Still Life
Commencement across Penn State: Spring 2012
Spring commencement 2012 under way
Penn State, Moroccan students problem-solve together
Finals Week Spring Semester 2012
Children explore career options at University Park
Painting the Lines at Beaver Stadium
Did They Get It Right? - RedTails
Iconic Penn State elm taken down over spring break 2012
We ... are Penn State (December 19, 2011)
Disease stricken matching elm tree slated for removal
Penn State's creamery, from the cow to the cone
"At the time the Egyptians were building the pyramids, there were still mammoths to be found in Northern Siberia. So we barely missed them."
--Stephan Schuster, professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, at the Research Unplugged discussion on Wednesday, March 31. (more)
Two brown dwarf-sized objects orbiting a giant old star show that planets may assemble around stars more quickly and efficiently than anyone thought possible, according to an international team of astronomers. "We have found two brown dwarf-sized masses around an ordinary star, which is very rare," said Alex Wolszczan, Evan Pugh professor of astronomy and astrophysics, Penn State and lead scientist on the project. (more)
Genetically modified squash plants that are resistant to a debilitating viral disease become more vulnerable to a fatal bacterial infection, according to biologists. "Cultivated squash is susceptible to a variety of viral diseases and that is a major problem for farmers," said Andrew Stephenson, Penn State professor of biology. "Infected plants grow more slowly and their fruit becomes misshapen." (more)
New research by a science team that includes a Penn State associate professor of mathematics has produced the surprising revelation that electrical fields can prevent liquid droplets from merging. The discovery is surprising because conventional scientific wisdom has held the opposite -- that an electrical field would enhance the merging of liquid droplets. The research could lead to improved applications in diverse fields including petroleum purification, food-oil processing and biodiesel production. It also could increase our understanding of the atmospheric high-voltages that are generated in thunderstorms. The journal Nature published the research on Sept. 16. High-resolution videos and images are on the Web at http://www.science.psu.edu/alert/Belmonte-2009.htm online. (more)
A Penn State DNA researcher who helped to reveal the mystery identity of the Vietnam Unknown Soldier, along with the soldier's sister -- herself a military officer -- will tell both the scientific and the personal stories behind the discovery of the soldier's identity during a talk Tuesday at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C. (more)
Fewer births in states such as California may be delaying the annual onset of a common intestinal virus in the southwest, according to epidemiologists. The timing of infectious outbreaks in other locations such as the northeast remains more or less unchanged. Rotavirus is a leading cause of diarrhea among children, both in the developed and developing world. In the United States, the virus causes about 60,000 hospitalizations each year and kills about 40 children below the age of five. (more)
From June 4 - 6, prominent physicists from around the world attended AbhayFest, a conference in honor of Abhay Ashtekar's many contributions to the fields of relativity and quantum mechanics. Ashtekar is holder of the Eberly Family Chair in Physics and director of the Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos at Penn State. As part of the event, visiting professor Sir Roger Penrose delivered a public lecture titled "Faith, Fashion, and Fantasy: How Big is Infinity?" (more)
Penn State astronomers Peter Meszaros and Donald Schneider are among the scientists whose research has the most scientific impact worldwide, according to ScienceWatch, an organization that monitors performance in basic research. Meszaros, holder of the Eberly Family Chair in Astronomy and Astrophysics and a professor of physics, was ranked recently as the most highly-cited scientist in the field of gamma-ray-burst astronomy throughout the past decade. Schneider, distinguished professor of astronomy and astrophysics, was cited as among the 13 scientists in all scientific disciplines who have the largest number of high-impact papers from 2007 to 2008. (more)
A study by Penn State scientists published this week in the early online edition of the journal Genome Research reveals that the genetic material left behind by extinct woolly mammoths is yielding new clues about the evolution of mammals. The analysis of mobile DNA elements in the mammoth genome reveals new insights into how some of these elements arose in mammals and how they shaped the genome of a species headed for extinction. (more)
Penn State astronomers have used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to produce a new image of a ghostly exploded star with an unusual shape in a galaxy near the Milky Way. Astronomers think the object may be the remains of a white-dwarf star that disintegrated in a thermonuclear explosion, but it does not look like other such objects found in our own Milky Way galaxy. (more)
