Physical Sciences & Engineering

Peng Chen receives Coblentz Award

Peng Chen, the Peter J.W. Debye Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, is the recipient of the 2014 Coblentz Award, presented annually to an outstanding molecular spectroscopist under the age of 40 by the Coblentz Society.

Bioengineered ears win first place at World Technology Summit

A method for bioengineering living human ears garnered a first-place award at the World Technology Summit in New York City, Nov. 15.

Sagan papers archived at Library of Congress

Thousands and thousands of documents: the Library of Congress has received 1,705 boxes of the Seth MacFarlane Collection of the Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan Archive for all of posterity to sift.

A vexing math problem finds an elegant solution

A famous math problem that has vexed mathematicians for decades has met an elegant solution by Cornell researchers.

Alumnus leads Panama Canal’s massive expansion

Jorge de la Guardia, M.Eng. ’74, executive manager for the Panama Canal expansion, gave a Nov. 7 talk, “The Political and Economic Challenges for the Construction of the New Panama Canal,” on campus.

Spirited Cornell-JPL agreement opens opportunities

Cornell President David Skorton and Jet Propulsion Laboratory Director Charles Elachi signed a memorandum of understanding Nov. 8 making Cornell the California lab’s latest strategic partner.

Before cells, biochemicals may have combined in clay

Tiny spaces in a gel of clay mixed with seawater may have protected and enhanced the evolution of early biomolecules.

Cornell partners in structural biology X-ray center

A $25 million National Science Foundation award will fund a Science and Technology Center aimed at transforming the field of structural biology, including drug development, using X-ray lasers.

The human touch makes robots defter

Cornell engineers are helping humans and robots work together to find the best way to do a job, an approach called “coactive learning.”