Penn State researchers have been recognized in
Discover Magazine's Top 100 Stories of 2008 issue. The magazine is unveiling its top stories of 2008 one at a time on
its Web site throughout the month of December.
Of the 60 stories already posted on the site, three feature Penn State researchers. Political scientist Eric Plutzer helped conduct the first nationwide survey of how evolution is taught in public schools. He led a team that questioned nearly 1,000 teachers about their personal beliefs and the amount of class time they devoted to evolution and creationism. The results were surprising. Read the full story
here.
Another Penn State researcher, Dennis van Engelsdorp, studied the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder, which is causing the deaths and disappearance of bees nationwide. Read the full story
here.
Evolutionary biologist Robert Eckhardt is quoted in a story about the skeleton of an 18,000-year-old hominid found on the Indonesian island of Flores that was only three feet tall--the infamous "Hobbit man." Read the full story
here.