Monday, November 28, 2011
Climate change and humans were responsible for extinction of the woolly mammoth and other large ice-age mammals, according to an international group of scientists. (more)
Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Both climate change and humans were responsible for the extinction of some large, cold-adapted, plant-eating mammals, according to research that is the first of its kind to use genetic, archeological, and climatic data together to infer the population history of large-bodied Ice-Age mammals. The research will be published in the journal Nature.
The study's findings are expected to shed light on the possible fates of living species of mammals as our planet continues its current warming cycle. Beth Shapiro, the Shaffer Associate Professor of Biology at Penn State University, is a member of the research team. High-resolution images are online at
http://www.science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2011-news/Shapiro10-2011 (more)
Wednesday, November 02, 2011
A piece of jawbone excavated from a prehistoric cave in England is the earliest evidence for modern humans in Europe, according to an international team of scientists. The bone first was believed to be about 35,000 years old, but the new research study shows it to be significantly older -- between 41,000 and 44,000 years old, according to the findings that will be published in the journal Nature. The new dating of the bone is expected to help scientists pin down how quickly the modern humans spread across Europe during the last Ice Age. It also helps confirm the much-debated theory that early humans coexisted with Neanderthals. (more)
Thursday, July 07, 2011
An international team of scientists has discovered that the female ancestor of all living polar bears was a brown bear that lived in the vicinity of present-day Britain and Ireland just prior to the peak of the last ice age, 20,000 to 50,000 years ago. The research, which is led by Penn State's Beth Shapiro and Daniel Bradley of Trinity College Dublin, is expected to help guide future conservation efforts for polar bears, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Polar and brown bears are vastly different species in terms of body size, skin and coat color, fur type, tooth structure, and many other physical features. Behaviorally, they are also quite distinct: Polar bears are expert swimmers that have adapted to a highly specialized, arctic lifestyle, while brown bears -- a species that includes Grizzlies and Kodiaks -- are climbers that prefer the mountain forests, wilderness regions, and river valleys of Europe, Asia, and North America. "Despite these differences, we know that the two species have interbred opportunistically and probably on many occasions during the last 100,000 years," Shapiro said. (more)
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The first signs of spring mark the return to downtown State College of Research Unplugged, a non-traditional lecture series where experts from varying fields lead conversations with community members. All six Research Unplugged talks will be held Wednesdays from noon to 1 p.m., at the Penn State Downtown Theatre on Allen Street. On March 23, join sociology professor Sam Richards and colleague Danna Jayne Seballos of the "World in Conversation Project" to find out "Why Race Still Matters: Creating Conversations in 21st Century Classrooms." (more)
Friday, October 15, 2010
Beth Shapiro, the Shaffer Career Development Assistant Professor of Biology at Penn State University, has won a David and Lucile Packard Foundation fellowship to explore the origins and evolution of viruses. (more)
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Molecular biologist Beth Shapiro, the Shaffer career development assistant professor of biology at Penn State, has been selected as an Emerging Explorer by the National Geographic Society. She is among 14 visionary, young trailblazers from around the world named to the 2010 class of National Geographic Emerging Explorers. The new Emerging Explorers will be featured in this June's issue of National Geographic magazine. (more)
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Scientists have discovered that the drastic decline in Arctic musk ox populations that began roughly 12,000 years ago was due to a warming climate rather than to human hunting. The research is the first study to use ancient musk ox DNA collected from across the animal's former geographic range to test for human impacts on musk ox populations. The research will be published in the early on-line edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences sometime during the week ending Friday, March 12. (more)
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Beth Shapiro, the Shaffer Career Development assistant professor of biology at Penn State, recently was named a Searle Scholar. The Searle Scholars Program was established at the Chicago Community Trust in 1980 in honor of John G. Searle, grandson of the founder of G.D. Searle & Company Pharmaceuticals, and his wife. The program annually recognizes 15 exceptional young faculty members and supports independent research in medicine, chemistry and the biological sciences. (more)
