PMA prof’s new audiobook capitalizes on hair-raising adventure

Austin Bunn's twist-laden thriller is set on one of the most extreme environments on earth.

How to craft effective policy messages to advance equity

Expansion of the Child Tax Credit gives researchers a unique example of a universally praised social good that disproportionately benefited some populations.

Concerto Competition announces three winners

This year's Cornell Concerto competition honored three students as winners.

New telescope to set sail for monthlong journey to Chile

”This is a huge milestone for the project and we wish FYST bon voyage,” said Gordon Stacey, the project’s director and professor of astronomy.

How a pervasive microorganism generates a greenhouse gas

Cornell researchers have discovered a way for ammonia oxidizing archaea, one of the most abundant types of microorganisms on Earth, to produce nitrous oxide, a potent and long-lasting greenhouse gas.

What you need to know about carbon capture, utilization and storage

Cornell researchers Greeshma Gadikota, Phil Milner and Tobias Hanrath discuss their carbon capture research, including a new experimental CAPTURE-Lab at Cornell’s Combined Heat and Power Plant.

A roundup of the Cornellians on the Hill – Capitol Hill

Seven alumni are currently serving in Congress, including a newly elected senator from Michigan. Two are A&S alumni.

The ‘marvelous, turbulent times’ when a literary magazine was born

A fellow alum’s passing sparked vivid memories of launching the Cornell Review, a cutting-edge journal of ideas, in the late 1970s.

What’s next for TikTok? Kreps outlines possible paths forward

With the U.S. Supreme Court upholding a federal law that would effectively ban TikTok in the U.S., Sarah Kreps, professor of government and law, discusses possible paths forward for the popular app.

Fulginiti wins book prize

Fulginiti’s novel, “Il dolore degli altri” (“The Pain of Others”), was chosen from among 114 competing manuscripts and will be published soon by Italian publisher ExCogita.

YAMATO The Drummers of Japan featured on Cornell Concert Series February 2 

Described as the “epitome of the Japanese spirit,” Yamato will bright their show “Hito no Chikara”, The Power of Human Strength to Baily Hall.

Good intentions pave incumbents’ road to reelection

Voters care if they’re better off than before the last election -- but also about incumbent politicians’ intentions, Cornell research finds.

‘Good health, tempered courage, and sound common sense’

Those are the gifts that fate gave Ezra Cornell, per one historian. Here’s a look at his life—from humble beginnings to great wealth.

Student spotlight: Nianpo Su

Nianpo Su, doctoral candidate in linguistics, studies how syntactic principles determine the structure of sentences in human languages.

Diet, microbes: new pathway controlling levels of body fat, cholesterol

Beneficial gut microbes and the body work together to fine-tune fat metabolism and cholesterol levels, according to a new preclinical study by investigators from Weill Cornell Medicine and the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell’s Ithaca campus.

History department honors first women hired

The centerpiece is a wall-size homage to the first three women hired and McGraw itself, drawn by Prof. Paraska Tolan-Szkilnik.

Barry Adams, former vice provost and literature scholar, dies at 89

Barry Banfield Adams, professor of literatures of English emeritus in the College of Arts and Sciences, died Dec. 31 at home in Brooktondale, New York. He was 89.

Light-activated micro device expands ‘green’ electrochemistry

Cornell chemists and nanofabrication experts have joined forces to create a 2 millimeter-wide, wireless, light-activated device to simplify electrochemistry for broad use.

Alums offer mentoring to students exploring career options

Melissa Lewin ’00 and her husband Rob ’99 are active backers of Cornell through their support of Cornell’s Public History Initiative and the archaeology program.

Folk icon Peter Yarrow ’59, of Peter, Paul and Mary, dies at 86

Musician Peter Yarrow ’59, who drew early inspiration from his time at Cornell before joining the legendary folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, died Jan. 7 in Manhattan.

Postdoc Peiwei Chen named HHMI Hanna Gray Fellow

The awardees are “outstanding early career scientists who have demonstrated a commitment to making foundational discoveries while building an inclusive culture in academic science,” said HHMI in a statement.

‘Politics, not policy’: Meta ending fact-check program

Psychology professor Gordon Pennycook, a misinformation expert, says he supports using crowdsourced fact-checking, "but removing third-party (professional) fact-checking strikes me as a major mistake.”

Mice use their tongues to ‘see’ tactile targets

Cornell scientists have identified the neural pathway mice use to direct the tongue to tactile targets.

Cornell expert on Jean-Marie Le Pen: a ‘driving force’ for French far-right

“Le Pen wasn’t responsible for the political events which moved the right forward across Europe. Yet, the French National Front created the institutional framework necessary to take advantage of crisis events," says Mabel Berezin.

Trudeau resignation surrounded by uncertainty, says Cornell expert

Peter John Loewen, the Harold Tanner Dean of Arts and Sciences and professor of government, says it is unclear how a new Liberal leader will be selected in Canada, and whether the Liberal caucus will agree to Trudeau’s wish to stay on until a new leader is chosen.
 

