When people suffer from chronic or long-lasting diseases life hangs by a thread. Patients remain under constant monitoring and medical supervision while they slowly recover from illnesses like congestive heart failure (CHF), a condition where the heart is unable to pump enough blood to the rest of the body. Traditionally, this monitoring confined sufferers to an uncomfortable hospital environment surrounded by other threatening diseases. But recent advances in wireless communication technology may soon allow for remote monitoring. Aside from improving patient comfort, “telehealth” may reduce healthcare costs. Telehealth is projected to be a $5 billion industry by 2010.

Next Tuesday, America will elect the next president of the United States and new members of the 111th Congress. Perhaps more than ever scientific issues are at the forefront of the political battleground. The interaction of science and politics exists at all levels from the elementary classroom, to the university laboratory, to the halls of congress, to the oval office.

Cornell and its faculty have long made significant contributions to not only science but scientific policy as well. They have also seen their research affected by policy, and thus have a lot to say about this relationship — its past and present circumstances, and what the future may bring.

NEW DELHI (AP) — India launched its first mission to the moon Wednesday, rocketing a satellite up into the pale dawn sky in a two-year mission to redraw maps of the lunar surface.

Clapping and cheering scientists tracked the ascent on computer screens after they lost sight of Chandrayaan-1 from the Sriharikota space center in southern India. Chandrayaan means "Moon Craft" in ancient Sanskrit.

Indian Space Research Organization chairman G. Madhavan Nair said the mission is to "unravel the mystery of the moon."

"We have started our journey to the moon and the first leg has gone perfectly well," he said.

Allen Kim ’10 wound his way between the congested tables of Clark Hall’s third floor. He circumvented Ernest Rutherford’s gold foil experiment. He sidestepped past some radioactive particles. He dodged some gamma rays, and evaded the nuclear forces emanating from the magnetic resonance imaging device. After scaling the steps to the fourth floor of Clark Hall, he located his homework, a contraption of gizmos, gadgets and coils that manipulates the physical properties of light. He finished his journey, and began his homework assignment for PHYS 410/510: Advanced Experimental Physics.

The most important type of science is the kind that “everybody gets,” that students “can go home and discuss with their families,” remarked Prof. Francis DiSalvo, the co-director of the Cornell Fuel Cell Institute. With the Institute’s focus on a deceptively simple technology ultimately capable of solving America’s fuel crisis, the CFCI represents exactly this type of science.

Prof. Dan Brown ’81 knows peanut butter, and he knows nutrition. “It’s tasty, and [people] like to eat it,” he explained. “I mean, who doesn’t like peanut butter?”

Brown’s research revolutionized the production of a peanut-based treatment for malnutrition in Haiti. His research improves many aspects of agriculture and nutrition, aiding people around the world.

Brown, an expert of toxicology, nutrition and animal science, studied the negative impact of toxic compounds that harm both animals and humans. Most recently, he studied aflatoxins — poisonous substances produced by mold found in common foods like peanut butter.