Five years and over 400,000 samples later, Cornell’s most recent Frank H. T. Rhodes Class of ’56 Professor, Dr. Spencer Wells, enhanced the public’s view of genetic anthropology.  His work re-traces humanity’s migrations over the past 60,000 years.

Can solar power really solve the issue of fossil fuels? Are solar cells economically efficient? And how do they build those solar panels anyway? New Cornell research strives to transform solar technology, using newer, cheaper materials to generate renewable energy.

Who’s Spencer Wells?

Dr. Spencer Wells is a celebrated geneticist, who studies human diversity.  He is the author of 41 papers and two books, the author and presenter of the PBS/National Geographic documentary Journey of Man: a Genetic Odyssey, as well as several other documentaries for National Geographic, the director of the Genographic project, a popular explorer and lecturer, and the new Frank H.T. Rhodes Class of '56 Professor.

In a strange case of science imitating art, one hobbit has again become the center of a heated and ongoing conflict.

Since its 2003 discovery on the Indonesian island of Flores, the Homo floresiensis (nicknamed hobbit because it only grew to be about three feet tall) has caused scientists across the world to debate whether the find is a new species or simply a variation of the modern human. The difference could signal a major paradigm shift in the study of primitive humans.