A postage stamp-sized piece of property belonging to Cornell University's Animal Research Facility in Harford, N.Y. is now the site of a national climate station. The Harford site will be part of the U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN), a land-based system of climate stations now being developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce. Every USCRN observing site is equipped with state-of-the instruments including, a standard set of sensors, a data logger and a satellite communications transmitter. The Harford site meets NOAA criteria for its distance from urban areas, long-term stability and reliability as an area representative of the regional climate, among other factors. (November 4, 2004)
Since the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity landed on the red planet last January, members of the Cornell University rover team have gone from living and working on Mars time at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., to running their operations from Cornell in Ithaca on a hybrid Earth-Mars time. The planning and operations that must occur twice each day -- between the time when "yester-sol's" data reach Earth until commands for the next sol's activities are sent off to the rovers -- is becoming more efficient. It now takes just six or seven hours on average, compared with the 17 hours it once took. (A sol, a Martian day, is 39 minutes, 35 seconds longer than an Earth day.) (November 04, 2004)
Cornell researchers, who are trying to understand how proteins evolve and function by looking at their structural features, have uncovered the crystal structure of a protein involved in making the building blocks of DNA correctly.
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Leon F. Litwack, professor of American History at the University of California-Berkeley, will deliver three Carl Becker lectures on Tuesday, Nov. 9, Wednesday, Nov. 10 and Thursday, Nov. 11. The lecture series, titled "Stormy Monday: Black Southerners in the Twentieth Century," is free and open to the public, and each talk will be delivered at 4:30 p.m. in Room 165 of McGraw Hall on the Cornell University campus. (November 3, 2004)
Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno will deliver a public lecture titled "Impact of the Presidential Election on Violence Against Women in the United States," on Nov. 8, at 7:30 p.m. in Bache Auditorium of Malott Hall.
Author Lorrie Moore, MFA '82, will give a free public reading on Monday, Nov. 8, at 7:30 p.m. in the Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium of Goldwin Smith Hall on the Cornell University campus. Moore is Cornell's 2004-05 Distinguished Alumni Artist Award recipient, an annual award established in 1997 by the Cornell Council for the Arts (CCA) and the Committee on the Arts of Cornell University Council. (November 2, 2004)
New York, NY (November 2, 2004) -- All life relies on the actions and reactions of single molecules within cells. However, these molecules are so tiny that they have long eluded direct, real-time investigation using conventional light microscopes.A breakthrough technology being developed by Dr. Scott C. Blanchard -- recently recruited to Weill Medical College of Cornell University under the College's Strategic Research Plan -- is finally allowing researchers an unprecedented view into the workings of individual molecules.
Cornell University's annual Agribusiness Economic Outlook Conference will be held Tuesday, Dec. 7, from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. On-site registration will begin at 9 a.m. in the foyer of the David L. Call Alumni Auditorium, Kennedy Hall. The morning session will begin with a welcome by William Lesser, chair of the Department of Applied Economics and Management (AEM). Steven Kyle, associate professor of AEM, will provide the national perspective on the economy and agriculture. There will then be a discussion of the agriculture innovation center, the New York Farm Viability Institute: The Center for Value-Added Agriculture, established at Cornell last year with a grant of $993,200 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The center is providing extensive consulting to individual producers to help them add value at the farm level. (November 2, 2004)
New York, NY (November 1, 2004) -- There is mounting evidence that a diet containing omega-3 fatty acids, already known to help prevent cardiovascular disease, may also prevent depression. In light of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s recent ruling that antidepressants will be labeled with a "black box" warning about the drugs' higher potential suicide risk in children, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center nutrition experts call for further study of the mental health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids."Given recent findings of serious risks linked with antidepressants, we should prioritize the study of natural antidepressants contained in dietary sources -- specifically, omega-3 fatty acids, found most abundantly in fish and seafood," says Dr. Barbara Levine, associate professor of nutrition in clinical medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and director of the DHA Information Center at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell. Dr. Levine has been studying DHA (docosahexaenoic acid -- a component of omega-3s) and its effects on lowering triglycerides and raising HDL (high-density lipoproteins) in overweight and obese patients with metabolic syndrome.
Five members of the Cornell faculty, including two scientists at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research on the campus, have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Susan E. Lynch, an active supporter of Cornell University, has established the Susan Eckert Lynch Professorship in Science and Business in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS).
A statement was issued by Tommy Bruce, Cornell University vice president for communications and media relations, on today's arrest of a suspect in the so-called "Collegetown Creeper" case.
