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Early Humans May Have Been Hobbits, Scientists Say
November 18th, 2009In 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. Read More
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Advocacy Group FACES Aims to Ease Struggle for Epileptic Students
November 18th, 2009In the middle of her chemistry lab, Kaitlin Hardy ’12 suddenly fell to the floor. When she woke up, she was inside an ambulance. It was another seizure — a symptom of her epilepsy. Epilepsy is a brain disorder characterized by repeated, spontaneous seizures. The brain sends and receives messages using nerve cells called neurons, which communicate with each other by firing electrical impulses. Read More
The Scientist: James Paul Alexander
November 18th, 2009Imagine a project that has “no predecessor,” because until now, the technology has not existed to study it. This is the case with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Prof. Jim Alexander, physics, is one of almost 2,000 physicists working to push scientific knowledge of the physical world and question the fundamental laws that govern it. Read More
The Scientist: Monroe Weber-Shirk
November 11th, 2009During the 1980s, Prof. Monroe Weber-Shirk, civil and environmental engineering, volunteered in Latin American refugee camps. At the time, he was convinced that he would devote the rest of his life to development work in Latin America, but his plans were thwarted by a diagnosis of Hodgkin’s disease and his return to the U.S. for treatment. While pursuing a Ph.D. Read More
Archived Stories
Terrorism in the Age of Technology: Profs Discuss Biothreats and Cyber Warfare
November 11th, 2009While once considered unconventional, cyber attacks and biological warfare have become an increasing threat to security and a tactic of rising concern. Spanning the areas of computer science, technology and government, technological warfare elucidates the importance of functioning computer networks, screening technologies and the danger that such an attack could pose. Read More
Chair of Yale Pharmacology Gives Racker Lecture
November 11th, 2009You might think that Joseph Schlessinger — chair of the department of pharmacology at Yale, pioneer in cancer research and one of the top 30 most-cited scientists of the 1990s — went through life with a plan. “Nonsense!” Schlessinger said, denying several times in his talk on Thursday that his career was anything more than a “set of interesting accidents” guided by curiosity. Read More
Clear Forecast for Leonids Meteor Shower
November 11th, 2009In the predawn hours between Nov. 16 and Nov. 17, stargazers will enjoy a moon that is just past new, affording them a good look at the impressive Leonids meteor shower. Commonly known as shooting stars, meteor showers range in visibility and quantity — scientists expect Nov. 17’s Leonids meteor shower to be an exceptional display. Read More
NIH Grant to Promote Scientific Social Networking
November 4th, 2009The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a $12.2 million grant to Cornell and six other institutions to develop a social networking site that will connect biomedical researchers across the country. Think Facebook, but rather than updating your profile with your “Halloween 2009!” photo album and relationship status, you would post research interests, current projects and your latest journal publications. Read More
The Scientist: Ramon Mira de Orduña
November 4th, 2009Number 38 on the list of 161 things to do during your undergraduate career at Cornell: Go on a wine tour. A prime tourist activity of the Finger Lakes, wine and winemaking is a process has been perfected over the years, culminating in a myriad of colors, textures and flavors that can appease any palette. Ramon Mira de Orduña, viticulture and enology, studies the microbiological aspect of winemaking and how it can improve the winemaking process in light of environmental change. Read More
Prof’s Book Blurs Boundaries Between Sciences
November 4th, 2009Cornell biology majors are required to fulfill many requirements outside of standard biology, from organic chemistry to physics. However, according to Prof. Randy Wayne, plant biology, that is not enough. Students of many majors do not understand the underlying processes that tie these subjects together, Wayne said. That is why his book Plant Cell Biology — From Astronomy to Zoology aims to combine aspects of biology, chemistry and physics to the study without defining boundaries. His book is for, as he says, “People who want to understand who they are and their relationship to the world, and how to learn techniques to discover that without making divisions.” Read More