On Wednesday, the U.S. government ordered China to close its consulate in Houston saying the decision was made “to protect American intellectual property.” Jessica Chen Weiss, associate professor of government at Cornell University and an expert on Chinese politics, says the Trump administration seems to be pushing the narrative of China as the bogeyman as a distraction from its disastrous response to the pandemic.

International

Arts and Sciences

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Sabrina Karim, assistant professor of government at Cornell University, studies police and peacekeeping in post-conflict states with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. She comments on the news that authorities in Nigeria disbanded a controversial police unit after citizens outcry about its abuses.

Law and Policy

Arts and Sciences

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decision to remove climate science information from several of its websites triggered vigorous national debate and protests. David M. Lodge, director of the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future at Cornell University, says that changes in policy are expected with incoming presidential administrations, but removal of scientific data is an unexpected mistake.

Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future

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Ravi Ramakrishna, professor of mathematics at Cornell University, comments on the significance of pi, as Pi Day nears.

Arts and Sciences

Computing & Information Sciences

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Robert Hockett, professor of law and an expert in financial and monetary law and economics, Will Cong, professor of finance and an expert on financial technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, and Emin Gün Sirer, professor of computer science and founder and CEO of AVA, comment on the future health of Bitcoin as it approaches a slowing of its token creation rate, known as a halving.

Law and Policy

Economics and Business

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Sarah Besky says causes for ‘mystery illnesses,’ especially in marginalized areas, are hard to identify given the multiple risk factors that are a part of domestic life in these regions.

Health, Nutrition & Medicine

International

Industrial and Labor Relations

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Mason Peck, former NASA Chief Technologist and Cornell University aerospace engineering professor, comments on space debris and President Trump's directive to address the problem.

Physical Sciences & Engineering

Engineering

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Robert Gravani, food safety expert and professor emeritus of food science at Cornell University, says that there are several steps that people can take to make summer picnics safe.

Agriculture and Life Sciences

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Chemical and biological engineer Paulette Clancy and astronomer Jonathan Lunine are members of a Cornell team that in 2015 modeled the membrane now found on Titan. They say the discovery gets us closer to finding life in a truly alien environment.

Engineering

Arts and Sciences

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Natalie Mahowald, a lead author of a U.N. report on global warming and faculty director of the environment at Cornell University’s Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, Jonathon Schuldt, assistant professor of communication at Cornell University and a faculty fellow at the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, and Karen Pinkus, professor of Italian and comparative literature at Cornell University and faculty fellow in the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, comment on what is needed to mitigate global warming.

Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future

Energy, Environment & Sustainability

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