News

Expectant moms turn to 'Dr. Google' for pregnancy advice

Pregnant women are using the Internet to seek answers to their medical questions more often than they would like, say Penn State researchers including Jennifer Kraschnewski.

Fine-scale climate model projections predict malaria at local levels

Fine-scale climate model projections suggest the possibility that population centers in cool, highland regions of East Africa could be more vulnerable to malaria than previously thought, while population centers in hot, lowland areas could be less vulnerable, according to a team of researchers that includes Huck Institutes faculty researcher Matthew Thomas.

NSF grant will help create beneficial biofilms on water purification membranes

A team of chemical engineers at Penn State that includes Huck Institutes faculty researcher Thomas Wood has received a three-year, $400,000 National Science Foundation grant to help prevent biofouling of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes.

Malaria parasite manipulates host's scent

Malaria parasites alter the chemical odor signal of their hosts to attract mosquitos and better spread their offspring, according to researchers including Mark Mescher, Consuelo De Moraes, and Andrew Read, who believe this scent change could be used as a diagnostic tool.

Live webcams: scientists studying corals damaged by oil in the Gulf of Mexico

How are the corals doing now, four years after they were damaged by the Deep Water Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? You can find out by watching live webcams and by sending messages to the scientists on a research ship that will be in the Gulf until July 4. The research expedition is led by Chief Scientist Chuck Fisher, a Penn State University professor of biology.

Habitat loss, not poison, better explains grassland bird decline

Contrary to recent well-publicized research, habitat loss, not insecticide use, continues to be the best explanation for the declines in grassland bird populations in the U.S. since the 1980s, according to a new study by ecologists including Huck Institutes faculty affiliate Duane Diefenbach.

World's cocoa crop could get a big boost from a simple, non-toxic spray

Huck scientists find Theobroma cacao trees' natural disease defense is bolstered by glycerol foliar treatment

Announcing Huck Dissertation Research Award 2014 winners

Graduate student awardees selected

Announcing MCIBS a new life sciences graduate program

The new Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Biosciences (MCIBS) graduate program merger aims to increase integration and flexibility for life sciences students.

Can fish feel pain?

On BBC's Newsnight, Victoria Braithwaite discusses science, business, and ethics in commercial fish harvesting.