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From the Archives: Controversy and Innovation at the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory
April 29th, 2009In the years between World War II and the Vietnam War, when aeronautical research was at its peak, a popular watering hole for renowned scientists and engineers was the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory (CAL) located in Buffalo, New York. CAL oversaw several divisions of research, ranging from aeronautics to military demands and automotive safety. At the time, innovation in aeronautical research was booming. Prof. Emeritus Franklin Moore, mechanical engineering, said, “It’s hard to convey how interesting, how exciting, and sort of romantic the idea of flight was in those days. Everybody thought aeronautics was the wave of the future, sort of like how computer science is the wave of the future today.” Moore was the Director of Aerosciences at CAL from 1955 to 1965, before joining the Cornell faculty. Read More
Other Science
Profs. Discuss Outreach through 'Translational' Medicine
April 29th, 2009In an event organized by the Cornell Undergraduate Health Symposium, profs. discussed the merits of translational medicine and the necessity for collaboration amongst researchers in the life sciences and those in the social sciences. Read More
The Scientist: Jeffrey Varner
April 29th, 2009It is hard to deny the progress that has been made by people who can “think outside the box.” Practically speaking, how do scientists, engineers and those in business learn to cultivate that special insight and intuition that transforms the dynamics of a problem into a more workable space? Asst. Prof. Jeffrey Varner, chemical engineering, did so by looking through the lens of a different academic discipline. Read More
Earth Day Structure Raises Environmental Concerns
April 29th, 2009In New York State alone, only about 20 percent of plastic water bottles are recycled, while the others are sent to landfills where they will take approximately 700 years to degrade. Even if the bottles are recycled, they are downcycled to lower quality state instead of being reused as plastic bottles. The end product is most commonly used as carpeting. Read More
Archived Stories
Grey’s Writer Discusses Science Communication
April 29th, 2009Cornell welcomed Tony Phelan, the co-executive producer of Grey’s Anatomy to the university on Sunday, Apr. 26. Phelan, who has produced, written and directed a number of episodes, spoke to the crowd about how medicine is integrated into the popular television show. “All the medicine on the show actually exists,” Phelan said. Despite the unlikelihood of many of the medical cases used in the show, Phelan said, they are all based on real stories. Read More
Student Groups, Campus Research Promote Malaria Awareness
April 22nd, 2009In 2006, malaria caused approximately 880,000 deaths worldwide. According to the World Heath Organization, most of those who died were African children. Aid organizations are alarmed that such a preventable disease can still claim the lives of so many, but efforts to decrease the death toll are being made both internationally and on campus. Tomorrow, the Cornell malaria intervention organization Cover Africa will host a sleep-out on the Arts Quad to raise awareness and money for malaria prevention. The event is in honor of Malaria Awareness Day on Saturday April 25. Read More
The Scientist: George Hudler
April 22nd, 2009Thanks to Dr. Hudler and his team of plant pathologists, plant care professionals throughout the Northeast are now able to spot the black "bleeding" canker disease on European beech trees in its early stages and treat it, without using harmful or contaminating pesticides. But it wasn’t until he took a required course in forest pathology as a senior that the respected mycologist discovered his love for fungi. “Quite frankly, I didn’t even know what forest pathology was at the time,” he said. Read More
In Wired World, a Changing Role for Research Universities
April 22nd, 2009Since Cornell’s inception in 1865, society has changed dramatically. In a world of iPhones and Kindles, have the physical aspects of research universities become obsolete? “You can do a lot with online collaboration software of different sorts,” Asst. Prof. Rachel Prentice, science and technology studies, said. “The question is what are you losing when you lose that physical interaction.” Read More
Cornellians Past and Present Act on Earth Day
April 22nd, 2009Today marks the 39th annual celebration of Earth Day. It is a more obscure holiday, unheralded by commercial extravagance, but one that represents a turning point in national attitudes about the environment. While the world may have a long way to go towards achieving a sustainable future, Fil Eden, president of KyotoNow, said there is plenty to celebrate on Earth Day. “Since the passage of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts of the ’70s, we have seen emissions [of certain pollutants] reduced by 90 percent.” Read More
New Technology Reveals Close Calls With Asteroids
April 15th, 2009At approximately 69 ft. to 154 ft. in diameter, Asteroid 2009 DD45 — which was sighted heading towards the Earth on Feb. 28 — posed a serious threat to the planet, and despite global surveillance, no one saw it coming. A similar asteroid destroyed 800 square miles of Siberian forest in the early twentieth century. Scientists hope new monitoring technology will keep future debris from sneaking up on our planet. Read More