Editor Nancy Marie Brown selects the 20 best articles published in Research/Penn State 1980-1999.

"Blue Duikers Come to America" by Charles Fergus (June 1982)
The blue duiker, standing 12 inches at the shoulder and weighing nine pounds, seemed ideal to test the nutrient value of alfalfas, clovers, grasses, hays — anything a sheep or other ruminant might eat. But first Robert Cowan, a professor of animal nutrition, had to get them out of Africa.

"A Feeling for Land" by Charles Fergus (March 1983)
"The mountain was spouting ash then, and steam," said geologist Barry Voight. "At dusk, it sent up these marvelous orange columns. I pitched my tent on the ridge above Maratta Creek and stayed there a couple of days. I read reports, and watched the mountain, and let the geology run around inside my head." A month later the mountain, Mount St. Helens, erupted.

"Fragile Barriers" by Charles Fergus (June 1984)
"The island is a laboratory," says biologist Ron Keiper, who has spent 5,000 hours watching the wild ponies that range over Assateague. Other biologists have found that in the Assateague marshes, snapping turtles — normally freshwater creatures — are taking their first tentative steps back into salt water. Meanwhile three geologists study how the Assateague, along with other East Coast barrier islands, is slowly eroding, rolling back on itself toward the mainland.

"Thinking Like a Mathematician" by Nancy Marie Brown (March 1985)
"This is the kind of thing mathematicians do," Steven Krantz says. "you have an intuitive perception that a circle and a square are different, but you want something that’s more concrete, some way to measure how different the two are."

"The Acid Rain Problem" by Christine Marro (June 1986)
When a molecule of sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxide in the atmosphere meets a molecule of ozone or a hydroxyl radical, the result is acid rain. In this special report, a Penn State engineer, a biologist, a forest hydrologist, two meterologists, two plant pathologists, and the secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources discuss the causes, the effects, and the options for response to the acid rain problem.

"Easy Money: Gambling in America" by Nancy Marie Brown (December 1986)
Americans spend more money on gambling than on any other leisure activity except alcohol consumption: Say sociologist Vicki Abt and American Studies professor Jim Smith, we’ve overestimated the impact of gambling on the individual and underestimated its impact on the values of our society.

"The Rainforest" by Nancy Marie Brown (June 1987)
"Everything is related to everything else in the rainforest." This series of articles describes five scientists who, studying everything from ants to Indians to Japanese immigrants, are untangling the rainforest’s web. They hope what they learn will keep the rainforest from disappearing.

"Boundaries: The Fractal Dances of Nature" by Nancy Marie Brown (March 1988)
Fractal geometry may be "the most useful math ever invented," science’s collective shrugging off of the childish Euclidean straight line and smooth curve — or it may be a mathematically rather interesting elaboration of measure theory soon to be squashed by hoopla. In any case, agree these materials scientists, mathematicians, and graduate students, it makes for "frighteningly lovely" pictures.

"Behind Bars" by Saramma Methratta (September 1988)
Sociologist Ted Alleman researches prison reform by teaching, listening to, and publishing the writings of prisoners — including the convicted murderer of UMW president Jock Yablonski. Prisoners, says Alleman, are the people most qualified to point out the flaws in the system.

"In the Interest of Public Safety" by Nancy Marie Brown (March 1990)
"What does one cry out," asks volcanologist Barry Voight, "when there may be a wolf?" The rumbling craters of Colombia’s Ruiz (29,000 people killed in 1985) and Java’s Merapi (a million at risk), bear Voight’s footsteps. He is testing a new approach to the art of volcano eruption prediction.

"The Flight of Atoms" by Gigi Marino (December 1990)
Tien T. Tsong’s improved field-ion microscope (invented in 1951 by Erwin Mueller) can peel the layers off an element atom by atom, revealing the devilish secrets of the atomic scale.

"The Lesson of the Lock" by Nancy Marie Brown (September, 1991)
Students are best taught when they are taught to teach their teacher. So believes assistant professor of English — and master teacher — John Buck, whose students have taught him a thing or two about a poem he thought he knew inside-out.

"Into the Out" by Michael Stroh (June, 1992)
A jazz musician who likes to "play out," psychologist Julian Thayer is using chaos theory, video laserdiscs, and his string bass to examine how music affects emotions. The result, he says, is "a peak experience."

"Between Ice and Fire" by Nancy Marie Brown (December 1993)
On an expedition to the largest glacier in Iceland, Anna Maria Agustsdottir tested the chemistry of a lake that forms in the crater of a volcano — a lake topped by 250 meters of ice. Her data might clarify not only volcanoes’ but humans’ ability to effect climate change.

"The Chemistry of Caterpillar Guts" by Nancy Marie Brown (September 1995)
An oak tree chewed on by gypsy moths is not defenseless, but it may be ill-advised. The toxic chemicals it laces its leaves with may actually protect the worms from a more deadly virus.

"Pigs in Paradise" by David Pacchioli (January 1997)
In the New Hebrides, 500 miles west of Fiji, intersex pigs once stood at the very apex of a culture: James Michener mentions their sacred tusks in his Tales of the South Pacific. Today the same islands are independent Vanuatu, where endocrinologist Douglas Greger has searched out these unusual animals for their value to science.

"Living with the Forest" by David Pacchioli (May 1997)
Can modern humans coexist with the world’s largest rainforest? Penn State ecologist Chris Uhl believes they can, and at the research center Uhl founded near the mouth of the Amazon, the next generation of Brazilian scientists is breaking boundaries to show that conservation pays. Writer David Pacchioli reports from the state of Pará.

"First Light" by David Pacchioli (September 1997)
For the Hobby-Eberly Telescope team, it was crunch time: time to see whether this huge new telescope would actually work. Writer David Pacchioli traveled to Texas to witness the event.

"Seeds of Change" by Dana Bauer (September 1998)
The first group of Schreyer Ambassadors helped Peruvian villagers harvest an early crop of tubers at 3600 meters. And that was just on the first day of their weeklong adventure in the Andes Mountains.

"The Mind of the Swarm" by David Pacchioli (September 1998)
"The choice of a new nest site by a swarm of bees is one of the clearest examples of group decision-making outside of human behavior," writes entomologist Scott Camazine. Sometimes it takes a while. Writer David Pacchioli spent two days in the desert, waiting for the go.

Honeycomb photograph by Scott Camazine.