July 13, 2018
A field of flowers in Carlisle isn't being grown for its beauty. It's a pollinator garden and is now being used for bigger research.
July 12, 2018
This is the 8th 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.
July 10, 2018
It’s not just about honey. Cities are full of bees, and in this double episode we hear about Brisbane bees and the Australian native alternative to European honey bees from Tim Heard of Sugarbag Bees, we talk with urban bee researcher Scott MacIvor from Toronto, and we go on an urban bee field trip on top of a chocolate factory with researcher Doug Sponsler and bee keeper Don Shump of the Philadelphia Bee Company.
July 10, 2018
David Hughes, Penn State professor of entomology and biology, studies the effects of something that sounds like it’s straight out of a science fiction story: a fungus that infects living ants, takes control of their muscles against their will, and forces the ant to become a mindless zombie driven to help spread the fungus to take over even more ants. Now, “The Zombie Ant Experience,” an installation in the Millennium Science Complex at University Park, brings this research to life through art.
July 5, 2018
Some of you may have heard of the spotted lanternfly. Even if you have, I want to revisit this insect pest to enlist you in the effort to monitor its movement in our area.
July 5, 2018
As Japan rebuilt its economy in the decades following World War II, it shipped goods to U.S. consumers who loved the low prices. In more recent decades, China has taken Japan’s role as the low-cost shipper to the U.S. The way Hannah Burrack sees it, it just makes sense we have all these invasive pests from Asia.
June 28, 2018
This is the 7th 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.
June 27, 2018
Planting season for corn and soybeans across the U.S. corn belt is drawing to a close. As they plant, farmers are participating in what is likely to be one of the largest deployments of insecticides in United States history.
June 26, 2018
When Daryl Branford — one of the minds behind the groundbreaking multimedia instillation “The Zombie Ant Experience” — first came to Penn State in the 90s, it was the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts that convinced him Penn State was the place for him.
June 26, 2018
Penn State and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization launch new mobile app to fight fast-spreading pest
June 22, 2018
Study represents largest effort to date to identify novel pathogens in global bee populations. An international team of researchers has discovered evidence of 27 previously unknown viruses in bees. The finding could help scientists design strategies to prevent the spread of viral pathogens among these important pollinators.
June 21, 2018
The spotted lanternfly is starting to sour the grape and wine industries in southeastern Pennsylvania, and research underway in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences aims to spoil the invasive pest's party.
June 21, 2018
What do you want to know about the invasive spotted lanternfly?
June 14, 2018
This is the 6th 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.
June 14, 2018
The spotted lanternfly is starting to sour the grape and wine industries in southeastern Pennsylvania, and research underway in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences aims to spoil the invasive pest's party.
June 13, 2018
An army of microscopic critters is interrupting life for many of Pennsylvania’s black bears.
June 13, 2018
Winery owner Darvin Levengood is no fan of the spotted lanternfly, an invasive insect that can wreak havoc on grapes.
June 11, 2018
Vacant land and urban agriculture are rejuvenating wild bee populations. Bees love cities. What can cities do to love them back?
June 7, 2018
On Thanksgiving 2015, Margo Woodacre had to send her family home on empty stomachs. A month later, Barbara and David Runkle were unable to put up their Christmas tree. In the years since, neighbors have worn out vacuum belts, spent untold amounts of money on black lights, and become amateur experts on homeopathic pesticides.
June 7, 2018
A fungus that turns ants into zombies has survived the global shift from tropical to temperate forests by subtly altering its victims’ behaviour.
June 7, 2018
A fungus that turns infected ants into powerless ‘zombies’ has adapted to climate conditions in different locales by modifying its victims’ behaviour.
June 6, 2018
As the emergence of the spotted lanternfly continues to threaten portions of Pennsylvania’s agricultural industry, two researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences who are studying the invasive insects joined colleagues from more than 20 universities on Capitol Hill today (June 6) to show members of Congress and their staffs the importance of funding agricultural research.
June 4, 2018
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.
June 1, 2018
In an exclusive story for AlumnInsider, Nina Jenkins shares insight into her groundbreaking research.
May 31, 2018
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.
May 29, 2018
Zombie ants clamp on to aerial vegetation and hang for months spewing the spores of their parasitic fungi, but researchers noticed that they do not always clamp on to the same part of the plant. Now the researchers know that the choice of leaves or twigs is related to climate and that climate change forced the fungi to adapt to local conditions.
May 23, 2018
Story and photos by Jim Hale
May 23, 2018
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.
May 23, 2018
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.
May 23, 2018
The crop plants recruit zombie-maker wasps, but one pest has a desperate work-around
