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February 14, 2024

Stable profits, land preservation matter to farmers debating solar leases
Four projects led by researchers in the Eberly College of Science have been selected to receive Lab Bench to Commercialization grants in 2024. Credit: Dani Zemba / Penn State. All Rights Reserved.

February 14, 2024

Lab Bench to Commercialization 2024 grant recipients announced
Carsten Krebs, distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State. Credit: Michelle Bixby / Penn State. Creative Commons

February 14, 2024

Penn State biochemist Carsten Krebs named distinguished professor
Joseph Reese, distinguished professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State. Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

February 14, 2024

Penn State molecular biologist Joseph Reese named distinguished professor
Nikki Crowley, the Huck Early Career Chair in Neurobiology and Neural Engineering, the associate director for postdoctoral training and leadership in the Center for Neural Engineering, and an assistant professor of biology, of biomedical engineering and of pharmacology, speaking at the 30th anniversary Ashtekar Frontiers of Science lecture series. The series continues for through March 2. Credit: Katie Yan / Penn State. Creative Commons

February 13, 2024

Heard on campus: Nikki Crowley on 30 years of neuroscience advances

February 13, 2024

Chocolate made with oat flour just as delicious — with less sugar

February 13, 2024

Alberta proposes policy to prohibit access to puberty blockers for minors. What to know about the medication, its uses and where politicians stand

February 12, 2024

Is sourdough bread good for you? Dietitians explain if it's more nutritious than other types

February 10, 2024

Too warm: Plants, insects, people likely to pay the price for warm winters
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, cross-cultural study finds
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
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

Proteins in milk, not just fat, may help reduce oral burn from spicy food

February 02, 2024

Rare ancient tree discovery has scientists ‘gobsmacked’