Earlier this week, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a state of emergency in major cities across the country in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19. Kristin Roebuck, assistant professor in the department of history at Cornell University, studies modern Japan with a focus on the history of medicine and law, race and sexuality and Japanese international relations. She points to Japan’s abysmal domestic violence record and says that those Japanese who feel least safe at home face heightened threats and dwindling protections in the era of COVID-19.

International

Arts and Sciences

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Stephen Wicker, an expert in information network privacy issues, comments on online privacy and surveillance as COVID-19 forces more users online.

Physical Sciences & Engineering

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Sarah Kreps, surveillance systems and cybersecurity expert, comments on emerging approaches to smartphone contact tracing to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

Arts and Sciences

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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced that all NYC public schools will officially have “meatless Mondays” starting next fall. Carol Parker, program leader for Cornell Cooperative Extension-NYC (CCE-NYC) Nutrition and Health Program Area, says she supports the decision for NYC schools to provide meatless meals on Mondays.

Social & Behavioral Sciences

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Cornell geophysicist Geoffrey Abers analyzes Tuesday's 7.9 magnitude earthquake, which comes ahead of largest seismometer experiment coming to the Alaskan Peninsula. 

Physical Sciences & Engineering

Engineering

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As families continue their search for the perfect Christmas tree this season, three Cornell University experts who work closely with New York Christmas tree producers offer advice for picking and preserving holiday trees.

New York State

Agriculture and Life Sciences

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While the food supply has kept up with consumer demands during the coronavirus pandemic, the dairy industry is seeing major supply chain disruptions given the closures throughout the food service industry. Cornell agricultural economist Andrew Novakovic says small dairy farms and small processors are facing dire economic straits — given the food service industry disruptions and export demand destruction.

Food & Agriculture

Agriculture and Life Sciences

Dyson School of Applied Economics & Management

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Damian Helbling, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Cornell University, comments on the environmental impact of chemical compounds known as PFAS.

Physical Sciences & Engineering

Engineering

Energy, Environment & Sustainability

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Historian Adrienne Rose Johnson specializes in the history and culture of American food, but this Thanksgiving, she says, forget about the feast and remember our history of giving thanks.

Arts and Sciences

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Israeli citizens went to the polls this week to vote in an election that long-serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hoped would give him and his Likud party a governing mandate. However, the election resulted in no party securing enough seats in parliament to form a government. Uriel Abulof, visiting professor at Cornell University’s Government Department and senior lecturer of politics at Tel-Aviv University, says that the election is an indication that Netanyahu’s political strategy did not pay off and may have cost him his leadership role.

Law, Government & Public Policy

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