Latest News

November 8, 2024

Penn State's Sustainable Labs Program, now in its third year, is enhancing sustainability in research labs across the University. The program has expanded to multiple campuses with more than 70 labs and 600 researchers as part of current or past cohorts. 

November 5, 2024

The effectiveness of national voluntary programs asking companies to pledge to lower their pollution and greenhouse gas emissions depends on pressure from the public, according to a new study led by a Penn State researcher.

November 1, 2024

The latest episode of "Growing Impact" explores how a research team is using computer modeling and animations to visualize future flood and levee failure scenarios.

October 29, 2024

Microplastics have been steadily increasing in freshwater environments for decades and are directly tied to rising global plastic production since the 1950s, according to a new study by an interdisciplinary team of Penn State researchers.

October 25, 2024

One of the most traditionally time-consuming, labor-intensive processes of apple production is blossom thinning, which involves manually pruning flowers so that remaining blooms can reclaim the plant’s resources to grow better fruit. More recently, the process has shifted to broad chemical spraying, which can have harmful environmental impacts. To assist producers and mitigate environmental harm, the USDA has awarded a three-year, $601,125 grant to a team of Penn State researchers for the development of a robotic precision spraying system.

October 23, 2024

Is the floating freshwater fern commonly called Carolina azolla the potential answer to global food insecurity or a possible threat to humanity? On the heels of a study published earlier this year by researchers at Penn State on the plant’s nutrition and digestibility, the team learned of concerns about the plant’s potential toxin content. The researchers joined an international effort to test Azolla and found that it does not contain cyanotoxins, potent toxins produced by a type of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, associated with the plant.

October 22, 2024

New findings from long-term research underscore the challenges managers face when trying to conserve Penn’s Woods.

October 21, 2024

"Synergies in Art and Science," an art exhibition showcasing collaborations at the intersection of microbial science and artistic innovation, will be on display at the Penn State College of Arts and Architecture's Borland Project Space, located in 125 Borland Building, from Oct. 28 to Nov 15. The exhibition, curated by adjunct researcher Cynthia White, expands on some of the work previously shown in spring 2024 in conjunction with the One Health Microbiome Center Biannual Symposium.

October 18, 2024

Twenty-two new species of gall wasps have been identified and named for the first time, thanks to new research led by a Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences graduate student.

October 18, 2024

Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences has been selected to host a prestigious World Food Forum Youth Food Lab, a key initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to address global food security and climate change.

October 18, 2024

Flathead catfish — native to the Mississippi River basin — were first detected in the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania in 2002, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. In the two decades since then, the invasive species has spread throughout the river basin. The impact of the large predator on the waterway’s food webs and ecology was unknown, but now a team including researchers from Penn State is beginning to understand what Susquehanna flatheads are eating and how their presence is affecting native aquatic species in the river.

October 17, 2024

The Penn State Climate Consortium has awarded funding to four research projects that look to put promising climate solutions into action through interdisciplinary partnerships. 

October 15, 2024

Three projects from researchers in the Penn State Stuckeman School that focus on the use of mycelium, the root of fungus, as sustainable architectural components are featured in the “Fungi Futures: Exploring Mycelium in Product Design and Crafts” exhibition in the gallery of the (con)Temporary CRAFTS STUDIO in Bremen, Germany.

October 11, 2024

The Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State, in partnership with the Department of Defense, has launched a new parent-education module designed to help parents and caregivers navigate the journey with their children who are neurodivergent or who have autism spectrum disorder.

October 10, 2024

The J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School at Penn State named 110 graduate students as recipients of the 2024-25 University Graduate Fellowships and Distinguished Graduate Fellowships. The students were honored on Oct. 3 at a reception held at the Bryce Jordan Center.

October 10, 2024

By combining the genetic sequencing and analysis of the microbes in a milk sample with artificial intelligence (AI), researchers were able to detect anomalies in milk production, such as contamination or unauthorized additives. The new approach could help improve dairy safety, according to the study authors from Penn State, Cornell University and IBM Research.

October 9, 2024

Graduate students took away positive experiences participating in Penn State’s inaugural Three Minute Thesis competition this past spring.

October 9, 2024

Building on their ongoing partnership, Penn State Sustainability (SustainPSU) and the Pennsylvania GreenGov Council will renew their monthly webinar series to educate government officials, students and faculty about sustainability issues that affect Pennsylvania and the progress we as a state are making to address the Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

October 9, 2024

Joshua Reed, doctoral candidate in energy, environmental and food economics at Penn State, will give the talk “Rational Addiction to Ultra-Processed Food in the Context of Extreme Consumer Heterogeneity” at noon on Wednesday, Oct. 16, in 157 Hosler Building on the University Park campus. The event is free and open to the public.

October 7, 2024

Honey bees are not native to the U.S., leading to concerns that managed honey bee populations might negatively impact wild bees. However, a Penn State research team found that of the 33 genera of native bees studied, only a small number seemed to be negatively affected by the presence of honey bees.

October 3, 2024

A team of researchers, led by two Penn State agricultural economists, will receive $650,000 over three years to study why, how and where U.S. businesses are developing and adopting renewable energy sources — a process known as decarbonization — and how these decisions could affect rural communities.

October 1, 2024

A compound found in African wormwood — a plant used medicinally for thousands of years to treat many types of illness — could be effective against tuberculosis, according to a new study by researchers at Penn State.

October 1, 2024

An approach called metagenomics — a type of DNA sequencing — may help scientists learn more about the microbes that affect plants, according to Penn State researchers.

September 30, 2024

The One Health Microbiome Center announced the launch of a new video series highlighting the use of the center's state-of-the-art resources, research capabilities and collaborative efforts in microbiome sciences.

September 27, 2024

This fall, the Millennium Café will feature researchers who were awarded Climate Solutions Accelerator workshops by the Penn State Climate Consortium. The talks will occur at 10 a.m. on Oct. 1, Oct. 22 and Dec. 3 on the third floor of the Millennium Science Complex.

September 25, 2024

Natural disasters due to climate change have impacted over 2 billion people since the year 2000, with those in Arctic and Pacific communities disproportionally affected. An international team, including researchers from Penn State, has been awarded $1 million to compare climate risks and resilience in Arctic and Pacific Indigenous communities.

September 25, 2024

To better guide farmers managing nitrogen in the soil, a team of Penn State agricultural scientists conducted a new study on dairy manure management strategies for ecosystem services in no-till crop systems. In findings recently published in Agronomy Journal, they report a new strategy that achieves multiple conservation goals while maintaining corn yield: injecting manure into a growing cover crop in early spring.