News

Matt Langland, who recently graduated from Penn State with a bachelor’s degree in environmental resource management, examines salt-encrusted soils in New Mexico's migratory bird habitats. Credit: Contributed photo. All Rights Reserved.

College of Ag Sciences grant program supports student learning, experiences

A grant program in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences aims to enhance student learning by empowering faculty and students to design immersive, hands-on projects that bridge classroom knowledge with real-world partnerships.

Credit: Keith Hickey / Penn State. Creative Commons

Optical tweezers help elevate single-molecule research at Penn State

The instrument, supported by a new NIH infrastructure grant, uses laser light to ‘tweeze’ tiny objects like DNA molecules and proteins.

Credit: Sharon Siegfried / Penn State. Creative Commons

Grant to help establish AI, health research lab at Harrisburg

A pair of Penn State Harrisburg faculty have been awarded funding to establish a research lab focused on using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to improve health care access and outcomes.

What if Pennsylvania apples disappeared?

Penn State’s fruit tree task force helps farmers protect both their harvest and their future. From hands-on support to innovative blossom-thinning techniques, the work of Penn State researchers and educators is vital for the success of agriculture across the commonwealth.  

Graduate student Chad Smies and postdoctoral scholar Jiyeon “Joan” Baek manipulate a solution that will be used to visualize protein expression in the mouse brain. Credit: Michelle Bixby / Penn State. Creative Commons

The breadth of the brain

Researchers in the Penn State Neuroscience Institute study the brain’s many aspects in a variety of ways, with implications from mental health to aging and disease.

A flexible, skin-like sensor can monitor movement and electrical signals inside the body, with the potential to aid healing and bladder control. Credit: Huanyu “Larry” Cheng and Jennifer M. McCann. All Rights Reserved.

Skin-like sensor monitors internal, external body movement, electrical signals

A new skin-like sensor developed by an international team led by researchers at Penn State could help doctors monitor vital signs more accurately, track healing after surgery and even help patients with bladder control issues.

Researchers reconstructed a high-resolution 3D image of a tick-borne Powassan virus. Credit: Courtesy of the Hafenstein lab at the University of Minnesota. All Rights Reserved.

Structure of tick-borne virus revealed at atomic resolution for the first time

Rates of the Powassan virus infections — which can cause seizures and paralysis — are increasing across commonwealth, nation.

Study first author Maureen Kahiu, who earned her master’s degree from Penn State with this research project, maneuvers a light box on a research fairway, used to take closeup photos of turfgrass damage resulting from fungicides that golf course managers use to suppress diseases such as dollar spot. Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

Fungicides intended to suppress turfgrass diseases may damage fairways

Golf course managers have much more insight into which fungicides to use to suppress turfgrass diseases, such as the common and costly dollar spot disease, without damaging the grass on their fairways, thanks to a new study by researchers at Penn State.

Postdoctoral fellow Laurel Seemiller studies the biology and long-term consequences of adolescent alcohol usage.  Credit: Michelle Bixby / Penn State. Creative Commons

Q&A: Does adolescent alcohol use impact future risk of addiction?

Postdoctoral fellow Laurel Seemiller studies the biology and long-term consequences of adolescent alcohol usage. In this Q&A, Seemiller spoke about her research and her experience at Penn State.

Jason Keagy, assistant research professor of wildlife behavioral ecology, is shown on the bank of an Icelandic lake holding a fish trap during a collection of threespined sticklebacks in a previous study.  Credit: Janette Boughman. All Rights Reserved.

‘Scialog’ grant to study how rising ocean temperatures affect fish behavior

A wildlife behavioral ecologist at Penn State is part of a multi-institution team that received funding from Scialog: Neurobiology and Changing Ecosystems, a international three-year initiative that aims to spark new science exploring neurobiological responses to rapidly changing environments.