For a country whose president is proposing universal healthcare, visiting lecturer David Healy — a professor of psychological medicine at Cardiff University, North Wales — said it is essential to foster an understanding of what good healthcare really is. Healy was the featured professor at this year’s Nordlander Lecture in Science and Public Policy on Wednesday, Mar. 25, established by the science and technology studies department in memory of J. Eric Nordlander, a prominent educator and scientist. Professor Bruce Lewenstein, science and technology studies, introduced David Healy as well as the Nordlander family who was in attendance.

A tradition that began with the natives of West Africa to sweeten their traditionally bland or bitter meals, “flavor tripping” has recently become a new trend that is gaining popularity in social scenes. On Mar. 28, intrigued students flooded Risley Hall to experience a night of sensory overload at Cornell Underground’s Flavor Tripping event.

Upon entering, each student was given the miracle berry, Synsepalum dulcificum, and proceeded through a series of lavishly decorated rooms reminiscent of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. In each room, “trippers” were presented with a variety of food ranging from citrus-sour to vinegar-bar-bitter, but instead the food tasted sugary sweet.

Professor emeritus Roald Hoffmann, chemical and chemical biology, cannot contain himself to just the arts or the physical sciences. In addition to continuing his research on molecular bonding structure, he spends his time writing poetry, studying ceramics and managing a science-oriented cabaret in New York City.

Hoffmann was born in Zloczów, Poland in 1937 and moved to New York City in 1949 at the age of 11. In 1955, he began his studies at Columbia University in chemistry. He next attended Harvard, where he earned his M.A. in physics in 1960 and his Ph.D. in chemical physics in 1962. Three years later, Hoffmann came to Cornell University as an Associate Professor of Chemistry.

“It was the only place that gave me a job,” Hoffmann joked.

Cotton candy often brings back childhood memories of Ferris wheels, pony rides and failed attempts at winning that obscenely large stuffed flamingo at the fair. But for researchers at Cornell’s Nanobiotechnology Center (NBTC) and Weill Medical College, this delightful carnival treat has inspired a leap forward in the field of tissue engineering.

Leon Bellan, then a graduate student in applied engineering and physics, had his revelation while sitting in on one of the weekly NBTC seminars on campus. The topic of discussion that day was the limitations involved in making artificial organs.

Prof. John Losey, entomology, understands the ecological importance of each insect species. So forces beyond his control conspired to eliminate agriculture’s long-favored, nine-spotted heroine, Losey and the entomology department joined forces to aid the native species, founding “The Lost Ladybug Project.”

In the late 1980s, the populations of several species of indigenous ladybugs began to decrease. During the 1990s, nine-spotted ladybug populations disappeared entirely in the northeastern United States. However, in October 2006, Jilene and Jonathan Penhale miraculously discovered the first northeastern, nine-spotted ladybug in 14 years.

“There are still ladybugs out there,” Losey explained. “The problem is we’re losing species.”

Monday was the 20th anniversary of a scientific fiasco. On March 23, 1989, Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons — two electrochemists from the University of Utah — announced in a press conference that they had achieved cold fusion.

Fleischmann and Pons claimed to have joined the nuclei of two atoms to produce a single, heavier nucleus. This reaction, they said, releases a great deal of energy and promises a cheap and almost limitless source of clean energy for the modern world.

There is a limited number of people for whom contracting polio could be morbidly viewed as a good thing. But according to British comedian Phil Jupitus, when “the human being in history who has done the most damage to the environment” contracted a chronic disease, the world was better off for it.

This menace was Thomas Midgley Jr., class of 1911 — one Cornell alumnus seldom bragged about during tours of Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

To many environmentalists, Jupitus’ comment may seem appropriate. Midgley’s inventions, the tetra-ethyl lead (TEL) additive in gasoline and chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) refrigerants, became two of the most talked about chemical pollutants in human history.

In a dark room on the third floor of Kimball Hall, researchers analyze dragonflies and butterflies with a high-speed camera to better understand the aerodynamics and mechanics of flight.

A nearby laboratory, dedicated to the study of booming sand — a natural sound phenomenon produced by dunes under stress — reverberates as microphones and speakers play to a thin crate full of sand.

These are some of the laboratories that used to comprise the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (TAM). On Jan. 1, 2009, however, the College of Engineering merged TAM with the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE).

On Feb. 27, 90 Cornell students traveled to Washington, D.C. to join over 12,000 young people from around the country for Powershift 2009, the largest national youth conference on global climate change to date.

After two days of workshops, discussion panels and speakers, the students rallied on Capitol Hill for carbon emission legislation, green jobs and environmental regulation,

Eight years after the Bush administration’s ban on federal funding for new stem cell research, stem cell laboratories may finally be getting the lifeline they have been waiting for.

Throughout his campaign, President Barack Obama promised to change this federal stem cell policy. On February 5, Obama issued a guarantee to reporters that he would “sign an executive order for stem cells” to restore federal funding. A week and a half later, on February 15, Obama advisor David Axelrod confirmed this promise on Fox News.

Stem cells have the unique ability to develop into any type of cell in the body — a property that makes them attractive for a variety of medical applications — but where this ability comes from remains unclear.