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Nathi Magubane

Science Writer
  • nathi@upenn.edu
  • (215) 287-8317
  • A portrait of science writer Nathi Magubane
    Articles from Nathi Magubane
    Turf war: Artificial versus real grass
    View of a pile of artificial turf of a soccer field.

    Image: aire images

    Turf war: Artificial versus real grass

    In conversation with Penn Today, mechanical engineer, tennis player, and soccer fan Paulo Arratia discusses the material differences between natural grass and synthetic turf.

    3 min. read

    Why is everything gambling now?
    Hand holding a mobile phone with sports bets lined up.

    Over the last decade, there’s been an explosion in phone-based gambling platforms owing to the 2018 Supreme Court ruling that struck down a federal sports betting ban. Neuroscientist Michael L. Platt says the gambling boom has as much to do with human biology as it does business. 

    (Image: Hispanolist)

    Why is everything gambling now?

    Neuroscientist Michael Platt discusses the biological basis of gambling as it relates to the over proliferation of gambling-based platforms.

    5 min. read

    The Fed explained: What it does and why it matters
    Photo of the Federal Reserve facade

    (Image: Lance Nelson)

    The Fed explained: What it does and why it matters

    Former Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker and financial historian Peter Conti-Brown, both Wharton professors, unpack the central bank’s origins, its unusual structure, and the quiet ways it shapes the economy

    4 min. read

    Nhlanhla Mavuso: Innovating computer chips to run more efficiently
    Nhlanhla Mavuso looking at an electronic board in the Moore Building.

    Nhlanhla Mavuso of Fluid Silicon at work in the Moore Building.

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    Nhlanhla Mavuso: Innovating computer chips to run more efficiently

    Fluid Silicon, a platform from President’s Sustainability Prize winner Nhlanhla Mavuso, allows computer chips to continuously monitor their health and self-tune as their characteristics change. The technology has the potential to reduce energy usage in data centers and improve reliability in mission-critical applications.

    2 min. read

    When the Schuylkill swallowed the city
    Two people looking at the flooded highway overpass in Philadelphia after flooding from Hurricane Ida.

    Image: Jessica Kourkounis / Stringer via Getty Images

    When the Schuylkill swallowed the city

    New Penn research shows that Hurricane Ida wasn’t a once-in-a-century anomaly but a preview of how climate change, urbanization, and aging infrastructure are rewriting flood risk.

    5 min. read

    Using AI to help predict cardiac arrests
    A doctor looking at EKG heart data.

    Image: SimpleImages via Getty Images

    Using AI to help predict cardiac arrests

    A Penn Engineering and Penn Medicine team built CAMEL, an artificial intelligence model that forecasts dangerous cardiac rhythms before they strike. Their findings pave the way for a new era of real-time, predictive heart care.

    2 min. read

    Making ‘light’ work of computing  
    Futuristic digital intelligent chip data processing technology

    Image: Chayanan via Getty Images

    Making ‘light’ work of computing  

    Penn physicists led by Bo Zhen have created hybrid light-matter particles that interact strongly enough to compute, pointing toward ultrafast, low-energy optical AI hardware.

    2 min. read

    Gravity follows Newton and Einstein’s rules, even at cosmic scales
    An artist's depiction of two galaxies, side-by-side, swriling at different velocites.

    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 light-years 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

    Five things to know about private credit
    Traders at the New York Stock Exchange looking at monitors.

    Michael M. Santiago via Getty Images

    Five things to know about private credit

    As investor withdrawals and liquidity concerns rattle a $1.8 trillion market, Wharton’s Itay Goldstein explains how private credit works, why experts are uneasy, and what it could mean for your finances.

    3 min. read

    Turning peels into pavers: How Penn designers turn food scraps into biodegradable building materials
    Two students working with biodegradable food waste specimens.

    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.

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    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

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