Elizabeth Sanders, scholar of U.S. political development, dies at 81

Elizabeth Sanders, Ph.D. ’78, professor of government emerita in the College of Arts and Sciences, died Dec. 2 in Cullman, Alabama. She was 81.

Small wins in early life lead to inequality in adulthood

Lucky breaks in a male mouse’s youth can lead to large advantages in adulthood, especially in groups that compete for food, territory and mates.

Pupil size in sleep reveals how memories are sorted and preserved

The eyes may be the window to the soul, but the pupil is key to understanding how, and when, the brain forms strong, long-lasting memories, Cornell researchers have found.

President Carter pushed the U.S. ‘to act as a force for good in the world.’

Carter's presidency ultimately set in motion many of the trends that have shaped the world we live in today, says Ruth Lawlor, assistant professor at Cornell University and historian of American foreign relations.

December graduates charted their own course

The December Recognition Ceremony, held Dec. 22 in Barton Hall, celebrated 500 August and December graduates.

Marketing wisdom, from the alum who helped turn Domino’s around

Each year, now-CEO Russell Weiner ’90 comes back to the Hill to speak about the secret sauce behind the pizza chain’s renaissance

Ithaca startup’s product builds bone health using NY milk protein

Two friends who bonded over shared concerns over their bone health have formulated a bioavailable calcium chew using milk protein from Finger Lakes dairy farms.

2030 Project Fast Grant awards support energy systems of the future

Researchers from five colleges, including Arts and Sciences, have received awards to support work on sustainable energy systems.

Chemist Héctor D. Abruña wins Enrico Fermi Award

The award recognizes scientists, engineers and science policymakers who have given unstintingly over their careers to advance energy science and technology.

Klarman Fellow co-edits trilingual ‘Queer Latin American Voices’

Romance studies scholar Romina Wainberg is co-editor of a collection which contains brief texts and illustrations by Latin American LGBTQIA+ writers and artists, accompanied by responses by queer academics in Spanish, Portuguese or English.

TikTok heading to SCOTUS: ‘Constitutional freedoms versus national security’

“The Supreme Court’s decision to hear the TikTok case reflects an inclination to make its mark on a potentially landmark decision – how to balance constitutional freedoms against national security in an era of globalized technology."

We mimic each other, like it or not

Mimicry appears to be a fundamental behavior that helps people understand each other, not just when they get along, new Cornell psychology research finds.

With DoD grant, Cornell to enhance semiconductor supply chain resilience

The research team includes faculty, postdoctoral researchers and doctoral students from fields such as computer science, electrical and computer engineering and social sciences.

Mathematician R. Keith Dennis dies at 80

A renowned mathematician, Prof. R. Keith Dennis made significant contributions to algebraic K-theory and group theory, publishing 25 papers.

Manning honored for contributions to archaeology

Sturt Manning, received the P. E. MacAllister Field Archaeology Award at the Annual Meetings of the American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR) in Boston in November.

Professor’s model perfectly predicted Trump victory

A Cornell professor’s election forecasting model correctly picked Trump’s win this year in all 50 states – and would have correctly predicted 95% of states in every election since 2000.

Cornell expert: Kenya femicide crisis part of a global trend

Kenyan women are taking to the streets and calling for President Ruto to declare femicide a national crisis following the murders of 97 women over three months; professor Sabrina Karim sees it as part of a global trend.
 

Your December 2024 reads

This month’s featured titles include a history Harlem by a government alum and a prof’s memoir about his education under Apartheid.

Exhibit highlights art/tech intersections in student work

The event invited undergraduate and graduate students from all disciplines to display their projects at the historic A.D. White House.

Poets in Japan experiment at the edge of media

During the past century, experimental poets in Japan have been stretching the conventional definition of the genre by creating poems in unexpected places, according to a Cornell researcher.

New book explains mysteries behind bee behavior

"The take-home message from my book is that these small creatures are extremely intelligent. They may well be the most intelligent of all the insects."

Student spotlight: Danielle Obisie-Orlu

Danielle Obisie-Orlu, doctoral student in government with a focus on international relations, studies how memory and migration shape international relations and affairs under the guidance of Oumar Ba.

Learn local lore, Cornell historian Earle says in ‘Last Lecture’

Lecturer Corey Ryan Earle ’07, Cornell’s unofficial historian, gave the latest installment in the Last Lecture series, which invites a respected staff member or professor to give a lecture as if it were their final one.

In ‘Fun Home’ and other books, queer narratives rework time

In “Never On Time, But Always in Time,” Kate McCullough of the College of Arts and Sciences examines four books to explore how queer narratives focus on the body and its senses to find alternative ways of experiencing and presenting time.

Fashion police dictated gender norms in early modern Genoa

Sumptuary laws – designed to “control luxury clothing consumption and the social ills it could encourage” – constrained women more than they did men.