Latest Headlines
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
An assistant professor at Penn State has created a new statistical model that may enable fingerprint evidence to withstand greater scrutiny in court. Currently, some fingerprints that could be key pieces of evidence in court are not being considered because of shortcomings in the way this evidence is reported. Cedric Neumann, assistant professor of forensic science and statistics at Penn State, has devised a statistical model to enable the weight of fingerprint evidence to be expressed in quantitative terms, paving the way for its full inclusion in the criminal-identification process. (more)
Thursday, February 09, 2012
"What can we do about the problem (of climate change)? Of course there are things that we can do, personally, in our lives to decrease our own carbon footprints, and we should all do those things as a matter of course. But that's probably not going to be enough. If we are going to avert levels of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere that we think are going to have dangerous impacts on us, our environment and our ecosystems, we're going to have to take far more dramatic actions. We're going to have to stabilize emissions and bring them down well below current levels by the middle of this century. That's not going to be easy to do; there's no magic bullet."
-- Michael Mann, professor of meteorology and geosciences at Penn State and author of the forthcoming book, "The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines." Mann spoke Thursday, Feb. 9, on Penn State's University Park campus as part of the University's Forum Speaker Series. (more)
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Over-reliance on glyphosate-type herbicides for weed control on U.S. farms has created a dramatic increase in the number of genetically-resistant weeds, according to a team of agricultural researchers, who say the solution lies in an integrated weed management program. "I'm deeply concerned when I see figures that herbicide use could double in the next decade," said David Mortensen, professor of weed ecology, Penn State. Since the mid-1990s, agricultural seed companies developed and marketed seeds that were genetically modified to resist herbicides such as Roundup -- glyphosate -- as a more flexible way to manage weeds, Mortensen said. About 95 percent of the current soybean crop is modified by inserting herbicide-resistant genes into the plants.
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Thursday, February 09, 2012
Farmers markets at medical centers may contribute to greater wellness in surrounding communities while adding public health value to a market's mission, say Penn State College of Medicine researchers who have developed and evaluated a market created at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. "Farmers markets are serving public health by increasing fruit and vegetable consumption, revitalizing neighborhoods, strengthening local economies and empowering community members to learn more about the items they buy," said Daniel George, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Humanities. "Markets are increasingly viewed as one part of the solution to national chronic health problems."
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Thursday, February 09, 2012
The Penn State student chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB-PSU) recently returned from its second trip to Sierra Leone, Africa, where they continued their ongoing projects in the village of Baoma, located nearby to the coastal city of Freetown. Five students, faculty adviser John Lamancusa and two professional mentors made this second trip to Africa over winter break. The group is working on two projects for the people of Baoma: a latrine for the children at the Covenant Preparatory School and a project to improve the quality of the village's water supply. The technical mentor for the latrine project is Rich Kercher, a project manager at Gannett Fleming, and the technical mentor for the water project is Mark Ralston of Converse Consultants. (more)
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Jacqueline Bates was happy as a Penn State economics major, but she couldn't help feeling like there was something missing in her academic life -- she wanted to find a way of applying her major in a more meaningful way. During a meeting with her Division of Undergraduate Studies advisor, she discovered the Community, Environment and Development major. "I thought it was the perfect combination of my interests in economics, society and the environment," she said. As a part of her new major in the College of Agricultural Sciences, the State College, Pa., resident elected to take an Ag2Africa course. The class required her to visit Africa, so she spent a week and a half last May studying bean crops in Mozambique. (more)
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
For the eighth consecutive year, students from the College of Communications will give those who cannot attend the annual Penn State Dance Marathon an opportunity to experience the 46-hour event with a live webcast.
Nearly 40 students have already begun preparation for a webcast of the two-day dance marathon, known as THON. The webcast will include live coverage as well as 10 three-minute "behind the scenes" features that will air during times of low-activity. These features will explore topics such as THON's history, involvement at Commonwealth Campuses and profiles of different fundraising organizations.
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Wednesday, February 08, 2012
The smash-hit musical "American Idiot," based on Green Day's Grammy-winning multiplatinum album, tells the story of three lifelong friends forced to choose between their dreams and the safety of suburbia. The touring Broadway musical will make its Penn State debut with two performances at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 28 and 29, in Eisenhower Auditorium on the University Park campus. (more)
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
People who are more physically active report greater levels of excitement and enthusiasm than people who are less physically active, according to Penn State researchers. People also are more likely to report feelings of excitement and enthusiasm on days when they are more physically active than usual. "You don't have to be the fittest person who is exercising every day to receive the feel-good benefits of exercise," said David Conroy, professor of kinesiology. "It's a matter of taking it one day at a time, of trying to get your activity in, and then there's this feel-good reward afterwards." (more)
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
A challenging state budget outlook caused by a continued soft economic recovery and lagging revenue collections emerged from Harrisburg today (Feb. 7) as Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett presented a new state spending plan for the 2012-13 fiscal year that includes a second year of broad cuts proposed for public higher education. The governor proposed a 30 percent across the board cut in general support for the three major state-related universities -- Penn State, Temple and Pitt. Specifically for Penn State the proposed 30 percent cut of $64 million drops Penn State's general support line from $214 million to $150 million. Funding for the Pennsylvania College of Technology remains flat at $13.5 million for a total proposed appropriation of $163.5 million. (more)
