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Nina Jenkins and Matt Thomas of Penn State's entomology department will host the NanoDays Science Café from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 11, at Zola New World Bistro, 324 W. College Ave., State College, Pa. The talk will center on bed bugs and the insects' ties to nanotechnology.
Penn State educators are conducting presentations in Spanish for mushroom growers in Pennsylvania. At a recent meeting in Kennett Square, Pa., Maria Gorgo-Gourovitch, PA IPM’s Latino Coordinator; Mena Hautau, Penn State extension educator; Katie Poppitti, Penn State 4H and mushroom extension educator; David Beyer, professor of plant pathology at Penn State; and other Penn State educators presented topics on personal protective equipment, best management practices and the fundamentals of IPM.
Children attending one summer camp this year will encounter a lot of bugs. But they won't have to pack insect repellent. Young bug enthusiasts can satisfy their curiosity about insects by attending Penn State's Bug Camp for Kids, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., June 24 to 27.
Pennsylvania has about 300 million ash trees, state officials estimate. And every one of them may die soon. Sometime in the next year or two, almost 370,000 ash trees in Allegheny County -- about one of every 10 -- will die because of infestation by the emerald ash borer.
A snail as big as your foot, an insect the size of chocolate sprinkles and a mold related to the one that caused the Irish potato famine are on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's list of the top pests that threaten America's crops and forestland.
Environmentalists and beekeepers are calling on the government to ban some of the country's most widely used insect-killing chemicals. The pesticides, called neonicotinoids, became popular among farmers during the 1990s. They're used to coat the seeds of many agricultural crops, including the biggest crop of all: corn. Neonics, as they're called, protect those crops from insect pests.
Poison centers answer more than 3.6 million calls each year. That’s one call every eight seconds. According to the American Association of Poison Centers, children younger than 6 years old account for about half of the calls placed to poison centers. What’s more, poison center data reported over 146,000 calls made to poison centers with concerns about exposure to common household pesticides. These figures show the need for everyone to lock up pesticides and household chemicals out of children’s reach – preferably in a high cabinet.
Some people who fell prey to a 2009-2010 outbreak of dengue fever in Florida carried a particular viral strain that they did not bring into the country from a recent trip abroad, according to a fresh genetic analysis conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Bedbugs are a growing public health issue in the United States and around the world, but their resurgence in recent years may have been aided by humans who unwittingly helped the pests evolve numerous ways of thwarting a common insecticide, scientists say.
Pennsylvania fared much better that its Midwest colleagues when it came harvest last year. Greg Roth, Penn State Extension educator, reviewed the 2012 growing season at a March 5 meeting to point out how Pennsylvania harvest responded to weather conditions.
A new dual-title graduate degree program in International Agriculture and Development offered by Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences has graduated its first two students.
It can take years to breed a new variety of potato, but trials are under way to create hardier crops, experts say. More than 50 commercial potato growers from areas including Schuylkill County, Pa., met recently in North Whitehall Township, Lehigh County, Pa., to discuss the latest industry news and share ways to grow better crops.
Healthy Homes training on IPM in Multi-Family Housing is available online at the Pennsylvania IPM Program’s website.
Northeastern bees have suffered population declines over the last century and a half, largely due to human encroachment, which has fragmented their environments. But none has faced a more devastating, rapid and recent collapse than the genus Bombus -- the humble bumblebee -- say entomologists in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences online, March 5.
In this issue: • IPM Education in Latino Communities • Uninvited Guests: Bed Bugs • CDC Issues Health Advisory • Training Modules for Child Cares • Home Visits for Children with Asthma • IPM for Multi-Family Housing • Useful Websites • Upcoming Events
Now that you're over winter's last hurrah, it's time to think spring - and stink bugs. Plenty of the pests crawled in for a long winter's nap, but scientists can only guess what that means for the 2013 growing season. A few early risers ventured out of the crevices on warm winter days, but many more are as snug as bugs in a rug.
Emerging technology is arguably one of the most significant issues ahead for ag retailers. It is in that spirit that I present my top five technology trends, picked out as being the most important from the perspective of an information technology company.
A series of professional development lessons that promote safer and healthier indoor environments in child cares are available online through the Penn State’s Better Kid Care Program.
Stink bugs have become common throughout central Pennsylvania in recent years. Unfortunately, they are becoming common in living rooms, kitchens and bathrooms in the area. And according to Tom Ford, commercial horticulture educator with the Penn State Cooperative Extension Cambria County Office, this year could be "quite a banner year" for the pests.
Now some of Penn State Entomology's most popular publications are available in a free eBook format. The publications include information about bed bugs, cockroaches, spiders and other common household pests. The publications are available in several different mobile device formats, and several are available in both English and Spanish.
