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.
04/20/2022
A beautiful sunset over the Atlantic off the Florida coast, or an orangey glow in the Texas sky at dusk may be caused by dust from West Africa, according to researchers who are looking at the paths of particulate matter in the skies over the Sahara desert and the semi-arid Sahel.
04/18/2022
The lakes that form on Antarctica's ice shelves can drive vertical cracks deep within the ice, increasing the chance of ice shelf collapse and sea level rise.
04/11/2022
Researchers led by Penn State and the university of California, San Diego have discovered a new 'knob' to control the magnetic behavior of one promising quantum material, and the findings could pave the way toward novel, efficient and ultra-fast devices.
03/31/2022
Dark patches of open sea that appear in the ice-choked water around Helheim Glacier may reveal new clues about how a rapidly changing Greenland glacier loses ice, according to a Penn State-led team of scientists.
03/31/2022
Flavored tobacco products play a large role in leading youth into addiction, and it is estimated that three out of four youth smokers will continue to smoke well into adulthood, according to the U.S. surgeon general.
03/23/2022
Oxygen levels in the atmosphere during the mid-Proterozoic -- about 1.4 billion years ago -- were higher than previously thought, according to an international team of researchers who looked at oxygen combined with sulfur to determine that previous numbers were probably lower limits, not maximums.
03/16/2022
A challenge in materials design is that in both natural and manmade materials, volume sometimes decreases, or increases, with increasing temperature.
03/15/2022
A large, open-access visual leaf library developed by a Penn State-led team provides a new resource to help scientists recognize and classify leaves.
02/28/2022
A new, highly sensitive system for detecting the production of hydrogen gas may play an important role in the quest to develop hydrogen as an environmentally friendly and economical alternative to fossil fuels, according to Penn State scientists.
02/23/2022
Unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD), commonly known as fracking, has helped Pennsylvania retain its status as a leading energy exporter, but UOGD processes come with a host of environmental and public health concerns.