News

Respiration key to increase oxygen in the brain

Contrary to accepted knowledge, blood can bring more oxygen to mice brains when they exercise because the increased respiration packs more oxygen into the hemoglobin, according to an international team of researchers who believe that this holds true for all mammals.

Bushmeat may breed deadly bacteria

People who eat wildebeests, warthogs and other wild African animals may be at risk for contracting potentially life-threatening diseases, according to an international team of researchers. The team analyzed samples of bushmeat — meat derived from wildlife — in the Western Serengeti in Tanzania and identified several groups of bacteria.

Fourteen Penn State faculty recognized with lifetime honor

Fourteen Penn State faculty members in areas ranging from physics and engineering to entomology and plant science have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society. A lifetime honor bestowed upon members by their peers, a total of 443 individuals are being recognized for their extraordinary achievements in advancing science.

Grant will support expanded use of artificial intelligence for crop health

A research team developing artificial-intelligence-based solutions for diagnosing and managing threats to crop health has received a grant to expand the technology to assist more smallholder farmers around the world.

Forest farms could create market for ginseng, other herbs

A transition from wild collection of herbs to forest farming needs to occur in Appalachia to make the opaque, unstable and unjust supply chain for forest medicinal plants such as ginseng sustainable, according to a team of researchers who have studied the market for more than a decade.

Industrial Biotechnology Scholarships Announced

The Center of Excellence in Industrial Biotechnology is excited to announce two new CSL Behring Scholarships for Penn State undergraduate students interested in the broad area of industrial biotechnology, ranging from biopharmaceutical manufacturing and food biotechnology, to the production of bio-based chemicals.

College students may get health benefits from less than one extra hour of sleep

College life can be rigorous and exhausting, but new research suggests that just one extra hour of sleep a night is not only possible, but can also have significant health benefits for college students.

Eleven Eberly faculty featured as highly cited researchers in 2019 by Clarivate

Eleven researchers from the Eberly College of Science have been recognized as "highly cited" by the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science Group. The 2019 Highly Cited Researchers list features researchers who have demonstrated considerable influence through publication of multiple works that have been cited by a significant number of their peers during the last decade.

Tracking inheritance of human mitochondrial DNA

New insight into how genetic information stored in human mitochondria is passed from one generation to the next could have important implications for genetic counseling of people planning pregnancies, according to a study by researchers at Penn State and the University of California, Berkeley.

Directional control of self-propelled protocells: The future of drug delivery?

Synthetic protocells can be made to move toward and away from chemical signals, an important step for the development of new drug-delivery systems that could target specific locations in the body. By coating the surface of the protocells with enzymes — proteins that catalyze chemical reactions — a team of researchers at Penn State was able to control the direction of the protocell’s movement in a chemical gradient in a microfluidic device.