Xiaowei Teng, James H. Manning Professor of Chemical Engineering, has been awarded a $395,886 grant from the National Science Foundation to study an electrochemical system that could be used to address one of the major challenges in water treatment: the buildup of insoluble mineral deposits. 

A nuclear winter is a theoretical concept, but if the climate scenario expected to follow a large-scale nuclear war, in which smoke and soot from firestorms block sunlight, came to fruition, global temperatures would sharply drop, extinguishing most agriculture. A nuclear winter could last for more than a decade, potentially leading to widespread famine for those who survive the devastation of the bomb blasts. Now, a team led by researchers at Penn State have modeled precisely how various nuclear winter scenarios could impact global production of corn — the most widely planted grain crop in the world. They also recommended preparing “agricultural resilience kits” with seeds for faster-growing varieties better adapted to colder temperatures that could potentially help offset the impact of nuclear winter, as well as natural disasters like volcanic eruptions. 

Biologging is transforming wildlife research, yet stingrays have been overlooked due to their unusual body shapes. For the first time, researchers successfully developed and field-tested a biologging tag for the whitespotted eagle ray. The multi-sensor device stayed attached for up to a record 60 hours, revealing how they feed, move and interact with other species. Virtually impossible to capture before, these insights now shed light into this threatened, understudied species that plays a vital role in marine ecosystems.

The blood and tissue shed from the uterus each month is often overlooked — and even stigmatized by some — as medical waste, but Penn State Professor Dipanjan Pan and his team have found that menstrual effluent could enable earlier, more accessible detection of biological markers to help diagnose endometriosis in just 10 minutes. The debilitating uterine disease impacts more than 200 people worldwide yet no commercially available point-of care diagnostic test exists.

Specific way genetic material is organized in cells determines its ability to adapt to resist treatment. Scientists modulated this organization with an FDA-approved drug on the market. Strategy prevented cancer cells from adapting, making chemotherapy more effective in lab cultures and animal models of human cancer.