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The findings challenge previous beliefs that scientists can make assumptions about bees’ nutritional needs based on what they choose to consume, according to the researchers. Credit: Neringa Normantaite/Unsplash. All Rights Reserved.

Jul 02, 2025

What a bumble bee chooses to eat may not match ideal diet

A new study led by researchers at Penn State suggests that what bumble bees choose to eat may not line up with their ideal nutritional needs.

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Queen bees emit a pheromone that attracts worker bees — the queen's daughters — to her side. Credit: Sean Bresnahan. All Rights Reserved.

Jun 20, 2025

How a genetic tug-of-war decides the fate of a honey bee

Despite having identical genetic instructions, female honey bee larvae can develop into either long-lived reproductive queens or short-lived sterile workers who help rear their sisters rather than laying their own eggs. Now, an interdisciplinary team led by researchers at Penn State has uncovered the molecular mechanisms that control how the conflict between genes inherited from the father and the mother determine the larva’s fate.

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The activation of Protein Kinase A (PKA) is a critical part in how the body responds to stress and starvation. Using a variety of imaging and biochemical techniques, a team of researchers from Penn State has revealed how the metabolic cycle that activates PKA resets itself between stressful events. Credit: Varun Venkatakrishnan/Anand Lab / Penn State. Creative Commons

May 29, 2025

Resetting the fight-or-flight response

New study reveals mechanism responsible for resetting key molecular cycle involved in response to stress and starvation.

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A research team at Penn State has developed generative models much like ChatGPT to create accurate birdsongs, which could improve understanding of the structure of birdsong and its underlying neurobiology and lend insight in the neural mechanisms of human language. Credit: Zachery Jin. All Rights Reserved.

Feb 14, 2025

ChatGPT for birdsong may shed light on how language is wired in the human brain

Just like ChatGPT and other generative language models train on human texts to create grammatically correct sentences, a new modeling method by researchers at Penn State trains on recordings of birds to create accurate birdsongs.

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In his research, Xiaogang Hu, Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Neurorehabilitation and an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Penn State, focuses on creating wearable assistive robotic systems for people with limited use of their limbs, especially their hands, with the goal of the user intuitively controlling the systems and devices on which they rely. Credit: Kate Myers/Penn State. All Rights Reserved.

Dec 17, 2024

Person-centered, bio-inspired research leads to improved control of prosthetics

Penn State researcher focuses on creating wearable assistive robotic systems for people with limited use of their limbs, especially their hands, with the goal of the user intuitively controlling the systems and devices on which they rely.

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Through studies on rats, a team of researchers at Penn State has pinpointed the exact moment of loss of consciousness due to anesthesia, mapping what happens in different brain regions during that moment. Credit: Provided by Nanyin Zhang . All Rights Reserved.

Dec 11, 2024

Brain mechanisms underpinning loss of consciousness identified

Rapid activity in three brain regions appears to trigger loss of consciousness, researchers at Penn State find.

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Aug 13, 2024

Rewriting the evolutionary history of critical components of the nervous system

A new study has rewritten the conventionally understood evolutionary history of certain proteins critical for electrical signaling in the nervous system. The study, led by Penn State researchers, shows that the well-studied family of proteins — potassium ion channels in the Shaker family — were present in microscopic single cell organisms well before the common ancestor of all animals.

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Aug 18, 2023

Uncovering the role of somatostatin signaling in the brain

New research in mice demonstrates how the signaling molecule somatostatin acts to dampen neural circuits in the prefrontal cortex and stimulate exploratory behavior.

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