Research

Storytelling program helps change medical students' perspectives on dementia

6/18/13

Treating patients with dementia can be viewed as a difficult task for doctors, but Penn State College of Medicine researchers say that storytelling may be one way to improve medical students' perceptions of people affected by the condition. Participation in a creative storytelling program called TimeSlips creates a substantial improvement in student attitudes.

Bariatric surgery restores nerve cell properties altered by diet

6/17/13

Understanding how gastric bypass surgery changes the properties of nerve cells that help regulate the digestive system could lead to new treatments that produce the same results without surgery, according to Penn State College of Medicine scientists, who have shown how surgery restores some properties of nerve cells that tell people their stomachs are full.

cup of hot cocoa and spoon of cocoa powder

Cocoa may help fight obesity-related inflammation

6/12/13

A few cups of hot cocoa may not only fight off the chill of a winter's day, but they could also help obese people better control inflammation-related diseases, such as diabetes, according to Penn State researchers.

Female faculty member and female student examining honey bees in the lab.

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Inspiring Research-Honey Bees

6/11/13

Whole colonies are dying in record numbers. Why the bees are dying is a mystery. Penn State, one of the country's leading honey bee research facilities, has been investigating the problem.

Research shows river dredging reduced fish numbers, diversity

6/7/13

Comparing dredged and undredged sections of the Allegheny River, reduced populations of fish and less variety of aquatic life occurred in areas where gravel extraction took place, according to researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

Professor Kaye discusses implications of DNA evidence ruling by Supreme Court

6/6/13

After attending the oral arguments in Maryland v. King, a case that came before the U.S. Supreme Court dealing with DNA evidence, Penn State Dickinson School of Law professor and preeminent expert on DNA and statistical evidence David Kaye predicted that the lower court ruling would be overturned. Kaye talks briefly about the outcome of the case, why he would have focused on different issues than the majority and what issues unresolved by this ruling will likely come before the Supreme Court.

Spindle-like microstructures from the Farrel Quartzite, Western Australia.

3-billion-year-old microfossils include plankton

6/6/13

Spindle-shaped inclusions in 3-billion-year-old rocks are microfossils of plankton that probably inhabited the oceans around the globe during that time, according to an international team of researchers.

Millennium Science Complex at Penn State, Night

Engineering research: Collaboration and creativity unleash tomorrow's discovery

6/5/13

For decades, Penn State has led the nation in creating the organizational, physical and philosophical space for researchers across all backgrounds and disciplines to collaborate and create. The Millennium Science Complex, which opened in 2011, is one of the University's most recent, and now one of the most visible, examples of its commitment to interdisciplinary research.

Stable bedtime helps sleep apnea sufferers adhere to treatment

6/4/13

A consistent bedtime routine is likely key to helping people with obstructive sleep apnea adhere to their prescribed treatment, according to Penn State researchers.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) occurs when the upper airway collapses during sleep. It is the most common type of sleep-disordered breathing, and chances of it occurring are greater in obese people. OSA is the second most prevalent sleep disorder among adults.

middle school students sitting in hallway

PROSPER prevention programs dramatically cut substance abuse among teens

6/4/13

Prevention is often the best medicine, not only for physical health, but also public health, according to researchers at Penn State and Iowa State University.

According to the researchers, young adults reduce their overall prescription drug misuse up to 65 percent if they are part of a community-based prevention effort while still in middle school.

crowd of law students at graduation ceremony

Probing Question: Is a law degree versatile?

6/4/13

In today's uncertain economy, the question of ROI -- return on investment -- is on the minds of many prospective young doctors of jurisprudence. With the media churning out cautionary tales about newly minted lawyers coming up empty on the job market, the question is a valid one: Is a law degree still marketable and versatile? And are there career paths open to J.D.s who either don't want or can't find work in a law firm?

Historian studies quest for the 12-month tomato

6/3/13

Is there an item on the average household's dinner table so roundly scorned as the wintertime tomato? The plastic-like red globe is typically so barren of authentic taste and texture that it epitomizes the industrialization of food, says John Hoenig, a doctoral candidate in history at Penn State. Yet he points to that very same tomato as a symbol of victory — tangible evidence of Americans' success in transcending traditional patterns of seasonality in their diets.

Shaver’s Creek witnessing collapse of Pennsylvania bat population

6/3/13

Doug Wentzel can count the number of little brown bats at Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center on one hand. Wentzel, a naturalist and program director at Penn State’s nature center, has been observing the flying creatures for years and in the past, he’s seen thousands make their summer homes in central Pennsylvania. At last check, the bat boxes at Shaver’s Creek house only three bats.

Nikki Shariat and Edward Dudley in a laboratory.

Researchers develop a faster method to identify Salmonella strains

5/30/13

A method that may reduce by more than half the time it takes health officials to identify Salmonella strains has been developed by researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

Young people are overwhelmingly the victims of sexual assaults

5/30/13

Sexual assault has almost as much to do with age as it does with gender, according to Penn State criminologists. Young people -- both male and female -- are the most likely targets of rape and other sexual assaults, said Richard Felson, professor of criminology and sociology.

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female student crossing police line at mock crime scene

Probing Question: Do women dominate the field of forensic science?

5/7/13

Exhuming corpses, analyzing bloodstained clothing, collecting "crime scene insects" (yes, maggots)...these are some of the grittier realities of life as a forensic scientist. Yet defying the stereotype that females tend to be squeamish about such things, an entire generation of young women have become entranced by the profession. In fact, they've pursued this career in such numbers that—unlike almost every other scientific discipline—one could argue that the booming field of forensic science is a female domain.

Targeting neurotransmitter may help treat gastrointestinal conditions

12/4/12

Selective targeting of the neurotransmitter that differentially affects brain cells that control the two distinct functions of the pancreas may allow for new medication therapies for conditions such as diabetes, dyspepsia and gastro-esophageal reflux, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. "This study differs from what's been reported previously about brain neurons that control the gastrointestinal tract," said R. Alberto Travagli, professor, Department of Neural and Behavioral Sciences, and lead investigator. "It provides further support to the idea that separate nerve pathways regulate the diverse functions of organs along the upper gastrointestinal tract."

Biting the Plant that Feeds You

9/1/98

She's part pilgrim and part vampire, purplish black and pear-shaped. Moments after her April birth, the aphid creeps along the smooth witch hazel leaf until she finds a suitable intersection of veins. She thrusts her needle mouth into the junction and begins to feed, sucking the sweet sap from the plant.

Ozone masks plant's volatiles, plant-eating insects confused

4/2/13

Increases in ground-level ozone, especially in rural areas, may interfere not only with predator insects finding host plants, but also with pollinators finding flowers, according to researchers from Penn State and the University of Virginia.

Research

Storytelling program helps change medical students' perspectives on dementia

6/18/13

Montage-Penn State and Gettysburg Illustration

Two battles, one destiny: Penn State and Gettysburg during the Civil War

6/17/13

Two battles raged in Pennsylvania in 1863. One would serve as a defining moment in the Civil War, a conflict that ended slavery and changed the identity of the United States. Another battle, not far from the bloody fields and smoke-veiled ridges of Gettysburg, would redefine the identity of a struggling university and reveal the promise of higher education to a new generation of Americans. In both battles, Penn Staters paid the ultimate price.

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