-celled organisms benefit from teamwork?

What motivated Sugi Widjaja and Millie Wan to support Penn Engineering Entrepreneurship? The chance to endow a new program offering unparalleled immersion via coursework, mentorship and paid internships: the Widjaja Entrepreneurship Fellows.

blog.seas.upenn.edu/investing-in...

NIH funding delivers exponential economic returns — Harvard Gazette Report finds all 50 states reap gains in patient health, job creation, research resources, business development.

In fiscal year 2024, the report found, NIH awarded more than $36.9 billion to researchers, supporting more than 408,000 jobs and generating over $94.5 billion in new economic activity nationwide.

news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...

This was a wonderful collaboration with @phdramoncp.bsky.social and his colleagues, matchmade by @karenedaniels.bsky.social! I am proud to have been a part of this effort.

Join Penn Engineering for the George H. Heilmeier Faculty Award and Lecture featuring awardee Cherie Kagan. She will discuss how colloidal nanocrystals (NCs) act as "artificial atoms" to create advanced materials and devices.
events.seas.upenn.edu/event/2024-2...

The Future of Rheology virtual seminar series has extended its submissions deadline. This platform highlights research from students, postdocs, and professionals advancing rheology. Selected speakers will have the opportunity to present at the Annual Meeting for a chance to win prizes!

SoR is sad to announce the passage of 1994 Bingham Medalist Prof Andreas Acrivos. Prof. Acrivos and his numerous students and colleagues have made lasting contributions to rheology theory and practice. A fuller accounting of Prof. Acrivos's career is available at www.rheology.org/SoR/News/InM...

A group of silver/golden robotic disks merge together at the top of the picture, moving downwards to eventually form a wrench at the bottom.

🎉Paper alert! Material-like robotic collectives that mimic life

Congrats to the Campàs group at PoL @campaslab.bsky.social, for their new #publication with researchers at @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social published in Science!

Read our press release here: physics-of-life.tu-dresden.de/news/2025/02...

Pictured are striped dolphins cruising in the Mediterranean Sea. Charlotte Lambert et al. examined the abundance, diets, and energy requirements of marine megafauna in the Mediterranean Sea. Around 4.1 million individuals comprising fishes, mammals, reptiles, and birds consume 1.6 million tons of prey each summer, primarily pelagic cephalopods. Cetaceans and tunas are the primary consumers. CREDIT: Laurine Gounot (MIRACETI).

Read highlights in this week’s issue of PNAS: We examine how turbulence enhances seagrass wave attenuation along coastlines, analyze the feeding patterns of marine Mediterranean megafauna, and study aerodynamics of flexible flapping-wing flight. In PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

The Society of Rheology is now accepting proposals for the 2025 Rheology Venture Fund. Past winners include the Student Trivia Night at the SoR meeting, the Soft Matter Kitchen, I am a Rheologist swag, Rheology Comics and others.

@nationalacademies.org released a 2022 report on #carbondioxideremoval (CDR) strategies that assessed the current benefits, risks, and potential for responsible scale-up of six specific ocean-based CDR strategies. ow.ly/jfpX50V1VG5

2025-2035 Decadal Survey of Ocean Sciences for the National Science Foundation (Public Release Report Briefing) Register for this event from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Make your mark on the next decade of #oceanscience! Find out more about @nationalacademies.org's recommendations for #NSF priorities through 2035 during a webinar from 3-4pm ET on Feb. 20!

Registration:
events.nationalacademies.org/44451_02-202...

Number of preprints uploaded to the Social Science Research Network by gender across time. AUTHOR: Professor Shaobo (Kevin) Li, lisb3@sustech.edu.cn

A study finds that male researchers increased their preprint posting rate by 6.4% more than female researchers after the introduction of ChatGPT, highlighting differences in how researchers are adopting generative AI tools. In PNAS Nexus: ow.ly/hkh950V3HFX

A mock-up from landscape architecture firm SWA represents one potential bead in the green necklace of fire breaks around Paradise, California. If built, such a fuel break could double as a base camp for recreation, with a parking lot, showers, and shared community space. CREDIT: Jonah Susskind (SWA).

The #LAFires are the latest to devastate a community. What if we could design a fire-resistant town? Early strategies are already showing promise. A PNAS Science and Culture: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
#wildfire #CampFire #FireBreak #RestorationEcology #firefighters #ClimateChange

Reconstruction of the Ordovician Sea floor, showing the establishment of complex burrows linked to farming and trapping feeding strategies. CREDIT: Alex Boersma/PNAS

Trace fossils capture ancient biological activity rather than whole-body impressions. A global dataset of trace fossils shows that development of the modern deep-sea ecosystem during the Ordovician Period took a leisurely 100 million years. In PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Change in apportionment if undocumented residents were removed from Census Data used for apportionment, 1980-2020.

