Read the latest news about research conducted by investigators in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. Our faculty and students are continually advancing technology, creating solutions and expanding knowledge with new and innovative research.
NSF renews funding for Two-Dimensional Crystal Consortium
The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a renewal of funding for the Materials Innovation Platform (MIP) national user facility at Penn State’s Materials Research Institute (MRI), the Two-Dimensional Crystal Consortium (2DCC).
Eco-friendly carbon-dioxide conversion process may revolutionize existing method
A new, environmentally friendly, single-step process has been developed to convert carbon dioxide into higher hydrocarbons using plasma, according to scientists and engineers.
Global pollen samples reveal vegetation rate of change
Ancient pollen samples and a new statistical approach may shed light on the global rate of change of vegetation and eventually on how much climate change and humans have played a part in altering landscapes, according to an international team of researchers.
Linguistic and biological diversity linked
Cultural diversity — indicated by linguistic diversity — and biodiversity are linked, and their connection may be another way to preserve both natural environments and Indigenous populations in Africa and perhaps worldwide, according to an international team of researchers.
'Seeing' previously unseen nano-level glass damage
For the first time, the subsurface structural changes of silica glass due to nanoscale wear and damage has been revealed via spectroscopy, which may lead to improvements in glass products such as electronic displays and vehicle windshields, according to a team of international researchers.
Penn State to lead critical minerals consortium powered by $1.2 million from DOE
A region famous for the coal that once fueled a growing nation is now the focus of a $1.2 million project, led by Penn State researchers, aimed at establishing domestic supplies of critical minerals needed to produce modern technology from cell phones to fighter jets.
Landscape shows earliest effects of modern humans using fire to shape ecosystem
New archaeological and paleoenvironmental evidence from Lake Malawi, Africa, shows that the effects on the landscape of humans’ use of fire is tens of thousands of years older than previously thought, according to an international team of researchers.
Lightning and subvisible discharges produce molecules that clean the atmosphere
A team of atmospheric chemists and lightning scientists have found that lightning bolts and, surprisingly, subvisible discharges that cannot be seen by cameras or the naked eye produce extreme amounts of the hydroxyl radical — OH — and hydroperoxyl radical — HO2.
When calculating the social cost of methane, equity matters
The social cost of methane — a greenhouse gas that is 30 times as potent as carbon dioxide in its ability to trap heat — varies by as much as an order of magnitude between industrialized and developing regions of the world, according to researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), UC Berkeley and Penn State.
'Dead clades walking': Fossil record provides new insights into mass extinctions
Mass extinctions are known as times of global upheaval, causing rapid losses in biodiversity that wipe out entire animal groups. Some of the doomed groups linger on before going extinct, and a team of scientists found these “dead clades walking” (DCW) are more common and long-lasting than expected.