Physical Sciences

Discovery Links Highest-Energy Cosmic Rays with Violent Black Holes
Credit: Pierre Auger Observatory A surface detector station with the Andes in the background
Penn State Profiles: Reka Albert, Model Researcher
A network-based model of guard cell signaling in plants, created by physicist Reka Albert in collaboration with plant physiologist Sarah Assmann. Drought conditions cause plants to produce the hormone abscisic acid (ABA, top), which triggers guard cells to close leaf pores (bottom), conserving water.
Krebs Receives Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry
Possible Closest Neutron Star to Earth Found
Artist's illustration of an "isolated neutron star" — a neutron star that does not have an associated supernova remnant, binary companion, or radio pulsations. Reproduction is permitted under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 License. Credit: Casey Reed, courtesy of Penn State.
Planet Orbiting a Giant Red Star Discovered with Hobby-Eberly Telescope
The Hobby-Eberly Telescope, one of the largest and most powerful telescopes in the world, photographed at dusk by Penn State Astronomer Lawrence W. Ramsey, a leader in the conception, design, construction, and operation of the telescope. Credit: Lawrence W. Ramsey, Penn State
What Happened Before the Big Bang?
Credit: Martin Bojawald, Penn State Spreading through a bounce: A state that initially has small fluctuations (left) bounces and develops larger fluctuations (right). Time proceeds along the horizontal axis, with the volume plotted vertically.
Richards Named Shapley Lecturer by American Astronomical Society
Schneider Receives C.I. Noll Award in Excellence in Teaching
Gamma-Ray Bursts Active Longer than Previously Thought
The X-ray Telescope on NASA's Swift satellite captured the intensity of a bright X-flare from GRB 060714. The elongated blue and gray regions are an artifact of the image processing (left). After the flare, (right) the GRB's X-ray emission faded considerably, revealing a faint afterglow. Click image to enlarge. Credit: NASA / Swift / XRT Science Team.
New Method to Directly Probe the Quantum Collisions of Individual Atoms
Credit: James Collins Kurt Gibble pictured with an atomic clock.
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