In computer simulations, Penn researchers show that simple rules can guide robot swarms to build like insects — with no central plan. This approach could lay the groundwork for more resilient, decentralized manufacturing systems.

New research led by scientists at the American Museum of Natural History sheds light on the ancient origins of biofluorescence in fishes and the range of brilliant colors involved in this biological phenomenon. Detailed in two complementary studies recently published in Nature Communications and PLOS One, the findings suggest that biofluorescence dates back at least 112 million years and, since then, has evolved independently more than 100 times, with the majority of that activity happening among fish that live on coral reefs.

MIT researchers built an ultrasmall, low-power receiver that is designed to block a certain type of interference. The chip could be utilized in 5G-enabled smart devices that would be smaller, have longer battery lives, and be more reliable in crowded radio environments.  

A research team led by Rice University has introduced an innovative strategy that uses enzymes to convert one terpenoid structure into many different forms, streamlining synthetic pathways and redefining the approach to natural product synthesis.

Co-senior authors Jeremy Levy of Pitt and Andrew Daley of Oxford, collaborators from the early days of the Pittsburgh Quantum Institute, wrote an explanatory analysis of their group’s chiral-electron findings publishing in Science Advances Friday. In this study that combines  quantum physics, physics, biology, chemistry and organic systems, they developed in essence a programmable platform that could ultimately provide new ways to explore electrons in chiral systems — such as DNA, amino acids, proteins and more.

Newly uncovered evidence from fossil corals found on an island chain in the Indian Ocean suggests that sea levels could rise even more steeply in our warming world than previously thought. 

New observations of 30 planet-forming disks – the birthplaces of planets around stars – reveal in greater detail than ever how gas and dust behave over time and shape the evolution of exoplanet systems. 

Several years ago, a cosmic particle detector in Antarctica observed a series of unusual radio signals, according to an international research group that includes scientists from Penn State. The unusual radio pulses were detected by the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment, a range of instruments flown on balloons high above Antarctica that are designed to detect radio waves from cosmic rays hitting the atmosphere — and a new study provides additional context to the signals.