After above-average rainfall, the Atacama should—or at least could—have burst to life, with what Cornell University astrobiologist Alberto Fairén calls “majestic blooms.” But, according to a new study by Fairén and his colleagues, what followed was a lot more death than life. That has implications not just on Earth, but on arid planets like Mars.

“For a long time, the American democratic process has been based on the idea that if an election has an outcome that one side doesn’t like, it’s still considered legitimate,” says Tom Pepinsky, a government professor at Cornell University. “If there’s ever been a time for elected politicians to draw a line in the sand ... this is it.”

“The design of these tools often doesn’t acknowledge the full range of women’s needs. There are strong assumptions built into their design that can marginalize a lot of women’s sexual health experiences,” says Karen Levy, an assistant professor of information science at Cornell University. 

Op-ed from Paul Mutolo, director of external partnership for the Energy Materials Center at Cornell, on the importance of infrastructure to New York’s clean energy sector. He mentions that Cornell University is working with Avangrid, the owner of NYSEG and RG&E, to test, design and deploy smart electric meters and the related smart grid infrastructure.

Most companies that have the ability to relocate in response to unionization efforts at least threaten to do so, according to research by Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell University. “The threat of outsourcing work is the most effective tactic that employers have to intimidate workers out of organizing,” Bronfenbrenner says. 

Cornell Law School Professor Josh Chafetz speculates on the rationale for a House investigation of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ resignation. They would be “investigating to determine whether Sessions was fired as part of a conspiracy to obstruct justice,” Chafetz says.

Jamila Michener, an assistant professor of government at the College of Arts & Sciences, says Trump’s rhetoric gave other Republicans permission to use language and race-baiting strategies once considered out-of-bounds.

Douglas Kriner, professor of government at the College of Arts & Sciences, underscores how important control of the House, as opposed to the generally less partisan and slower-moving Senate, is to congressional probes. “What we found is that divided government is a major driver of investigations in the House. This is particularly true in periods of intense partisan polarization.”

Peter K. Enns, associate professor of government and executive director of the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, and Jonathon P. Schuldt, associate professor of communication and a faculty affiliate at the Roper Center, co-authored an op-ed on President Trump’s immigration rhetoric and the survey data that suggests such rhetoric will not help Republicans in today’s elections.

“Having shade and growing in high altitudes means the bean develops very slowly,” says Miguel Gómez, associate professor at the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University. “The bean accumulates all the aromas of the particular terroir and the particular variety.”

Robert Hockett, a professor at Cornell University Law School, discusses potential Federal Reserve legislation that would ease regulations on all but the biggest banks in America.

"Proving that this was possible was a major contribution to computer science," says Emin Gün Sirer, a computer science professor at Cornell University. "Satoshi opened the door to revamping the entire finance industry.” Now, however, “Satoshi has been outclassed in every imaginable way. And for the issues we still face, [Satoshi’s writing] provides no solution."