Jeff Mulhollem

In Pennsylvania, 3.5 million people are served by private well systems, according to Penn State Extension.
To better understand potential contamination of the groundwater feeding these systems, a team of researchers from Penn State conducted a novel three-year citizen science study of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) — often referred to as forever chemicals — in 167 private wells across Pennsylvania.

A debate continues among scientists over whether tree composition in forests in eastern North American historically have been influenced more by climate or by cultural burning, which is the intentional and controlled use of fire by Indigenous people to manage their environment.
Now, a new study of southern New England forests by a team including a researcher from Penn State lends credence to the cultural burning hypothesis, suggesting that fire-tolerant vegetation – oak, hickory and pine – were significantly more abundant near Indigenous settlements over the last 5,000 years.

Despite a long history of traditional medicinal use in the United States, the collection, consumption and efficacy of the peculiar forest plant aptly named ghost pipe remains a mystery.
Now, with social media and the internet driving a resurgence in the harvest and economic trade of the parasitic species – which appears strangely white because it is devoid of chlorophyl – a research team from Penn State has taken the first step toward documenting its new status.