The crisis in the Middle East is an issue dominating today's news and public concern. On Friday, June 7, at Cornell University, a distinguished faculty panel will discuss the region's explosive developments during the annual Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Lecture. The Olin Lecture, a significant event during Cornell's Reunion 2002 weekend, will be held at 3 p.m. in Bailey Hall on campus. It is free and open to the public, and no tickets are required. (June 4, 2002)
Cornell University's expertise in plant and animal diseases has been enlisted in the war on bioterrorism, with funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) program to bolster food and agricultural homeland security protections. Part of the $2.1 million channeled through New York state by the USDA will help establish facilities in both Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and College of Veterinary Medicine. The facilities will join a network of laboratories sited strategically throughout the nation to permit rapid and accurate diagnosis of animal-disease threats and to assist states in improving their capabilities to detect plant pests and diseases, according to the USDA announcement of the $43.5 million appropriation to the states. (May 31, 2002)
A Cornell University Police exhibit, "The Heroes Within," a Sept. 11 memorial, is now open to the public on the ground-floor concourse of Barton Hall, on campus. The free exhibit, set up during Cornell's 2002 Reunion weekend, will be open continuously until 10 a.m. Sunday, June 9. The exhibit, which includes memorials from the World Trade Center site, written remembrances, messages, photographs and other mementos, can be viewed by entering the west entrance of Barton Hall, through the doors facing Statler Hall. (June 7, 2002)
Scientists from Weill Medical College of Cornell have discovered the mechanism by which a renewable source of autologous organ-specific adult bone marrow stem cells may be recruited. While embryonic stem cellsthat is, stem cells derived from embryoshave been the subject of much recent attention and ethical debate, stem cells derived from adult bone marrow may prove to be even more suitable for therapeutic purposes.
Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit riders from one end of Tompkins County to the other will see a host of service expansions and improvements this summer, including new routes, expanded hours and weekend service.
Kevin J. McGraw, a biologist at Cornell, knew what female birds and other animals in crowded, resource-scarce environments look for in their mates: males with potential to materially care for females and their offspring.
Most of New York state's vertebrates, from amphibians and reptiles to birds and mammals, have less than 10 percent of their predicted population on state- and federal-protected lands, according to an eight-year study conducted by Cornell University's Department of Natural Resources. "That was a surprise," said Charles Smith, Cornell senior research associate in natural resources, who leads the New York state Gap Analysis Program (GAP), a federally funded, long-term effort to inventory land and water species. New York Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and the Cornell Institute for Resource Information Systems contributed to the report. "This tells me that our state agencies have an important management mission ahead of them, and we've got to enlist the public to help. We have to ask ourselves, how do we keep these animals around for future generations to enjoy?" (May 28, 2002)
Actor and human rights activist Danny Glover presented an address at Cornell University's Senior Convocation today (May 25, 2002) to an audience of more than 5,200 graduates and their families. Senior Convocation is part of Cornell's celebratory Commencement weekend.
New York, NY (May 24, 2002) A new study from Weill Cornell Medical College supplies "important missing links" in our knowledge of "the causes, mechanism, and composition" of the scarring that occurs in heart muscle when there is cardiac valvular disease, according to the lead author, Dr. Jeffrey S. Borer. The study suggests possible approaches to preventing scar formation and thus reducing both the risk of heart failure and the need for valve operations. Published in a recent issue of Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association, the study is a product of Weill Cornell's Howard Gilman Institute for Valvular Heart Diseases, of which Dr. Borer is a Director.Dr. Borer, who is also the Gladys and Roland Harriman Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and Attending Physician at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital's Weill Cornell Medical Center, said that although physicians have long known that a leaking aortic valve will lead to the formation of scar tissue in the heart muscle, their knowledge has been incomplete as to what causes this scarring and what might be done about it.