News

Craig E. Cameron appointed the Eberly Family Chair in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Craig E. Cameron, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State, has been appointed the Holder of the Eberly Family Chair in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Engineering control theory helps create dynamic brain models

Models of the human brain, patterned on engineering control theory, may some day help researchers control such neurological diseases as epilepsy, Parkinson's, and migraines, according to Steven Schiff, who is using mathematical models of neuron networks from which more complex brain models emerge.

Decoys could blunt spread of ash-killing beetles

After 25 years, Tom Baker and other researchers may have found a way to keep the emerald ash borer in check.

Huck Institutes graduate student launches Yellowstone Wolf: Project Citizen Science

Ecology student Emily Almberg is working to harness public interest in Yellowstone's wolves with a citizen science website aimed at improving research and public outreach.

Microbes team up to boost plants' stress tolerance

While most farmers consider viruses and fungi potential threats to their crops, these microbes can help wild plants adapt to extreme conditions, according to Marilyn Roossinck.

Evolution helped turn hairless skin into a canvas for self-expression

Hairless skin first evolved in humans as a way to keep cool " and then turned into a canvas to help them look cool, according to Nina Jablonski.

Modern life may cause sun exposure, skin pigmentation mismatch

As people move more often and become more urbanized, skin color " an adaptation that took hundreds of thousands of years to develop in humans " may lose some of its evolutionary advantage, according to Nina Jablonski.

Wild plants are infected with many viruses and still thrive

Researchers have studied viruses as agents of disease in humans, domestic animals, and plants, but a study of plant viruses in the wild may point to a more cooperative, benevolent role of the microbe, according to Marilyn Roossinck.

Proteomics and Mass Spectrometry Core Facility is putting tobacco settlement funds to innovative good use

For researchers at Penn State interested in biological mass spectrometry (MS) analysis, the Facility's newest mass spectrometer " the Thermo LTQ Orbitrap Velos " has become the instrument of choice.

Computer modeling breaks new ground in study of root architecture

The United Nations estimates that one in every seven people around the world is hungry; fortunately, Jonathan Lynch and Kathleen Brown are getting to the root of this problem using Information Technology (IT).