Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in The Centre Daily Times as an installment of the paper’s Focus on Research column. Focus on Research highlights research projects and topics being explored across all disciplines at Penn State. Each column features the work of a different researcher.
For centuries, Valentine’s Day has symbolized one of the most romantic days of the year. As far back as the 18th-century in England, people showed their love by giving flowers, candy and greeting cards — known as “valentines” — and today the tradition continues. But February is about more than celebrating Valentine’s Day — February is American Heart Month. And, yes, it is possible to keep your sweetheart happy and their heart healthy — and yours, too. Continue reading Focus on research: Go nuts on Valentine’s Day & enjoy American Heart Month→
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared on The Conversation on February 18, 2015.
Anyone who knows me also knows that I have a huge sweet tooth. I always have. My friend and fellow graduate student Andrew is equally afflicted, and living in Hershey, Pennsylvania – the “Chocolate Capital of the World” – doesn’t help either of us.
In 1977 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned women “of child-bearing potential” from participating in clinical trials. This was in part due to thousands of children worldwide being born with missing and malformed limbs after their mothers had taken thalidomide — often prescribed in the 1950s for nausea and as a sleep aid. Continue reading Advancing women’s health research→
My hometown — Tyrone, Pa. — has one favorite son: Fred Waring.
The man who taught America how to sing — and how to make a margarita more efficiently — is, by far, the most famous person to come from the small central Pennsylvania town of about 5,000 people that’s a little over 25 miles south of State College. There are some others: D. Brooks Smith, well-known as a federal judge and not as well-known as my cousin; Ethan Stiefel, a former principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, and actress Emme Marcy Rylan, of Bring It On 3 and soap opera fame, all have Tyrone connections. Continue reading Penn State’s Hidden Treasures: How my hometown saved civilization→
Sitting in a room full of nurses last week, I found myself listening to a group of people who spoke passionately about making a difference in people’s lives. These nurses, along with other health researchers, were trying to figure out how they could better collaborate across the commonwealth and how their research results could be applied in the real world — in places like clinics, hospitals, and nursing homes.
