Research Press Release Archive

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A multi-page list of all research press releases since 1997

A Blast from Its Past Dates the Youngest Neutron-Star Binary: 4 December 2013 — X-rays streaming toward Earth from the region near a neutron star that is cannibalizing its companion star have revealed the pair to be the youngest "X-ray binary" yet known.
Ultra-Bright Gamma-Ray Burst Shakes Up Theories of Light Production in the Most Powerful Explosions: 25 November 2013 — One of the brightest gamma-ray explosions ever seen is the focus of five papers being published this week in the journals Science Express and Astrophysical Journal Letters by research teams that include Penn State Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics David Burrows. Discovered on 27 April 2013, this gamma-ray burst, named GRB 130427A, has been the subject of intense study with advanced space observatories including NASA's Swift X-ray Telescope, for which science and flight operations are controlled by Penn State from the Mission Operations Center at the University Park campus.
New Tool Developed for Profiling Critical Regulatory Structures of RNA Molecules: 24 November 2013 — A molecular technique that will help the scientific community to analyze -- on a scale previously impossible -- molecules that play a critical role in regulating gene expression has been developed by a research team led by a chemist and a plant biologist at Penn State University. The scientists developed a method that enables more-accurate prediction of how ribonucleic acid molecules (RNAs) fold within living cells, thus shedding new light on how plants -- as well as other living organisms -- respond to environmental conditions.
Neutrinos on Ice Now the Coolest New Astronomy Tool: 21 November 2013 — A massive telescope buried in the Antarctic ice has detected 28 record-breaking, extremely high-energy neutrinos -- elementary particles that likely originate outside our solar system. The achievement, which comes nearly 25 years after the pioneering idea of detecting neutrinos in ice, provides the first solid evidence for astrophysical neutrinos from cosmic accelerators and has been hailed as the dawn of a new age of astronomy. The team researchers that detected the neutrinos with the new IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica, which includes Penn State scientists, will publish a paper describing the detections on 22 November 2013 in the journal Science.
Investigating Roles of Rare Genetic Variants in Disease: 14 November 2013 — Researchers at the Center for Systems Genomics are developing bioinformatics software to facilitate analysis of rare variation in human genome sequence data.
New Type of Black-Hole Quasar Discovered: 7 November 2013 — Like our Milky Way, every known large galaxy has at its center a supermassive black hole, some of which are surrounded by a super-bright disk of hot gas called a quasar -- but now a research team that includes Penn State astronomers has discovered a surprising new class of quasars in distant galaxies that even the most current theories had not predicted.
Male Lizards Prefer More-Feminine Lizards to "Bearded Ladies," New Research Finds: 7 November 2013 — Which females do male lizards find to be the sexiest? Tracy Langkilde, an associate professor of biology at Penn State University, and Lindsey Swierk, a graduate student in Langkilde's lab, tackle this question by examining the mating behavior and blue-color patterns of fence lizards in Arkansas, Alabama, and Mississippi. The results of their research, which offer a snapshot into the evolution of male-female differences, are published in the early online edition of The Royal Society journal Biology Letters on 6 November 2013.
Caribou May Be Indirectly Affected by Sea-Ice Loss in the Arctic: 1 October 2013 — Melting sea ice in the Arctic may be leading, indirectly, to fewer caribou calf births and higher calf mortality in Greenland, according to scientists at Penn State University. Eric Post, a Penn State University professor of biology, and Jeffrey Kerby, a Penn State graduate student, have linked the melting of Arctic sea ice with changes in the timing of plant growth on land, which in turn is associated with lower production of calves by caribou in the area. The results of the study will be published in the journal Nature Communications on 1 October 2013.
"Transformer" Star Discovered with X-rays and Radio Waves: 25 September 2013 — A fleet of orbiting X-ray telescopes that includes NASA's Swift orbiting observatory, which is controlled by Penn State University -- has been used by an international team of scientists in the discovery of a "millisecond pulsar" star with a dual identity. In a feat that has never before been observed, the star readily shifts back and forth between two mutually exclusive styles of pulsed emissions -- one in X-rays, the other in radio waves. The discovery, the scientists say, reveals a long-sought intermediate phase in the life of these powerful objects.
