Tenure bolsters the sharing of information, the most critical function of academe, says ILR Professor Ronald G. Ehrenberg. Ehrenberg did research earlier in his career that found that universities that offered lower probabilities of tenure had to pay higher salaries.

Op-ed from Stephen Wicker, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Cornell Engineering. Wicker says beyond the obvious risk to individual privacy is the concern that this never-ending leakage of data could add fuel to the raging fire of political disinformation.

“There's nothing in the report which says the FBI was biased in favor of Clinton," Cornell Law School Vice Dean Jens David Ohlin says. "If anything, it's the opposite. The FBI handled the investigation in a way that was very problematic for Clinton and complicated her life immensely."

The death rate is climbing for those between 45 and 64, new CDC data show. “Life satisfaction hits an all-time low in middle age,” says Samantha Boardman, a clinical instructor in medicine and psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine. “Depression and stress are particularly high in this age group.”

Arguments of religious and cultural freedom are not likely to hold much weight against the wall, says Gerald Torres, an expert on federal Indian law and a professor at Cornell Law School. “Tribes’ interest in religious ceremonies can’t be used to stop the federal government from pursuing its objectives.”

Drew Harvell, a professor of marine ecology at the College of Arts & Sciences and one of the researchers, calls plastic “a triple whammy for coral. It cuts open the skin of the coral and then it can convey pathogenic microorganisms, and finally it can shade the light coral needs and cut off water flow.”

Op-ed from Jonathan Lunine, astronomy professor in the College of Arts & Sciences, on the significance of the discovery of organic compounds on Mars by NASA’s Curiosity rover.

“Trump’s bull in a china shop act is clearly grating on other trading partners, who now see the U.S. as a recalcitrant and unruly member of the global trading system rather than as a responsible steward,” says Eswar Prasad, a trade policy professor at Dyson.

An outbreak of the highly contagious canine influenza virus H3N2 has now hit New York, with 91 cases recorded since April 30. Edward Dubovi, professor of population medicine and diagnostic sciences at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, explains the risks and how to protect your pets.

“It stands to be seen what kind of effect Trump's policies will have on the poverty rate, the child poverty rate, the incarceration rate, wealth inequality, or a bunch of other factors,” says Arts & Sciences Professor Jamila Michener. “But my expectation is most if not all these outcomes will look worse post-Trump than they did pre-Trump.”

“I don’t have a good explanation for his behavior, because it makes no sense, especially given the amount of scrutiny surrounding Manafort’s communications and contacts while he awaits trial,” says Law School Professor Jens David Ohlin. “The No. 1 rule of lawyering is don’t piss off your judge before trial.”

Cornell researchers Yuhan Hu, Zhengnan Zhao, Abheek Vimal and Guy Hoffman built a robot prototype that expresses its emotions through its skin. The idea is to experiment with new ways of interacting with robots.