Eager to create a fascinating event for the entire family, Cornell’s department of entomology held its fifth annual Insectapalooza Insect Fair this Saturday, celebrating the diversity of insects, while showcasing current research in entomology.

Attractions included the “Live Butterfly House,” where children held and played with butterflies, and the “Cockroach Races,” where kids watched the popular pests race through tubes towards a finish line. While Insectapalooza was designed to be child-friendly, the fair was more than just fun and games. In addition to stimulating junior’s interest in entomology, Insectapalooza sought to share valuable findings in the field with adults.

The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) will crash into the moon on Friday morning, destroying itself in search of water in the form of ice on the surface of the moon. Four minutes after the Centaur upper stage rocket will hit the Cabeus A crater at 7:30 a.m. on Oct. 9, the Shepherding Spacecraft will make impact. The Centaur will create a plume possibly containing ice that may be visible to some areas on Earth. By traveling through the plume, the Shepherding Spacecraft will be able to analyze the material that was sent flying off of the moon.

Sooner or later, most Cornell students find themselves in a chemistry course, sometimes against their best wishes. It’s not easy to teach Chemistry to a uninterested audience, but one professor is well known for making the most of the endeavor by interjecting a little bit of fun.

Dr. Frank DiSalvo is the John A. Newman Professor of Physical Science and has been a member Cornell’s faculty for over 30 years. He’s well known by his students for taking what he calls “commercial breaks” and blowing stuff up in class.

Before Spot reached Petco or the pound and went up for adoption, he had already taken quite a journey. New research places the evolutionary origins of the common dog as far away as Eastern Asia. A Cornell-based research group has taken a new approach to finding answers to difficult questions in canine genetics.

Current theories suggest that the domestication of dogs could have occurred for a range of reasons, including security and even as a source of food.

Popular theories exist that place the earliest domestication of the common dog in Eastern Asia. However, there is support for separate cases of domestication occurring worldwide in areas such as Europe.

“The next major explosion is going to be when genetics and computers come together,” American writer and futurist, Alvin Toffler, once said. A manifestation of this explosion apparently resides with one of Cornell’s newcomers, Professor Alon Keinan, biological statistics and computational biology.

Alon Keinan was born and raised in Israel. He immigrated to the United States for postdoctoral research. “It’s pretty mandatory to have post-doctoral experience from a good university outside of Israel in order to then get a faculty position in Israel,” he said.

Three days after Gov. David Paterson proclaimed Sept. 23, 2009 as Stem Cell Awareness Day in New York State, researchers, students and enthusiasts from within and beyond Cornell convened for the second annual stem cell symposium in Alice Statler Auditorium on Saturday. The event was organized by the Cornell University Stem Cell Program, a group made up of and overseen by life scientists working in this specific field. This year's symposium featured wide-ranging personnel from New Haven to Los Angeles.

In 1957, reacting to the devastating potential of Soviet missile armament, President Eisenhower pressured Congress to pass The National Defense Education Act (NDEA), which funded curriculum changes in public schools, particularly in math and the sciences.

According to film-collector and restorer Skip Elsheimer the increasing resources allocated by the NDEA, the fearful demand of Americans for educational videos and the abundance of film equipment left over after World War II encouraged small, goal-oriented groups to produce highly focused educational films.

Imagine a life without cars, cell phones or laptops. Olin and Uris Libraries closing as soon as the sun sets, while rough drafts for freshman writing seminars fill up the trash cans with their paper, ink and lead. While such a disaster will clearly not happen tomorrow, unsustainable rates of production and waste have professionals from agriculture to architecture concerned.

Asst. Prof. Kevin Pratt, architecture, teaches a class on thermal and environmental systems. He is currently involved in two research projects — Vibro Wind Power and Sustain — both of which are focused on improving the energy efficiency of buildings.