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Pumpkin toadlets naturally contain microbes that inhibit chytrid fungus. Researchers found that droughts can decrease these microbes, leaving the frogs vulnerable to infection and death. Credit: Shannon Buttimer / Penn State. Creative Commons

February 09, 2024

Drought may drive deadly amphibian disease, researchers find

February 08, 2024

Low voice pitch increases standing among strangers
Five new research collaborations between Penn State and minority-serving institutions selected to receive seed funding via the Inter-Institutional Partnerships for Diversifying Research program

February 08, 2024

Modified soft material promises better bioelectronics, researchers say

February 08, 2024

Low voice pitch increases standing among strangers, cross-cultural study finds
Neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders, and the genes that can lead to them, vary in a population. This is illustrated in the figure on the left, with brighter red colors represent more severe symptoms, asterisks represent individuals with genetic variants that convey high risk for developing such disorders. A new study that looked at 97,000 families observed assortative mating for these traits with good correlation between the traits in the parents, as illustrated in the middle figure. The researchers showed that evaluating both parents for these traits, in addition to the high-risk genetic variants, improved their ability to predict the prevalence and, potentially, severity of the disorders in children, illustrated on the right. Credit: Girirajan Laboratory / Penn State. Creative Commons

February 07, 2024

Predicting neurodevelopmental disease in children from parent’s traits

February 07, 2024

Parental Traits May Influence Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Credit: Jamie Oberdick/Materials Research Institute . All Rights Reserved.

February 07, 2024

Series to raise awareness of characterization resources available at Penn State
Using a new set of tools, an international research collaboration including scientists from Penn State, Rockefeller University and Johns Hopkins University have reconstructed genetic blueprints for 51 species

February 05, 2024

Researchers assemble 51 animal genomes using publicly accessible workflows
The National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of General Medical Science has awarded a five-year, $1.9 million Maximizing Investigator’s Research Award to Jordan Bisanz, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, to improve understanding of how complex communities of microbes impact human health. Here, Bisanz and gradate student Daniela Betancurt-Anzola inspect microbe cultures in the lab. Credit: Michelle Bixby / Penn State. Creative Commons

February 05, 2024

$1.9M NIH grant to support research on impacts of the microbiome on human health
Researchers found that Zika virus induces cells to create connections, called tunneling nanotubes, that may enable the virus to replicate and spread from mother to fetus. Credit: Joyce Jose/Penn State. All Rights Reserved.

February 05, 2024

How does Zika virus replicate and transmit from mother to fetus?

February 05, 2024

Edge habitats along roads and power lines may be key to conserving rare plants

February 05, 2024

Penn State finding could improve food safety
Newly identified protein, called GRP20, involved in processing genes before they are used to code for proteins, is required for proper flower development in the model plant species Arabidopsis. Top row shows wild-type flowers, which have four petals (P) and six stamens (S). Bottom row shows flowers from plants lacking GRP20 with variable numbers of petals and stamens, indicating that GRP20 is required for proper flower development. Credit: Jun Wang / Penn State. Creative Commons

February 02, 2024

Newly identified protein helps flowers develop all the right parts

February 02, 2024

Rare ancient tree discovery has scientists ‘gobsmacked’

February 02, 2024

Proteins in milk, not just fat, may help reduce oral burn from spicy food
Joanna “Jo” Setchell, professor of anthropology at Durham University in England, will deliver Penn State's 2024 Darwin Day lecture at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 15 in the HUB-Robeson Center’s Freeman Auditorium. A light reception will immediately follow the lecture. Credit: Courtesy of Joanna Setchell. All Rights Reserved.

February 01, 2024

Noted anthropologist Joanna Setchell to deliver 2024 Darwin Day Lecture
Penn State’s NSF I-Corps Short Course is accepting applications for its virtual March cohort. The no-cost program helps researchers test a startup idea through customer interviews and educational programming on the lean startup methodology. Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

February 01, 2024

Start up your research: Apply now for March I-Corps Short Course

February 01, 2024

The Monster Measles Outbreak in Europe Is a Warning
Wild lupine, a plant of conservation concern across most of its natural range in eastern North America, grows along a Pennsylvania roadside. Credit: Isabella Petitta. All Rights Reserved.

January 31, 2024

Edge habitats along roads and power lines may be key to conserving rare plants
A new study led by researchers at Penn State suggests the classic interpretation that fat is responsible for milk's ability to cut the burn caused by the chili extract capsaicin is an oversimplification. They found that protein content matters, too. Credit: Bryon Lippincott/Flickr. All Rights Reserved.

January 31, 2024

Proteins in milk — not just fat — may help reduce oral burn from spicy food
Xiaogang Hu, right, the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Neurorehabilitation and associate professor of mechanical engineering, will lead a $4 million grant from the U. S. National Science Foundation to make robotic protheses more useful for people living with amputations. Long Meng, left, a postdoctoral scholar in Hu's lab, will participate in the research. Credit: Kate Myers/Penn State. All Rights Reserved.

January 30, 2024

$4M grant funds project to make robotic prostheses more like biological limbs
Christina Grozinger, Publius Vergilius Maro Professor of Entomology and director of the Penn State Center for Pollinator Research Center, will serve on a new U.S. Department of Agriculture subcommittee on pollinators. Credit: Contributed photo. All Rights Reserved.

January 29, 2024

Penn State entomologists appointed to national committee on pollinator research
Institute of Energy and the Environment (IEE) Director Bruce Logan, center, with four of the six IEE Research Award winners, from left: Adri van Duin, Donghai Wang, Estelle Couradeau and Laura Leites. Siela Maximova and Allyson Muth were unable to attend the event. Credit: Brenna Buck. All Rights Reserved.

January 29, 2024

Six researchers recognized with Institute of Energy and the Environment Awards
A tray of Agaricus bisporus, the common white button mushroom, growing in the Mushroom Research Center at Penn State. Pennsylvania grows almost two-thirds of all Agaricus produced in the United States. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn State. Creative Commons

January 29, 2024

Fungi into the future