It’s no wonder that many of us two-leggers get the heebie-jeebies at the sight of spiders. With their far-too-many legs, shiny or furry bodies — often painted with cryptic symbols — and mechanical, creeping movements, they seem alien next to soft, clumsy human bodies.
Entomologists at Pennsylvania State University are poised to hire a researcher to act as a liaison for Chester County residents besieged by aggressive mushroom flies.
The Clinton County commissioners got a lesson on the spotted lanternfly on Monday. Tom Butzler, a horticulture extension educator for the Penn State University Cooperative Extension, talked about the invasive insect from Asia that may be found on imported Christmas trees brought to the state and gave a presentation on keeping the pest contained.
If you are a graduate student and you want to get a job in academia, then you need The Professor Is In: The Essential Guide to Turning Your Ph.D. into a Job. Also, if you’re a graduate student like me, and you might be interested in academia but you really have no idea what kind of a job you’re heading towards, then this is still a really useful book.
Penn State’s class of 2019 has chosen as its class gift legacy the Pollinators’ Garden Entry Gate at the Arboretum at Penn State.
While the dreaded spotted lanternfly has mostly been seen in the counties of eastern Pennsylvania, it is spreading quickly and is feeding on orchards and vineyards.
Happy Valley Vineyard and Winery owner Barbara Christ stands among ten acres of grapevines on neat rows of trellises.
A club in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences is creating quite a buzz around campus.
Allow us to explain the gruesome process by which ordinary ants become the pawns of an insidious and spectacularly clever fungus.
Preventing malaria requires multiple approaches — vaccine development, new pesticides and bed-net technologies with a current focus on sterilizing male mosquitoes and manipulating the genomes of female mosquitoes to kill off the malarial parasites they carry.
Expert says adult spotted laternfly females are currently laying eggs for next year.
The Pest Management Professional Magazine (PMP) staff is pleased to announce the five newest nominees for the PMP Hall of Fame.
In the past week, there have been numerous sightings of spotted lanternfly in Ephrata Borough, Ephrata Township, Akron Borough, West Cocalico Township and Clay Township, according to Chief William Harvey, Ephrata borough emergency management coordinator and spotted lanternfly instructor for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.
With home gardening season now in the rear-view mirror, Penn State Extension Master Gardeners in Berks County thought calls to their garden hotline would wind down a bit, as in years past.
Andrew Read has been appointed director of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State effective Jan. 1, 2019. Read is an Evan Pugh University Professor of Biology and Entomology, Eberly Professor of Biotechnology and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics.
Everything insect, from edible bug-based treats to bug-centered games and crafts to an insect zoo of strange creatures, will pack Snider Agricultural Arena at Penn State's University Park for the Department of Entomology's annual Great Insect Fair from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, September 22.
Penn State University Extension recently updated conventional spray recommendations for spotted lanternfly in both grape and tree fruit.
A fungus that turns ants into zombies has survived the global shift from tropical to temperate forests by subtly altering its victims’ behaviour.
Cases of vector-borne disease have more than doubled in the U.S. since 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported, with mosquitoes and ticks bearing most of the blame.
In an exclusive story for AlumnInsider, Nina Jenkins shares insight into her groundbreaking research.
This is the 5th of eleven short news articles written by students, during the professional development class. This year we had the students interview their advisor(s), in an effort to help them better understand the larger context of their projects.
Over a lifetime, some Lancaster County residents may have seen a fox with mange. Hunters may have glimpsed an infected coyote. It's a horrible sight with clumps of hair missing from the beautiful animals.
Penn State researchers think they might be able to solve, or at least control, the invasion of stink bugs — those shield-shaped invaders from the Far East that seemingly have become permanent residents in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
On the heels of the first Spotted Lanternfly hatch of the season, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, the United Stated Department of Agriculture, and Penn State University today warned of its potential $18 billion impact on the commonwealth’s businesses, trade and economy.
To most people, the buds and sprouts of April are welcome heralds of spring. But to some farmers and scientists in the southeastern corner of Pennsylvania, these signs mark the beginning of a long season of dread.
The Huck Institute for the Life Sciences will present the first in a series of 'SciArt@TheHuck' exhibits when 'The Zombie Ant Experience' opens at the Millennium Science Complex May 21. Sculptor Talley Fisher is leading a team of artists, and scientists, as they finalize the interactive display.
In this newly created position, Leach is responsible for coordinating spotted lanternfly outreach and response efforts for the college, working in collaboration with state and federal agencies such as the state Department of Agriculture, Game Commission, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In addition, she will help ensure that Penn State Extension personnel are prepared to field inquiries and handle routine reporting duties.
Researchers and regular folks each can play a role in eradicating the invasive insects.
he smell attracts mosquitoes, and may help identify hidden cases - One of the more disturbing things about parasites is an ability to manipulate their hosts, sometimes to suicidal extremes. The classic example is the liver fluke. It infects an ant as an intermediate carrier, then drives the insect to climb a blade of grass where it is likelier to get eaten by the parasite’s adult-stage host: a cow or other grazing ruminant.
When it comes to the importance of bees, Connie Schmotzer does not mince words. "Without bees, the world's food supply would be cut drastically, threatening the survival of many plants, animals and humans," said the Penn State Extension Master Gardener coordinator and horticulture educator. "Life, as we know it, would be much different — and not for the better."