Scientists Discover the Origins of Genomic "Dark Matter": 13 September 2013 — A duo of scientists at Penn State University has achieved a major milestone in understanding how genomic "dark matter" originates. This "dark matter" -- called non-coding RNA -- does not contain the blueprint for making proteins and yet it comprises more than 95 percent of the human genome. The researchers have discovered that essentially all coding and non-coding RNA originates at the same types of locations along the human genome. The team's findings eventually may help to pinpoint exactly where complex-disease traits reside, since the genetic origins of many diseases reside outside of the coding region of the genome. The research, which will be published as an Advance Online Publication in the journal Nature on 18 September 2013, was performed by B. Franklin Pugh, holder of the Willaman chair in Molecular Biology at Penn State, and postdoctoral scholar Bryan Venters, who now holds a faculty position at Vanderbilt University.
Graduate Student Studying Ecological Impacts of Increased Noise on Animals: 29 August 2013 — Humans are not conditioned to think about sound as a tangible, measurable entity. For the majority of us, it simply becomes part of the background, secondary to our more informative visual environment. But for Jenny Tennessen, a doctoral candidate in ecology, sound is the basis for her graduate research in the field of bioacoustics and is something that has always intrigued her.
Novel Self-Powered Nanoparticles Developed to Deliver Healing Drugs Directly to Bone Cracks: 29 August 2013 — A novel method for finding and delivering healing drugs to newly formed microcracks in bones has been invented by a team of chemists and bioengineers at Penn State University and Boston University. The method involves the targeted delivery of the drugs, directly to the cracks, on the backs of tiny self-powered nanoparticles. The energy that revs the motors of the nanoparticles and sends them rushing toward the crack comes from a surprising source -- the crack itself.
Zeal to Heal: Penn State Researchers Develop Way to Transport Medicine Directly to Cracks in Bones: 27 August 2013 — This article, written by Barbara Kennedy and featuring the work of Penn State chemists, originally appeared in the Centre Daily Times (CDT) on 25 August 2013 in the weekly "Focus on Research" column, which highlights different research projects being conducted at Penn State.
New Characterization of the Human Genome's Ability to Mutate Catalyzes Biomedical Research: 19 August 2013 — As biomedical researchers continue to make progress toward the realization of personalized genomic medicine, their focus is increasingly tuned to highly mutable regions of the human genome that contribute significantly to genetic variation as well as many inherited disorders.
Protein Changes Linked to Symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease: 14 August 2013 — A research discovery that helps point the way to potential therapies for memory-related disorders including Alzheimer's Disease has been made by a team of neuroscientists that includes Douglas Cavener, a professor of biology at Penn State University. A paper describing the research is published in the 12 August 2013 issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience.
Short-Term Gene-Expression "Memory" is Inherited in Proteins Associated with DNA, New Research Finds: 5 August 2013 — By studying a gene in yeast, a team of scientists has found that modifications to histones -- proteins associated with DNA -- can control whether or not a gene is allowed to function and may be important in maintaining the "expression potential" so that future cells behave as their parent cells did.
Arctic Sea-Ice Loss Has Widespread Effects on Wildlife: 1 August 2013 — With sea ice at its lowest point in 1,500 years, how might ecological communities in the Arctic be affected by its continued and even accelerated melting over the next decades? In a review article in the journal Science, Eric Post, a Penn State University professor of biology, and an international team of scientists tackle this question by examining relationships among algae, plankton, whales, and terrestrial animals such as caribou, arctic foxes, and walrus; as well as the effects of human exploration of previously inaccessible parts of the region.
Temperature Alters Population Dynamics of Common Plant Pests: 1 August 2013 — Temperature-driven changes alter outbreak patterns of tea tortrix -- an insect pest -- and may shed light on how temperature influences whether insects emerge as cohesive cohorts or continuously, according to an international team of researchers including Ottar N. Bjørnstad, professor of entomology, biology, and statistics at Penn State. These findings have implications for both pest control and how climate change may alter infestations.
New Effort to Learn How Our Galaxy Formed Makes Public Release of Its First Data: 31 July 2013 — Scientists with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III), including Penn State University astronomers, have released a new online public data set featuring 60,000 stars that are helping to reveal how our Milky Way galaxy formed.
Aquatic Playground Can Turn Water Tanks into Fish Schools: 31 July 2013 — Raising fish in tanks that contain hiding places and other obstacles can make the fish both smarter and improve their chances of survival when they are released into the wild, according to an international team of researchers including Victoria Braithwaite, professor of fisheries and biology at Penn State.