Add this universal truth to biology textbooks: the mass of a plant's leaves and stems is proportionally scaled to that of its roots in a mathematically predictable way, regardless of species or habitat. In other words, biologists can now reasonably estimate how much biomass is underground just by looking at the stems and leaves above ground. Up to now, plant biologists could only theorize about the ways stem and leaf biomass relate to root biomass across the vast spectrum of land plants. Researchers from Cornell University and the University of Arizona spent two years poring over data for a vast array of plants -- from weeds to bushes to trees -- in order to derive mass-proportional relations among major plant parts. (February 19, 2002)
If you want to see what computers will be doing for us tomorrow, take a look at what students are doing with them today. BOOM, or Bits On Our Minds, is an annual show organized by the Cornell University Department of Computer Science and the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, but which involves students from all over the campus displaying their computing projects. The fifth annual show will take up parts of three floors of Upson Hall from 4 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 6. The students will be on hand to explain their work, and many exhibits will include interactive displays. (February 25, 2002)
If you want to see what computers will be doing for us tomorrow, take a look at what students are doing with them today. BOOM, or Bits On Our Minds, is an annual show organized by the Cornell University Department of Computer Science and the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, but which involves students from all over the campus displaying their computing projects. The fifth annual show will take up parts of three floors of Upson Hall from 4 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 6. The students will be on hand to explain their work, and many exhibits will include interactive displays. (February 25, 2002)
The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly has received an Emerald Golden Page Award for making research on the hospitality industry both usable and accessible to practitioners.
Documents from the International Labor Organization (ILO) will soon be added to the already vast collection of the Martin P. Catherwood Library at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. The library, which researchers say has the largest and best collection on workplace and labor-related issues in the United States, is one of only two in the country to be named an official Depository Library by the ILO, a specialized United Nations agency. (The other is the Library of Congress.) (February 19, 2002)
A Cornell University study finds that small-scale, team-oriented offices with few Dilbert-like panels are more effective work environments than private, closed offices because they more readily foster communication, cohesiveness and organizational learning among co-workers without undermining their ability to concentrate, the study finds. "Surprisingly, one-person closed offices, often preferred by workers and seen as the Shangri-la of office designs, were not universally viewed as the best or most effective work environment," concludes Franklin Becker, director of the Cornell International Workplace Studies Program (IWSP), and his colleague, William Sims. Both are professors of facility planning and management and human-environment relations in the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis at Cornell. (February 18, 2002)
Stanford E. Woosley, an international authority on the physics of giant stellar explosions, called supernovae, will be the 2001-2002 Hans A. Bethe Lecturer at Cornell University, presenting three talks in February and March. Woosley is professor of astronomy and chair of the Department of Astronomy at the University of California, Santa Cruz. (February 18, 2002)
The Mars Exploration Rover, one of the two vehicles scheduled to explore the surface of Mars in 2004, is built and seemingly ready for its trip, complete with a full payload of scientific instruments — about two years in advance. But this is not the real rover.
Science is part of our daily lives – the way we understand the natural world, the technologies we use and the decisions we make about our health and the environment.
The Mars Exploration Rover, one of the two vehicles scheduled to explore the surface of Mars in 2004, is built and seemingly ready for its trip, complete with a full payload of scientific instruments---- about two years in advance. But this is not the real rover. It is a finely detailed, full-scale model made out of wood, plastic and aluminum that will be put on display in science museums throughout central New York state. It has been built by eight university and two high school students working with Steven Squyres, Cornell University professor of astronomy, who is the principal investigator on the Athena science payload to be carried by the long-range rovers. (February 15, 2002)
