News
Oct 06, 2020
Harvesting vegetation on riparian buffers barely reduces water-quality benefits
Allowing farmers to harvest vegetation from their riparian buffers will not significantly impede the ability of those streamside tracts to protect water quality by capturing nutrients and sediment — and it will boost farmers’ willingness to establish buffers.
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Sep 30, 2020
Coral’s resilience to warming may depend on iron
How well corals respond to climate change could depend in part on the already scarce amount of iron available in their environment, according to a new study led by Penn State researchers.
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Oct 02, 2020
Four student teams use AI for good to win 2020 Nittany AI Challenge
Nyansapo, OpenVessel, AI Guide and Cyclone are the winners of the 2020 Nittany AI Challenge. Each of the student teams created a minimum viable product (MVP) using artificial intelligence (AI) for good and were selected by a panel of judges to share a pool of $25,000 to continue to move their solutions forward.
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Sep 25, 2020
Team wins grant to develop nitrogen fertilizer decision tool for organic farmers
Penn State researchers have received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture to perfect a tool they developed to help organic corn producers decide how much nitrogen — as fertilizer or manure — to apply to their crop fields.
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Sep 23, 2020
Huck Institutes Seeks Director of Graduate Training Initiatives
The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences is searching for a Penn State faculty member interested in overseeing a number of training programs for master's and doctoral students.
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Sep 16, 2020
Liana Burghardt awarded Tansley Medal for excellence in plant science
Assistant Professor of Plant Science recognized for outstanding research contributions early in her career.
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Aug 27, 2020
Penn State black walnut trial turns 40, now ideal climate-change experiment
Visitors to Penn State’s University Park campus often arrive with a short list of attractions they want to see. Among the most popular are the Nittany Lion Shrine, the Berkey Creamery and The Arboretum at Penn State. However, few are aware of the Black Walnut Provenance Study, let alone care to visit it.
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Sep 01, 2020
New tool for identifying endangered corals could aid conservation efforts
Coral conservation efforts could get a boost from a newly developed genotyping “chip” — the first of its kind for corals. The chip allows researchers to genetically identify corals and the symbiotic algae that live within the coral’s cells, a vital step for establishing and maintaining genetic diversity in reef restoration efforts.
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Aug 21, 2020
Invasive shrubs in Northeast forests grow leaves earlier and keep them longer
The rapid pace that invasive shrubs infiltrate forests in the northeastern United States makes scientists suspect they have a consistent advantage over native shrubs, and the first region-wide study of leaf timing, conducted by Penn State researchers, supports those suspicions.
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Aug 21, 2020
Cover crop roots are key to understanding ecosystem services
To judge the overall effectiveness of cover crops and choose those offering the most ecosystem services, agricultural scientists must consider the plants’ roots as well as above-ground biomass, according to Penn State researchers who tested the characteristics of cover crop roots in three monocultures and one mixture.
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