In West Nile virus-afflicted parts of the country last winter, counts of American crows dropped to a 15-year low. Other species, including chickadees, also were scarce, but some species appeared in record-high numbers.
A symposium, "Rethinking the Criminalization of Youth," will be held Nov. 6-7 at Cornell University, featuring former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno.
ARECIBO, P.R. ---- The prominent Norwegian-born astronomer Tor Hagfors will deliver a lecture during next weekend's 40th anniversary celebrations at Arecibo Observatory, home of the world's largest and most-sensitive single-dish radio telescope. Hagfors, who will give the William E. and Elva F. Gordon Distinguished Lecture on Nov. 3, is an internationally known pioneer in studies of the interaction of electromagnetic waves with ionized plasmas and solid surfaces. (October 28, 2003)
William E. Gordon, the father of the world's largest and most sensitive single-dish radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory, will deliver the 40th anniversary keynote address on Nov. 1.
Two Cornell University graduate students and a researcher have won a top prize in the 2003 Collegiate Inventors Competition for building an utlra-small electronic generator. Their award of $25,000 was presented at a ceremony at the New York Public Library, Manhattan, on Oct. 23. The three are applied physics student Keith Aubin, mechanical engineering student Robert Reichenbach and research associate Maxim Zalalutdinov. Their advisers on the project, Harold Craighead, Cornell professor of applied and engineering physics, and Jeevak Parpia, Cornell professor of physics, shared a $5,000 prize. (October 27, 2003)
Sometimes familiarity does not breed contempt: A Cornell University behavioral scientist has found that female wolf spiders prefer mates that are comfortably familiar. However, the researcher has discovered, a male wolf spider unlucky enough to attempt to mate with an unfamiliar female probably is doomed to be killed and eaten by the female. October 24, 2003)
Cornell University microbiologists, looking for bioremediation microbes to "eat" toxic pollutants, report the first field test of a technique called stable isotopic probing (SIP) in a contaminated site. And they announce the discovery and isolation of a bacterium that biodegrades naphthalene in coal tar contamination. Although naphthalene is not the most toxic component in coal tar, the microbiologists say their discovery might eventually help to speed the cleanup of hundreds of 19th and 20th century gasworks throughout the United States where the manufacture of gas from coal for homes and street lighting left a toxic legacy in the ground. (October 24, 2003)
Cornell alumnus John Carberry, director of environmental technology for DuPont, will deliver the 10th Raymond G. Thorpe Lecture in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering on Thursday, Oct. 30.
A limited number of general admission tickets are still available for actor and comedian Bill Cosby's performance at Cornell University, Friday, Oct. 31, at 8 p.m. in the university's Barton Hall. Cosby is appearing at Cornell as part of the university's annual First-Year Family Weekend. Tickets for Cosby's Barton Hall show will remain on sale at Cornell's Willard Straight Hall ticket office (255-3430) until they are sold out. The ticket office is open weekdays, 9 a.m. -5 p.m. General admission tickets are $30 each. (October 24, 2003)
Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management is among 15 business schools that earned high marks this October from the Aspen Institute and the World Resources Institute for giving graduate business students a solid training in social-impact and environmental-management issues. The fourth such report by the two groups since 1998, "Beyond Grey Pinstripes 2003: Preparing MBAs for Social and Environmental Stewardship," challenges business schools to better arm graduate business students with skills critical for effective leadership in a changing world. The report highlights 15 schools that are either "cutting-edge" or "with significant activity" in the teaching of such skills. It includes data reported from 100 business schools in 20 countries. (October 23, 2003)