Census data from 1980–2020 shows that including undocumented residents in congressional apportionment has not shifted party control of the House or changed the outcome of presidential elections. In PNAS Nexus: academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

Improving vaccine distribution with network theory and a highly adaptable framework – A team of engineers and medical researchers developed a computationally affordable system for determining COVID-19 vaccination distribution. blog.seas.upenn.edu/who-to-vacci...

Meet Vanessa Chan: Penn Engineering’s Inaugural Vice Dean of Innovation and Entrepreneurship - Penn Engineering Blog Vanessa Chan describes her vision for building on Penn Engineering's culture of entrepreneurship, drawing on her diverse career experiences.

How do engineers transform breakthroughs into solutions? Vanessa Chan, Penn Engineering’s inaugural Vice Dean of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, has spent her career answering that question. Read more: blog.seas.upenn.edu/meet-vanessa...
#ResponsibleInnovation

Congratulations to John Bassani, Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM), on receiving the 2025 Society of Engineering Science William Prager Medal.

blog.seas.upenn.edu/john-bassani...

Kyle Vining

Kyle Vining of Penn Engineering and Penn Dental Medicine is studying how the extracellular matrix regulates immune responses. Backed by a $2M NIH grant, his work could pave the way for new cancer and tissue repair therapies.

blog.seas.upenn.edu/kyle-vining-...

Jason Altschuler (top left) and Anderson Ye Zhang (bottom left) of Penn Engineering and the Wharton School, Liang Wu (bottom right) of the School of Arts & Sciences, and César de la Fuente (top right) of Penn Engineering and the Perelman School of Medicine have been named 2025 Sloan Research Fellows.

Penn Engineering faculty members César de la Fuente (@delafuentelab.bsky.social) and Jason Altschuler have been named 2025 Sloan Research Fellows (@sloanfoundation.bsky.social).

penntoday.upenn.edu/news/four-pe...

Sage Fulco, a postdoctoral researcher in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, demonstrates the machine the group used to test the materials’ toughness.

Comparison of an organized internal structure (top) versus disordered internal structure (bottom).

Fulco (right) and Turner (left), demonstrate the means by which they used light to assess the way mechanical stress affected the metamaterial.

Stronger materials, inspired by nature? Led by Kevin Turner, researchers from @meam-penn.bsky.social and Aarhus University found that adding just the right amount of disorder to a material’s structure boosts toughness by 2.6x.

blog.seas.upenn.edu/breaking-the...

From Drummer to Educator: How Entrepreneurship Transcends Disciplines - Penn Engineering Blog For someone who’s navigated multiple careers and passions, starting in music, pivoting to tech and now teaching engineering entrepreneurship, Jeffrey Babin, Practice Professor in Mechanical … Read Mor...

Jeffrey Babin’s journey from musician to entrepreneur to educator shapes his teaching at @meam-penn.bsky.social, where he helps students refine ideas and develop innovative, adaptable problem-solving skills.

blog.seas.upenn.edu/from-drummer...

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Fascinating work from Sebastian Gonzalez La Corte, Sujit Data, et al at CalTech on polymer-induced entropic attractions that hinder diffusion and lead bacteria to form long spaghetti-like cables within mucus and biofilms

Paper in Science Advances: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The abstract submission deadline is today (Jan 13th)! So far, we have contributions on topics ranging from microvasculature, cells and tissues to biofilms! Looking forward to a great session on "Living Porous Media"! lnkd.in/eafFBRE9

Interesting findings by Jacob Notbohm's group. Nematic defects may form as a result of spatially coordinated patterns in cell forces and motion.
👉 arxiv.org/abs/2501.04827

This is figure 1, which shows a PWAS for social isolation and loneliness.

A study in Nature Human Behaviour characterizes protein signatures in the blood associated with social isolation and loneliness, demonstrating how these link social isolation and loneliness to an increased risk of disease and mortality. https://go.nature.com/4gLM08p 🧪

Toward a Second Law for Living Systems A new theory related to the second law of thermodynamics describes the motion of active biological systems ranging from migrating cells to traveling birds.

Check out this work on Second Law of Thermodynamics without Einstein Relation by Benjamin Sorkin, Haim Diamant, Gil Ariel & Tomer Markovich physics.aps.org/articles/v17...

Programming scheduled self-assembly of circadian materials - Nature Communications Harnessing biomolecular systems to endow synthetic materials with life-like properties is a significant challenge. Here, the authors use the biomolecular KaiABC circadian clock proteins to control aut...

Happy to be on BlueSky!
For my first post, I am excited to share a new collaborative paper combining experiments and simulations, where we used circadian clock proteins to engineer biomaterials with time-programmed self-assembly and disassembly www.nature.com/articles/s41...