A potentially fatal bacterial disease that damages the liver and kidneys of dogs, humans and other animals – leptospirosis – is appearing in new forms in the United States.
A few bad actors among the more than 30,000 non-indigenous species in the United States cost $123 billion a year in economic losses, Cornell University ecologists estimate. "It doesn't take many trouble-makers to cause tremendous damage," Cornell ecologist David Pimentel.
Cornell biologists, who became underwater disc jockeys to study a homely fish that hums, say they have a clue as to how mate selection works. The auditory portion of the midbrain uses the acoustic qualities of all the noise to isolate one signal it is programmed to recognize as potentially interesting.
Cornell animal scientists may have a way to help rebuild populations of endangered mammalian species, now that they have succeeded in the first live births by non-surgical embryo collection and transfer in domestic ferrets.
Humans' use of antimicrobial spices developed in parallel with food-spoilage microorganisms, Cornell University biologists have demonstrated in a international survey of spice use in cooking. (March 4, 1998)
From one ecologist's perspective, the American system of farming grain-fed livestock consumes resources far out of proportion to the yield, accelerates soil erosion, affects world food supply and will be changing in the future.
Maddening cow disease might be a better name, so frustrating is the causative agent with its apparent ability to move among species. Not to mention the public- health dilemmas facing authorities in Great Britain, where a cattle disease called bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, may have infected humans.
Fearful that a little eggnog or Caesar salad dressing might send you to bed with a Salmonella-related illness? The chances are slight, but they’re even slimmer if your eggs are produced in New York, thanks to the Salmonella Control Program conducted by the Unit of Avian Medicine at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
Sixteen years of hard work and setbacks have taught Professor Emeritus Richard B. Fischer what it takes to make the bluebird of happiness happy: Location, location, location. And a few amenities.
Only hungry babies and grown-up biologists worry whether there are enough mammary glands to go around. Naked mole-rat mothers don't worry. Even when a female produces more than two dozen pups.