How a COVID study uncovered the research ‘pivot penalty’

A study that initially looked at the career impacts of shifting one's research to the COVID pandemic revealed that any researcher who changes their focus to a new field can face a serious "pivot penalty."

Around Cornell

Lasers match common herbicides at zapping East Coast weeds

The study found that the laser weeders worked as well as common herbicides in test plots of East Coast peas, beets and spinach.

To slow global warming, bury wood debris

Researchers project that burying the wood debris from managed forests could reduce global warming up to 0.76 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100.

Fei Wang named senior faculty fellow in clinical AI at Cornell Tech

Wang's newly established role will strengthen Cornell Tech’s leadership in digital health and artificial intelligence, while also expanding interdisciplinary collaboration between Cornell Tech and Weill Cornell Medicine.

Around Cornell

Immune tolerance to gut microbes is initiated by a key bacterial sensor

Weill Cornell Medicine investigators have found that an immune “tolerance” to gut microbes depends on an ancient bacterial-sensing protein that is normally considered a trigger for inflammation.

Research at risk: stopping metastatic cancer

Weill Cornell Medicine researcher Nancy Du received a $500,000 grant from the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs at the U.S. Department of Defense, but a stop-work order brought her research to a halt in April.

Program seeks NYS volunteers to track wildlife with trail cameras

Snapshot NY aims to collect widespread data about animal populations throughout New York state - using thousands of trail cameras - and is engaging the public to aid the effort. 

Emotion – not just action – helps brain define, divide events

Study participants who watched scenes from popular movies showed emotion plays a larger role than previously understood in establishing event boundaries that help structure attention and memory.

Research at risk: Records of enslaved people seeking freedom

A research project collecting records of freedom-seeking enslaved people in the pre-Civil War U.S. came to a halt when researchers received a stop-work order from the National Endowment for the Humanities in early May.