ATLANTA -- Something really shocking is going on in a microquasar, or black hole, dubbed "Old Faithful," some 40,000 light years from Earth. It seems to be behaving like a giant particle collider, with massive shock waves generating eruptions every 45 to 90 minutes. This is the second time that Old Faithful, the first known microquasar in our galaxy, the Milky Way, has been observed to be acting strangely. Two years ago astronomers presented evidence, from X-ray and infrared observations, that the microquasar is sending out jets of hot gas at close to regular half-hour intervals.
Millions of years before humans invented the barometer to measure atmospheric pressure, a primitive winged insect was experimentally measuring air's density and leaving barometer readings in the fossil record, according to a Cornell geologist.
For just under two minutes a camera directed toward the south polar region of Mars will capture and store a series of about 20 images unique in the annals of planetary exploration: the surface of a planet (other than the moon) as seen from altitudes ranging from about 4 miles to only about 30 feet.
Scott McMillin, Cornell professor of English, has been awarded the Sohmer-Hall Prize for outstanding work in early English theater and staging. McMillin shares the honor with Sally-Beth MacLean at the University of Toronto for collaboration on their book.
The Cornell Lectures Series will present a symposium, "Creativity, Dissidence and Autobiography: Two Egyptian Voices," with Nawal el Saadawi and Sherif Hetata on Nov. 29, at 3 p.m. in Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium of Goldwin Smith Hall.
The International Society of Chemical Ecology will present Alan Renwick, a senior scientist at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research Inc., with the Silverstein-Simeone Award for Outstanding Research Chemical Ecology at its international meeting in Marseille, France, on Nov. 16.
Twenty-five years ago next week, humanity sent its first and only deliberate radio message to extraterrestrials. Nobody has called back yet, but that's OK -- we weren't really expecting an answer. (November 12, 1999)
Alan Renwick, a senior scientist at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Inc., located on the Cornell campus, will lecture in Marseille, France, Nov. 16, on how plant chemicals change the taste sensation for insects.
The National Association of Biology Teachers' 1999 Four-year College and University Teaching Award has been conferred on Rita A. Calvo, director of the Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers and a senior lecturer in molecular biology and genetics.
