Next week, Israelis will head to the polls in a snap election, where the incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will face off against Benny Gantz, leader of the centrist Blue and White alliance. Netanyahu, who has failed to form a coalition after a narrow electoral victory in April, has mounted an aggressive campaign ahead of next week’s vote including pledging to annex additional parts of the West Bank.   Uriel Abulof, visiting professor at Cornell University’s Government Department and a senior lecturer of politics at Tel-Aviv University, says that despite Netanyahu’s unlikely chances at the polls next week, his influence as a populist may reach beyond Israel.

International

Arts and Sciences

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Michelle Wang, professor of physics at Cornell University, and Steven Adie, professor of biomedical engineering at Cornell University, comment on how Nobel laureate Arthur Ashkin influenced their work.

Physical Sciences & Engineering

Arts and Sciences

Engineering

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In the aftermath of Qasem Soleimani’s killing, President Trump on Twitter threatened to attack 52 Iranian sites that are important to “the Iranian culture,” a threat that has drawn criticism and condemnation as “cultural cleansing” and an action in violation of international law.

Arts & Humanities

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The coronavirus pandemic has become a global crisis that impacts countries around the world in different, yet often similarly devastating ways. Cornell experts can discuss how the infection is having an impact on health systems - as well as on politics - of countries in Asia, Africa and South America.

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Methane emissions researchers John Albertson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Robert Howarth, a professor of ecology and environmental biology, comment on the development of a new Global Methane Pledge designed to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030.

Energy, Environment & Sustainability

Physical Sciences & Engineering

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Cornell faculty members will join thousands of their counterparts April 22 as they sound a call for supporting scientific research and evidence-based policies during an historic March for Science in Washington, D.C. The following Cornell experts are attending the march and are available for comment:

Agriculture and Life Sciences

Arts and Sciences

Engineering

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Richard Stup, agricultural workforce specialist, says growth of American farms is constrained due to demand for farm labor not met by the domestic population and passing the Farm Workforce Modernization Act would be a major step in stabilizing the agricultural workforce.

Law and Policy

Food & Agriculture

Agriculture and Life Sciences

Dyson School of Applied Economics & Management

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Drew Margolin, professor of communication at Cornell University, comments on the atypical state of flux Americans find themselves in as they await for election results.

Agriculture and Life Sciences

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Concern is growing given the sluggish rollout of the coronavirus vaccination distribution in New York. Cynthia Leifer, associate professor of immunology at Cornell University, says vaccines need to be given quickly as possible and rather than disqualifying sites from getting future distributions, expanding the number of distribution locations and incentivizing rapid use is a better solution.

Health, Nutrition & Medicine

Life Sciences & Veterinary Medicine

New York State

New York City

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Bart Selman, professor of computer science at Cornell University and an expert on artificial intelligence safety issues, comments on a pedestrian death following an accident involving a self-driving car.

Computing & Information Sciences

Physical Sciences & Engineering

Engineering

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