Still Life
Lady Lions win Big Ten championship
THON 2012 breaks $10 million
THON 2012 going strong
THON 2012 under way
Rube Goldberg Competition: Feb. 11, 2012
We ... are Penn State (December 19, 2011)
Penn State's creamery, from the cow to the cone
Researchers use balloons to unlock mysteries posed by dying stars
Everyday virus proves potent against cancer cells.
There are no definitive findings that Marcellus Shale drilling activity has affected crime rates in Pennsylvania, but more study is needed, according to a preliminary report conducted recently by the Justice Center for Research at Penn State. The report was produced in response to public concerns that crime rates may be on the rise in areas experiencing drilling-related population growth. (more)
Caffeinated drinks such as coffee and soda are the pick-me-ups of choice for many people, but too much caffeine can cause nervousness and sleep problems. Caffeine Zone, a software app developed by Penn State researchers, can help people determine when caffeine may give them a mental boost and when it could hurt their sleep patterns. The software takes information on caffeine use and integrates it with information on the effects of caffeine to produce a graph of how the caffeine will affect the users over time. (more)
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. Fingerprints have been used for over a century as a way of identifying criminals; however, fingerprint evidence is not currently permitted to be reported in court unless examiners claim absolute certainty that a mark has been left by a particular suspect. This courtroom certainty is based purely on the opinion of experts, formed through years of training and experience, but not on scientific data. (more)
The U.S. may have its first black president and the Fortune 500 its first black female chief executive, but African American CEOs account for a mere one percent of the chiefs of those 500 largest companies.
Andrew Carton, assistant professor of management and organization at Penn State Smeal College of Business, and Ashleigh Shelby Rosette of Duke University, suggest in the current issue of the Academy of Management Journal that what steers people's perceptions of African Americans are stereotypes about blacks' leadership failings, biases that may not even be conscious. (more)
Attending a financially poor school may have more of an effect on unhealthy adolescent weight than family poverty, according to Penn State sociologists. Poor schools even influence how parental education protects kids from becoming overweight. "It was once thought that family income was the main factor when we talk about the research on adolescent weight," said Molly Martin, assistant professor of sociology and demography. "That's not true. The environments the children live in play a key role in weight problems among adolescents." (more)
The first few weeks of college are a critical time in shaping students' drinking habits. Now Penn State researchers have a tailored approach that may help prevent students from becoming heavy drinkers. "Research shows there is a spike in alcohol-related consequences that occur in the first few weeks of the semester, especially with college freshmen," said Michael J. Cleveland, research associate at the Prevention Research Center and the Methodology Center. "If you can buffer that and get beyond that point and safely navigate through that passage, you reduce the risk of later problems occurring." (more)
The recipe for this kind of sandwich consists of three generations, with elderly grandparents as one slice of bread, dependent children as the other, and, in the middle, Baby Boomer parents who are spread thin trying to be caretakers for all their loved ones. Increasingly, this caregiving is taking place under one roof, says Matthew Kaplan, intergenerational specialist in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. (more)
People who read news on the Web tend to trust the gate even if there is no gatekeeper, according to Penn State researchers. When readers access a story from a credible news source they trust through an online portal, they also tend to trust the portal, said S. Shyam Sundar, Distinguished Professor of Communications and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory. Most of these portals use computers, not people, to automatically sort and post stories. (more)
A religious studies scholar and pioneer in the study of American Buddhism reflects in his newest book on a more than four-decade career that included controversies and insights that changed the field of Buddhist studies. Charles Prebish said he chose to write his memoir, "An American Buddhist Life: Memoirs of a Modern Dharma Pioneer," (The Sumeru Press, 2011), to highlight the personalities of the people and scholars he met during his career. "People in Buddhist studies typically don't write memoirs, so there's no reflection on the great people in the field," said Prebish. "I thought, why not go ahead and write it because the stories are so good." (more)
In today's tech-savvy world, it's no longer enough for museums to display collections, says Penn State's Dana Kletchka. Museums must reach out to visitors wherever they are, allowing them to access information via their computer or other digital devices. (more)
