Research Unplugged, the popular Penn State speaker series that brings University researchers into the community for lively public discussions, launches its spring season on March 15. The series begins its eighth year on a new time and day -- 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. on Thursdays -- and in a new location -- Schlow Centre Region Library's Downsbrough Community Room, downtown State College, Pa. Schlow Library joins Penn State's Office of the Vice President for Research and Office of University Relations as a partner in the Research Unplugged series. The events are free and open to all, with complimentary light refreshments. (more)
A free public lecture titled "The Global Pollinator Crisis" will take place at 11 a.m. on Jan. 28, in 100 Thomas Building on the Penn State University Park campus. The speaker will be Christina Grozinger, associate professor of entomology at Penn State and the director of the Penn State Center for Pollinator Research. (more)
Reacting to sagging populations of bees and other pollinators, members of Gov. Tom Corbett's staff recently sought and received Penn State Extension certification for the gardens at the Governor's Residence as "pollinator friendly." (more)
Despite widely published reports, many people are unaware that bees -- both managed colonies of honeybees and wild bees alike -- are in trouble due to Colony Collapse Disorder and other environmental factors. Planting a pollinator-friendly garden may be one of the best ways to help these beneficial insects, say experts in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. (more)
A nationwide network to monitor and maintain honeybee health is the aim of the Bee Informed Partnership, a five-year, $5 million program funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture and led by Penn State. (more)
In the last several years, beekeepers across the country have seen the overall number of pollinator bee colonies drop dramatically. By each winter's end, about three out of every 10 colonies die out. Penn State experts gathered colleagues from around the world to try to figure out what is causing the death and disappearance of honeybees and other pollinators and ultimately threatens the vitality of much of our nation's food supply. Watch the video to hear more about the first International Conference on Pollinator Biology, Health and Policy and Penn State's Center for Pollinator Research. (more)
The garden demonstration plots at Penn State's Ag Progress Days, Aug. 17-19 at Rock Springs, will be abuzz this year not just with gardeners championing the importance of pollinators, but with many of the actual pollinators themselves, drawn to the vicinity by the specialized plantings designed to do just that. (more)
The decline of pollinator populations around the world and the potential causes and cures for the decline will be the focus of the International Conference on Pollinator Biology, Health and Policy, July 24 - 28, 2010, Penn State's University Park campus. (more)
Penn State master gardeners team up with Penn State professor Dennis vanEngelsdorp and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture to track local bee activity. Their goal: to make recommendations to gardeners about types of plants they should include in their gardens to make them pollinator-friendly. See them (and the bees!) in a slideshow at http://www.rps.psu.edu/pennsylvania/nativebees/ online. (more)
Honeybees in colonies affected by colony collapse disorder (CCD) have higher levels of pathogens and are co-infected with a greater number of pathogens than their non-CCD counterparts, but no individual pathogen can be singled out as the cause of CCD, according to a new study by researchers from Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, other universities and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. (more)
