A 2017 study co-authored by Miguel Gomez, associate professor of applied economics and policy at Dyson, for Fair Trade USA placed the average cost of coffee production at $1.40 a pound. Coffee prices have been below that price for 20 straight months, the longest stretch since 2008, according to FactSet data.

Amanda Rodewald, a CALS professor and director of conservation science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, discusses the rule that the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers just signed, which will revise the definition of the ‘waters of the United States’ in ways that will substantially restrict the waterways protected as part of the Clean Water Act. 

Scientists have mixed feelings about the term self-awareness, for which they don’t agree on a definition. Paul Sherman, professor emeritus of neurobiology and behavior at Cornell University, suggests a spectrum of “self-cognizance” that ranges from brainless reflexes to a humanlike understanding of the self.

Cornell Tech, a graduate school on Roosevelt Island in the East River, started with just seven students in 2013. Since then, it has become one of the most visible symbols of New York City’s booming technology sector – and a major selling point in the bid to persuade Amazon to build a headquarters in Queens. Josh Hartmann, the chief practice officer at Cornell Tech, says technology-focused schools are an integral part of what he called a “virtuous cycle” that drives New York City’s tech industry.  

Cornell University has been researching hemp, including how attractive its pollen is to honeybees, which pathogens attack it and medicinal uses. Joe Wakshlag, an associate professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine, and Larry Smart, a horticulture professor at CALS, discuss their hemp research.

“Taking aim at smaller targets is ironically a positive sign that Beijing does not want the Huawei arrest to derail the truce in US-China trade tensions,” says Jessica Chen Weiss, a China expert at Cornell University.

In the Ford case, Kevin Clermont, a law professor at Cornell University, says the victims would have a “real problem” to overcome the U.S. statute of limitations in a civil lawsuit, which usually allows claims only up to six years.

“After Congress struggled to understand how Facebook operated, and thus what its responsibilities ought to be, we should expect even more confusion in testimony from Google,” says professor of communication Drew Margolin. “Social networks sites are a recent invention, but the basic concept of what they do is intuitive to human beings, whereas search engines are much more complex, which makes their public responsibility much harder to gauge.”

“What you're hearing,” says Don Banfield, a researcher at Cornell University who worked on the air pressure sensor, “is just the wind noise blowing on all of the things in our vicinity.”

“Today’s announcement is not based on any new science that changes the picture of what biologists regard as absolutely necessary to keep sage grouse off the endangered species list,” John W. Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, says. “The Department of Interior is disregarding its own best available science.”

Jordan Matsudaira, an assistant professor of economics at Cornell University, says he found it hard to believe the department couldn’t strike a deal to restore access to the earnings data if the political will was there. “It strains credulity a little bit,” says Matsudaira, who served as chief economist on Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2013 to 2015.

“Right now the most interesting science fiction is produced in all sorts of non-traditional places,” says Anindita Banerjee, associate professor at Cornell University, whose research focuses on global sci-fi. “But this phenomenon, which is now making its voice heard from areas like China or Africa, also has a much longer history that precedes today’s boom.”