Humpback whales seem not to be bothered as they swim near a scaled-down version of the Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate underwater speakers that produce a sound some critics fear would harm them, a Cornell team of biologists has reported to the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Since China started economic reforms in 1978, Chinese children have been growing taller, but in the past ten years, the gains by rural children have been only one-fifth that of urban children, according to a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Ron LaFrance, the former director of the American Indian Program, died suddenly of a heart attack July 29 at his home on the Akwesasne Reservation, near Hogansburg, N.Y. He was 51.
Helena María Viramontes, assistant professor of English at Cornell, has received the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature for 1995. Her books include a collection of short stories, The Moths and Other Stories, and the novel Under the Feet of Jesus.
Some of the hottest debates raging in America today hinge on the extent to which governments can, or should, regulate human relationships. Should states hold parents accountable for their children's crimes? Restrict no-fault divorces? Prohibit same-sex marriages? Addressing such questions, commentators often lament the loss of propriety that prevailed early in this century, when more families were intact, more morals adhered to.
Scientists led by a Cornell chemist have determined the structure of a key protein that binds to a powerful immunosuppressive agent, opening the door to improved cancer treatments and human gene therapy.
Dr. Carl Sagan, the David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences and director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies at Cornell University, has returned for diagnosis and treatment to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. During careful post-treatment monitoring, the earliest signs of a potential relapse of myelodysplasia were detected. It is being vigorously treated with the objective of a complete cure. Dr. Sagan is continuing his research and writing schedule and expects to be back at Cornell University in the fall. Sagan.lb.html (The above is the complete story.)
Cornell biologist Paul Sherman, co-author of two new books about naked mole-rats for children and young adults, expects one of the world's weirdest animals will appeal to kids and spark their scientific curiosity.
The following are quotations from an address by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at Cornell's Senior Convocation, held from noon to 1 p.m. on May 25 in Barton Hall.
