Move over, quantum dots. Make way for the new kids on the block -- brightly glowing nanoparticles dubbed "Cornell dots." By surrounding fluorescent dyes with a protective silica shell, researchers have created fluorescent nanoparticles with possible applications in displays, biological imaging, optical computing, sensors and microarrays such as DNA chips. (May 19, 2005)
Some people are never satisfied. First, nanotechnology researchers at Cornell built a device so sensitive it could detect the mass of a single bacterium - about 665 femtograms. Then they built one that could sense the presence of a single virus - about 1.5 femtograms. Now, with a refined technique, they have detected a single DNA molecule, weighing in at 995,000 Daltons - a shade more than 1 attogram - and can even count the number of DNA molecules attached to a single receptor by noting the difference in mass. (May 18, 2005)
Using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, researchers have for the first time detected light from confirmed planets orbiting stars outside our solar system. (March 23, 2005)
The National Science Foundation has awarded Cornell University $18 million to begin development of a new, advanced synchrotron radiation x-ray source, called an Energy Recovery Linac (ERL).
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.
Steve Squyres, Cornell professor of astronomy and the principal scientific investigator for the Mars rover mission, took a break from his hectic schedule this July to talk to Cornell News Service Senior Science Editor David Brand about the progress of the history-making mission.
Astronomer Joe Veverka, chair of Cornell's Department of Astronomy, will celebrate his 60th birthday with a unique gift from his colleagues: a symposium, "Exploration of the Universe," to be held Oct. 4-6 on campus.
Neither increases in government subsidies to corn-based ethanol fuel nor hikes in the price of petroleum can overcome what one Cornell University agricultural scientist calls a fundamental input-yield problem: It takes more energy to make ethanol from grain than the combustion of ethanol produces.
Dogs blinded by an inherited retinal degenerative disease had their vision restored after treatment with genes from healthy dogs, marking the first successful gene therapy for blindness in a large animal. The treatment offers hope for humans with a similar condition.
