A new Cornell study describes a series of linguistic experiments showing that the sounds (phonology) of a word can indicate whether it is a noun or a verb. An article on the subject will appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Things to Do the week of May 8 include a screening of 'The Graduate,' a tribute to Mozart scholar Neal Zaslaw, Mayfest, the 'unconference' and the Game Design Showcase. (May 7, 2009)
While the vision-impaired Hubble Space Telescope needed optical doctoring from shuttle astronauts, vision researchers back on Earth were wondering if the human eye was clever enough to fix itself. Now a neurobiology study at Cornell University suggests that internal parts of the eye indeed can compensate for less-than-perfect conditions in other parts -- either developmentally (during the lifetime of one individual) or genetically (over many generations). (February 17, 2003)
Walter R. Lynn, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering and of science and technology studies, died June 6 of cancer. He was 82. (June 9, 2011)
Cornell's Control Moment Gyroscope (CMG) Research Team travels to Houston April 28 to participate in NASA's Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program. (April 25, 2007)
President David Skorton answered questions about sustainability, diversity and the Freshman Reading Project on WVBR's Sunday Forum radio show Sept. 7. (Sept. 9, 2008)
Tomorrow's computer keyboard might be played more like an accordion than a piano, says a Cornell ergonomist. This, he says, is because a prototype vertical split keyboard allows two to three times more typing movements to stay in safe, low-risk positions for carpal tunnel syndrome compared with a traditional keyboard.
In the journal Nature, an international team of researchers describes the use of DNA to predict the geographic origins of individuals from a sample of Europeans, often within a few hundred kilometers of where they were born. (Sept. 2, 2008)
The tricks eyes play on the mind will be revealed and explained in a Sept. 14 lecture by master illusionist Al Seckel at 7:30 p.m. in Cornell University's Call Alumni Auditorium. Titled "Your Mind's Eye: The World's Most Powerful Illusions" and sponsored by the Cornell Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, the lecture is open to the public, free of charge. Advance tickets are available from the Willard Straight Hall ticket office or the neurobiology department office, W363 Mudd Hall, (607) 254-4340. (August 30, 2004)
Cornell Cinema's eclectic year-round repertory and specialty programming offer film buffs access to a wide range of films, and co-sponsorships with a variety of academic programs. (Nov. 3, 2009)