Takeaways: The new mini moon

On Sunday, Sept. 29, Earth welcomed 2024 PT5, a “mini-moon” temporarily captured by the planet’s orbit that’s set to depart on Monday, Nov. 25. To understand more about this phenomenon, Penn Today caught up with astronomy professor Bhuvnesh Jain.

• Physics and Astronomy

Celebrating the dedication of Amy Gutmann Hall

On a breezy, overcast early fall day, members of the Penn community gathered to dedicate the University’s new center for data science and artificial intelligence: Amy Gutmann Hall.

Why AI Consumes So Much Energy and What Might Be Done About It

Benjamin C. Lee spoke with Nvidia’s director of accelerated computing to explain how and why AI leads to increased electricity use and explore strategies to limit AI’s energy impact on this episode of the Kleinman Center's Energy Policy Now podcast.

• Computer and Information Science
• Electrical and Systems Engineering

Without Guardrails, Generative AI Can Harm Education

A new study co-authored by Hamsa Bastani reveals that using generative AI improves student performance, but also makes it harder for students to learn and acquire new skills.

• Operations Information and Decisions

University of Pennsylvania launches Penn Center on Media, Technology, and Democracy

The Center, led by co-PIs Christopher Yoo and Duncan Watts, will bring together six Schools at Penn with $10 million in support from Knight Foundation and the University. At the outset, the Center will propel research involving media, technology, and democracy within Penn.

• Communication
• Computer and Information Science
• Law

Court No-Shows: A Systemic Issue

Sandy Mayson has found that failure-to-appear (FTA) is a systemic phenomenon that plays central role in criminal case processing in Philadelphia. Mayson’s academic work draws on her experience as a trial lawyer at Orleans Public Defenders, where she represented indigent clients in criminal proceedings.

• Law

Detecting Media Bias

CSSLab's Media Bias Detector can “classify media content in somewhat close to real time,” says Duncan Watts, which he notes is “very unusual” in the world of academia where it often takes months to analyze data.

• Communication
• Computer and Information Science
• Operations Information and Decisions

Melding AI and RNA: $18M NSF AIRFoundry to Revolutionize RNA Research

The U.S. National Science Foundation Artificial Intelligence-driven RNA Foundry (NSF AIRFoundry) will use AI to design, optimize and synthesize RNA and delivery vehicles by augmenting human expertise. Zack Ives will serve as NSF AIRFoundry’s associate director of knowledge sharing.

• Computer and Information Science

Chatbots in Healthcare: The Ultimate Turing Test

Lyle Ungar and Chris Callison-Burch joined Kevin Johnson's podcast, Informatics in the Round, to talk about what chatbots are, whether they present the markers of true artificial intelligence, what innovations we are looking forward to, and the benefits and barriers to integrating them into our healthcare settings.

• Computer and Information Science

Meta-Analysis Pinpoints What Vaccination Intervention Strategies Different Countries Should Adopt

A new paper by Dolores Albarracín offers the first comprehensive meta-analysis examining what types of vaccination intervention strategies have the greatest effect, and whether different intervention strategies work better in different countries.

• Communication
• Health Management
• Nursing
• Psychology