News

IMAGE: DAVID CAPPAERT, BUGWOOD.ORG

Study: Bumble bees lacking high-quality habitat have higher pathogen loads

Findings could inform management practices aimed at conserving wild bee populations

Researchers will evaluate the results of two self-administered, scratch-and-sniff smell tests for COVID-19. The first involves asking users to identify odors such as smoke, strawberry, chocolate and onions, while the second is designed to reveal a participant’s sensitivity to different concentrations of the same odor

Researchers investigate an at-home 'scratch-and-sniff' test for COVID-19

A self-administered "scratch-and-sniff" test for COVID-19 may be around the corner, according to researchers at Penn State, the University of Florida, and Arizona State University.

Genomics Core Unveils New Capabilities

A new machine and set of reagents recently acquired by the Genomics Core Facility will enable researchers to go beyond bulk gene expression.

Some neurons target tiny cerebral blood vessel dilation

Neurons control blood flow in tiny vessels in the brain, but researchers know little about this relationship. Now a team of Penn State engineers has found a connection between nitric oxide expressing neurons and changes in arterial diameters in mice, which may shed light on brain function and aging.

The Collaborative Informatics and Neuroimaging Suite Toolkit for Anonymous Computation (COINSTAC) platform is a peer to peer system that operates to make data available for analysis, while protecting anonymity and privacy. COINSTAC makes possible virtual sharing and analyses with identified collaborators in the absence of moving any data. Collaboration and data sharing are done through forming temporary virtual clusters of studies performing automatically generated local computation on their respective data and aggregating statistics. (IMAGE: Courtesy of Frank Hillary)

Psychology professor receives grant to 'harmonize' brain injury data

A provisional grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health, will help Penn State professor of psychology, Frank Hillary, and 37 co-investigators from all over the world promote brain injury data sharing worldwide in the hopes of advancing science and improving patient outcomes.

New research reveals that, contrary to current perceptions and forest management strategies, wildfires may be beneficial to populations of spotted owls, including those of the subspecies of California spotted owls pictured here. (IMAGE: John S. Senser, U.S. Forest Service)

Could spotted owls benefit from forest fires?

It may seem counterintuitive, but forest fires are actually beneficial to spotted owls, according to Penn State biologist Derek Lee.

Dr. Jennifer Kraschnewski, professor of medicine, public health sciences and pediatrics at Penn State College of Medicine, has received $2.69 million through the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to establish projects aimed at addressing COVID-19 health disparities among nursing home residents and racial and ethnic minorities. (IMAGE: Penn State College of Medicine)

College of Medicine receives $2.7 million to address COVID-19 health disparities

Dr. Jennifer Kraschnewski, professor at Penn State College of Medicine, received the funding to establish projects aimed at addressing COVID-19 health disparities among nursing home residents and racial and ethnic minorities.

Student Poster Session Highlights Biorenewable Research on Campus

A student poster session highlighted a recent workshop hosted by the Center for Biorenewables

Making Connections: Psychologist explores the neuroscience of creativity

Is there anything more mysterious — or human — than the creative impulse? Whatever the field of endeavor: music, art, science, business… What accounts for the inspired burst of innovation? The spark that flits to flame and lights the way to something entirely new?

'Anti-antibiotic' allows for use of antibiotics without driving resistance

An inexpensive, FDA-approved drug — cholestyramine — taken in conjunction with an antibiotic prevents the antibiotic from driving antimicrobial resistance, according to new research by scientists at Penn State and the University of Michigan. The team’s findings appear today (Dec. 1) in the journal eLife.