News

Sep 24, 2021

Penn State experts to answer COVID-19 questions live Sept. 30 on WPSU

Penn State experts will answer community members’ questions about COVID-19 live during the fall premiere of WPSU’s “Conversation’s Live” on Thursday, Sept. 30.

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Sep 23, 2021

'Zombie Ant' sculpture brings interactive art to Penn State Behrend

Zombies! Ants! Parasitic fungus! The new augmented reality project at Penn State Behrend’s School of Science complex could serve as the set for a drive-in horror movie.

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Sep 14, 2021

Eberly’s 2022 Lab Bench to Commercialization grant recipients announced

The Eberly College of Science has chosen faculty members Joyce Jose and Sally Mackenzie to receive its 2022 Lab Bench to Commercialization grants. This competitive program provides funding for researchers in the college, enabling them to enhance the commercial potential of ongoing Penn State research and prepare them to translate their Penn State-owned intellectual property to the marketplace.

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Aug 25, 2021

Will COVID-19 become a mostly childhood disease?

Within the next few years, as the SARS-CoV-2 virus becomes endemic in the global population, COVID-19 may behave like other common-cold coronaviruses, affecting mostly young children who have not yet been vaccinated or exposed to the virus, according to new modeling results. Because COVID-19 severity is generally lower among children, the overall burden from this disease is expected to decline.

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Aug 11, 2021

Global food security professor named to 'Most Creative People in Business' list

Entomologist David Hughes has been named to Fast Company's 2021 list for his innovative, impactful PlantVillage project.

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Jul 23, 2021

Global warming may limit spread of dengue fever, new research finds

Infection with dengue virus makes mosquitoes more sensitive to warmer temperatures, according to new research led by Penn State researchers. The team also found that infection with the bacterium Wolbachia, which has recently been used to control viral infections in mosquitoes, also increases the thermal sensitivity of the insects.

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Jul 16, 2021

Australian megafires burn critical habitat of 'Vulnerable' virus-harboring bats

The severe megafires that occurred in eastern Australia during 2019-20 were much larger and more concentrated across the landscape than in previous years, according to a study by researchers at Penn State and the University of New South Wales. The unprecedented fires included the burning of 34% of the foraging habitat of grey-headed flying foxes, which are known to transmit deadly Lyssa and Hendra viruses.

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Jul 09, 2021

Neglecting delays in outbreak response grossly underestimates epidemic severity

For livestock diseases, like foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and swine flu, rapid culling and carcass disposal are well-established strategies for halting an outbreak and limiting its impact. However, even when infection is quickly detected delays in these interventions may permit pathogen transmission from infected farms.

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Jul 08, 2021

Fighting COVID with COVID

What if the COVID-19 virus could be used against itself? Researchers at Penn State have designed a proof-of-concept therapeutic that may be able to do just that. The team designed a synthetic defective SARS-CoV-2 virus that is innocuous but interferes with the real virus’ growth, potentially causing the extinction of both the disease-causing virus and the synthetic virus.

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Jun 30, 2021

International team develops predictive tool to help mitigate COVID-19 in Africa

The virus that gives rise to COVID-19 is the third coronavirus to threaten humanity in the past two decades. It also happens to move more efficiently from person to person than either SARS or MERS did. An international collaboration led by Penn State developed a surveillance modeling tool that provides a weekly projection of expected COVID-19 cases in all African countries, based on publicly available information.

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