Natural-gas development appears to be having a positive effect on the local collection of state taxes in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale region, according to a report by researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. "Marcellus Shale and Local Collection of State Taxes: What the 2011 Pennsylvania Tax Data Say" is a white paper published by the Penn State Center for Economic and Community Development.

Penn State researcher receives Grand Challenges Explorations grant

May 14, 2012

A Penn State researcher has been chosen to receive a grant through the Grand Challenges Explorations program, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. David Hughes, assistant professor of entomology and biology, will pursue an innovative global health and development research project, titled "Taking Out the Bodyguards: A Novel Solution to Ag Disease." Hughes' project aims to reduce the incidenece of plant diseases - and consequently crop losses - by reducing the population of ants that act as protectors for various crop pests.

'Zombie-ant' fungus is under attack, research reveals

May 3, 2012

A parasite that fights the zombie-ant fungus has yielded some of its secrets to an international research team led by Penn State's David Hughes. The research reveals, for the first time, how an entire ant colony is able to survive infestations by the zombie-ant fungus, which invades an ant's brain and causes it to march to its death at a mass grave near the ant colony, where the fungus spores erupt out of the ant's head. "In a case where biology is stranger than fiction, the parasite of the zombie-ant fungus is itself a fungus -- a hyperparasitic fungus that specializes in attacking the parasite that turns the ants into zombies," Hughes said.

More…