Coral reefs, among the most diverse and valuable ecosystems on Earth, are under threat due to the changing climate.

With an extensive background in mineralogy, geochemistry and the geosciences, Penn State Professor of Geosciences Peter Heaney can teach to a range of knowledge and experience levels. 

As part of the process of establishing a university-wide program in sustainability, Lee Kump, John Leone Dean in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, and Lara Fowler, chief sustainability officer and director of Penn State Sustainability, will be hosting two virtual discussions for interested faculty to learn more about the opportunity.

Roman DiBiase, associate professor of geosciences and new head of Penn State's field camp, leads field camp participants in a discussion overlooking the mountains of Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park.  

Incorporating field data for the first time, researchers at Penn State demonstrated machine learning can be a powerful and cost-effective tool for monitoring sequestered carbon dioxide (CO2), overcoming a hurdle for the burgeoning technology aimed at combating climate change.

Anyone who has taken a long road trip or bike ride has used a product of the spurge plant family — rubber. The spurge family, or Euphorbiaceae, includes economically valuable plants like the rubber tree, castor oil plant, poinsettia and cassava. Newly identified fossils found in Argentina suggest that a group of spurges took a trip of their own tens of millions of years ago.

Microfossils from Western Australia may capture a jump in the complexity of life that coincided with the rise of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere and oceans, according to an international team of scientists.

Existing fiber optic cables used for high-speed internet and telecommunications, in combination with machine learning, may be able to help scientists track ground hazards in Pittsburgh. Tieyuan Zhu is leading an NSF $937,000 grant  to further develop the low-cost monitoring approach.

Drones flying along miles of rivers in the steep, mountainous terrain of central Taiwan and mapping the rock properties have revealed new clues about how water helps shape mountains over geological time, according to a team led by Penn State scientists.

The latest episode of Growing Impact discusses how climate change and overuse of the Colorado River have significantly decreased the volume of the fifth largest river in the U.S.