James McConkey, Cornell's Goldwin Smith Professor of English Literature emeritus, didn't think he had another book in him. But his latest is "The Telescope in the Parlor: Essays on Life and Literature."
From 1980 to 2000, the foreign-born Hispanic, and largely Mexican, population in New York state grew significantly. In a study just released, two Cornell University researchers claim this growing population of immigrants can potentially contribute to community development in upstate New York, where population loss and economic stagnation or decline have been pervasive for decades. "The growing number of Hispanics is related to the changes in the agricultural workforce in New York and nationwide. Increasing numbers of these farm workers and their families settle in upstate New York communities where they work and then face various challenges and opportunities as they seek to become integrated in the social and economic life of the community," noted Max Pfeffer, Cornell professor of development sociology who co-authored the study "Immigrants and the Community" with Pilar A. Parra, a research associate in Cornell's Division of Nutritional Sciences. (December 21, 2004)
The demand for organic food in the United States has increased by approximately 200 percent over the past 10 years, a trend that is expected to accelerate in the coming decade. Organic farmers in New York state will be better able to capitalize on this trend thanks to three new grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture received by researchers in Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Four Cornell University space scientists are on five of the eight teams that will begin planning the science program for NASA's next Mars rover mission, the mobile Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), scheduled for launch in 2009. The space agency has chosen the eight proposals to provide instrumentation and associated science investigations for the mission, which is intended to explore a local region as a potential habitat for past or present life. (December 21, 2004)
Trey Graham, theater critic at the Washington City Paper, is the winner of the 2003-04 George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism. The award, which carries a $10,000 prize, is administered by the Cornell University Department of English and is one of the most generous and distinguished in the American theater. Graham was selected by a committee consisting of the chairs of the English departments of Cornell, Princeton and Yale universities, assisted by experts on the theater from those universities. The Nathan committee citation reads: "For Trey Graham, the play's the thing. In reviewing classical and contemporary work produced in the Greater Washington D.C. area, he brings a fresh eye both to things we think we know and to things newly-minted. He writes with sensitivity and flair about the individual masterworks of the British and American canon, but he's especially adept at linking these and other works from the past with the best the present has to offer." (December 20, 2004)
In a study to determine how much the public fears terrorism, almost half of respondents polled nationally said they believe the U.S. government should -- in some way -- curtail civil liberties for Muslim Americans, according to a new survey released today (Dec. 17) by Cornell University. (December 17, 2004)
There is a 100 percent chance of sand all along the beaches of Atlantic City, N.J., Christmas morning, but only an 8 percent chance of snow. If you are looking for a White Christmas in the northeastern United States -- or trying to avoid one -- the top spots are the usual suspects: Pinkham Notch, N.H., (with nearly 100 percent chance of snow), Caribou, Maine, and, in New York state, Boonville and Old Forge, according to Keith Eggleston, senior climatologist with Cornell University's Northeast Regional Climate Center A lower probability of snow -- although still at a high 71 percent -- is forecast for Syracuse, N.Y., and Portland, Maine. (December 17, 2004)
Science magazine has chosen the discoveries of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission as Breakthrough of the Year in its Dec. 17 edition, published today. The principal scientific investigator for the mission's twin-rover science program is Steve Squyres, professor of astronomy at Cornell University, assisted by a large team of researchers, 28 of them at Cornell, including 15 students. The mission is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The journal, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, says that its annual top honor is awarded for the mission's discovery of evidence for the prolonged presence of potentially life-supporting, salty, acidic water on the planet's surface. (December 16, 2004)
One of the most-accessed legal Web sites in the world just got better. The Legal Information Institute (LII) at Cornell University Law School is now offering free details on high-profile cases before they are argued and ruled on by the Supreme Court, including one on medical marijuana (Ashcroft v. Raich), another on restrictions on interstate alcohol sales (Granholm v. Heald) and a third on the constitutionality of executing young people who were under 18 when they committed a capital crime (Roper v. Simmons). Written in an easily understandable style for everyone from journalists to teachers to bright high school students, the analyses of upcoming Supreme Court cases are put together by a team of Cornell Law School students. The goal is to help people who are neither lawyers nor legal scholars grasp the issues at stake and why they are important. (December 16, 2004)
On Oct. 7, Rui Hai Liu, M.D., an associate professor of food science at Cornell University, and his colleagues in Cornell's Department of Food Science published an article in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry titled "Varietal differences in phenolic content and antioxidant and antiproliferative activities of onions." The article reported on research indicating that onion types vary in antioxidant and antiproliferation activity which inhibits liver and colon cancer cell growth. One of the most active types was from New York state. (December 16, 2004)
If you're looking for a holiday gift for girls 8 to 12 -- and can't face buying yet another Barbie -- take a look at http://www.girls-explore.com. There you'll find realistic-looking dolls that are active role models for girls. They are shaped and garbed to look like aviator Amelia Earhart, painter Mary Cassatt, softball Olympian Dot Richardson, black abolitionist Harriet Tubman and four other female achievers, with more to come. "These women were determined, overcame obstacles and gave back to society in many different ways," says Randy Allen, who launched Girls Explore&tm; this fall after discovering no appropriate items on toy-store shelves for her nieces. A former executive who is now consultant-in-residence and senior lecturer at Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management, she added: "The purpose of the line of dolls and their accoutrements is not only to give girls positive role models based on contemporary and historical women but also to provide historical information and recommended books to the girls and their parents." (December 14, 2004)
