On Oct. 13, 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments in Roper v. Simmons, a case that could determine the future of the juvenile death penalty in America. Joan Jacobs Brumberg, Cornell University professor of history, human development and gender studies, with expertise on the history of American childhood, says the court must -- once and for all -- halt the practice of executing minors. "America cannot legitimately hold itself up as a beacon of human rights around the world as long as we continue to execute people for crimes committed as juveniles." (September 17, 2004)
Five World Food Prize laureates will address the problem of world hunger in a fall semester seminar series, as part of Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) yearlong centennial celebration. The seminars will be in Room G10 of the Biotechnology Building on campus from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. and are free and open to the public. The first seminar, Sept. 23, "Accomplishments and Aspirations: Linking Agriculture, Nutrition and Health," features World Food Prize laureates Nevin Scrimshaw (1991), Catherine Bertini (2003) and Cornell Professor Per Pinstrup-Andersen (2001). (September 16, 2004)
Cornell developmental psychologist Stephen J. Ceci is the recipient of the 2004-05 American Psychological Society's James McKeen Cattell Award "for a lifetime of outstanding contributions to the area of psychological research whose research addresses a critical problem in society at large."
Joe Trippi, the first campaign director for Howard Dean's presidential primary bid, will speak on "Conservatism on College Campuses" Tuesday, Sept. 21, at 5 p.m. in 305 Ives Hall on the Cornell University campus. The talk is co-sponsored by the Cornell Mock Election student group and the Cornell Democrats. It is open to the public without charge. (September 16, 2004)
Fay Vincent, the former commissioner of Major League Baseball, will deliver the Stephen and Evalyn Milman Lecture in American Culture and Baseball Wednesday, Sept. 22, at 4:30 p.m. in Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium of Goldwin Smith Hall. Vincent's talk, "The Baseball Mystery: Why Is It So Special?" is free and open to the public. Vincent became the eighth commissioner of baseball in 1989, following the death of A. Bartlett Giamatti, and resigned in 1992. In his first tumultuous year as commissioner, he presided over the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics, which was interrupted for 10 days by the Loma Prieta earthquake. During his first year, Vincent also endured an acrimonious owners lockout and oversaw the suspension of New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. (September 16, 2004)
The past and future of modernism in Havana and Miami as it is embodied in art, buildings and landscapes is the subject of a conference at Cornell this Friday and Saturday, Sept. 17-18.
Using a carbon nanotube, Cornell University researchers have produced a tiny electromechanical oscillator that might be capable of weighing a single atom. The device, perhaps the smallest of its kind ever produced, can be tuned across a wide range of radio frequencies, and one day might replace bulky power-hungry elements in electronic circuits. Recent research in nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) has focused on vibrating silicon rods so small that they oscillate at radio frequencies. By replacing the silicon rod with a carbon nanotube, the Cornell researchers have created an oscillator that is even smaller and very durable. Besides serving as a radio frequency circuit element, the new device has applications in mass sensing and basic research. (September 15, 2004)
Eighty-five hundred years after someone in ancient Anatolia drilled holes in the wings of a crane -- evidently to make a bird costume for a ritual dance -- then hid one wing in a narrow space between mudbrick houses at Çatalhöyük in what today is Turkey.
The Community Partnership Board, a program of the Cornell Public Service Center, is beginning its 2004-05 funding year by announcing the availability of grants for grassroots community service projects. The board grants some $25,000 annually to service projects developed between Cornell students and community agencies. In the 13 years since the board's inception, more than $100,000 has been awarded to students for student and community developed service projects. The Community Partnership Board seeks to foster leadership and social responsibility by encouraging students to take action against social problems. The board assists students in developing grassroots community action projects and administers grants funded in part by the Cornell Student Activities Fund and the Public Service Center. Up to $2,000 per project per year is available in funding. (September 13, 2004)
New York, NY (September 9, 2004) -- For years, experts have puzzled over the fact that lupus patients often experience accelerated declines in thinking and memory as they age, despite the absence of the usual neurological culprits, such as neurovascular inflammation or stroke.Now a husband-and-wife team of researchers, including Dr. Bruce T. Volpe, Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York and Attending Neurologist at New-York Presbyterian Hospital and Burke Medical Research Institute in White Plains, say they have a new approach to this puzzle that may open the door to treatments that slow or prevent lupus-related cognitive decline.
Bill Shore, the founder and CEO of Share Our Strength, a leading organization that mobilizes industries and individuals to fight hunger and poverty, will speak at Cornell University Tuesday, Sept. 14, at 4:30 p.m. in G73 Martha Van Rensselaer (MVR) Hall. The title of Shore's talk is "The Light of Conscience: How a Simple Act Can Change Your Life," which is also the title of Shore's most recent book (Random House 2004) that explores how acts of conscience can and have changed the world. (September 09, 2004)
The future of fusion power may lie not in a 20 million-ampere bang, but a 1-million-ampere pop. Plasma studies unwinds a powerful COBRA for high-density simulations.
