In a war against the European corn borer, a major pest of sweet corn, Cornell scientists have found that an army of tiny wasps, released just once and early in the season, can reduce damage to ears of corn by half.
Steven D. Tanksley, Cornell's Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of Plant Breeding, has been named the 1998 recipient of the prestigious $15,000 Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Award.
Bruce Levitt, professor and former chair of Cornell's Department of Theatre, Film and Dance, has been named faculty director of the Cornell Council for the Arts.
Potentially damaging soybean aphids have been detected in several central and western counties of New York state, according to Cornell University entomologists.
By observing the battle between bacterial speck disease and tomatoes, biologists have discovered how plant cells resist some ailments. Researchers from the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research Inc. and Cornell can now demonstrate how disease-causing organisms deliver destructive agents to plants, and how the plants fight back.
For many dairy cows, summertime living isn't easy. In the northeastern United States, heat stress can make the animals more susceptible to mastitis, laminitis and acidosis. It can also adversely affect the growth rates of unborn calves and reduce a cow's capacity to make milk by as much as one-third.
Several members of the Cornell community are playing key roles in the 1998 United Way of Tompkins County campaign on and off campus. Their efforts, which started last spring, are aimed at raising $1.6 million this fall.
A Cornell researcher presented new recordings of what sounded like at least one ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) at the American Ornithologist's Union on August 24, 2005.
Susan Murphy, Cornell University vice president for student and academic affairs, has announced that a task force has been formed to address issues confronting Cornell's Asian and Asian-American student community. Murphy said the task force was established in response to the need for a campuswide approach to address campus climate, services and program issues as they relate to Cornell's Asian and Asian-American community. She noted that students of Asian descent comprise the largest single community of color at Cornell, at 14 percent of the total student body, 16 percent of all undergraduates and 55 percent of all international students. Any improvement in the well-being for this community will likely improve the campus climate for the university at large, she said. (January 22, 2003)
If you are looking for a thoughtful, balanced publication that answers fundamental questions about why genetically engineered food crops are developed, whether they are safe for humans and the environment, and how they affect the global food system, read "Agricultural Biotechnology: Informing the Dialogue,