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Anderson receives NSF CAREER award for renewable energy work
C. Lindsay Anderson, assistant professor and Norman R. Scott Sesquicentennial Faculty Fellow in the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, has received the prestigious NSF CAREER Award for her proposal, “Maximizing Renewable...
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CALS alum returns, brings real-world experience to infrastructure program
College of Agriculture and Life Sciencesalum Scott Zuchorski ’97 first visited Cornell as a child accompanying his father, a ‘69 graduate from CALS who returned to campus for the annual Seeley Conference every summer and the occasional football...
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CALS international ties take plant breeding researchers to Thailand
While many students and faculty take a short breather over spring break, Mark Sorrells – professor of Plant Breeding and Genetics in the School of Integrative Plant Science – is spending his vacation traveling to Thailand and teaching a one-week...
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System of Rice Intensification earns Olam food security prize
The System of Rice Intensification (SRI), an agro-ecological method of growing rice that enhances crop yields and is resilient to the adverse effects of climate change, has been awarded the international Olam Prize for Innovation in Food...
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CALS Prof Drew Harvell backs call for Congress to support efforts to understand massive Pacific coast starfish die off.
“This is a start, and you’ve got to start somewhere. … “I’ve certainly done a lot of soul-searching about this: Why should people care about starfish when we’ve got some really huge human-related issues internationally? ISIS is just one small...
A pigeon wearing a device on its back that is collecting vibration energy

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Piezoelectric prize: Beating wings can generate power for scientific research
A technology that generates electricity from the beating wings of birds, bats or even moths could produce enough power to run a device that collects data – such as location, migration habits or vital physiological statistics – used by biologists...
A boat sits on a lake filled with blue-green algae

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Climate change to dramatically alter NY’s biggest interior lake by 2099
By the end of this century, the temperature of Oneida Lake – New York state’s largest interior lake – will likely be higher by about 6 degrees Fahrenheit. This would be enough to remove oxygen from its bottom waters, alter its species...
  • Biological Field Station
A mutated ear of corn

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Cornell, USDA team finds new method to find bad mutations in maize crops
Cornell researchers have developed a way to predict bad mutations in the maize genome, addressing a major challenge for breeders trying to grow better crops and feed rising populations. The researchers found regions of the genome that were...
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New faculty focus: Goula says collaboration key to landscape design
By Celina Scott-Buechler Landscape architecture, says Maria Goula, is where the natural and social sciences intersect. Goula, a new associate professor at CALS, recently moved here from her post as vice dean of Landscape Architecture Studies at...
Alfalfa

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New pest-fighting, yield-boosting alfalfa varieties ready to help farmers
Dairy and other livestock farmers in the northern U.S. have three new alfalfa options this growing season – all pioneered by Cornell researchers as a way to combat devastating pests, increase yields and improve forage quality. Developed by...
A group of people stand with their arms around each other in the mountains of Ecuador

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Cornell team helping develop ecological corridors to preserve Andean bears and other species
What is the best way to conserve biodiversity in Ecuador’s Andes Mountains? Start with the bears. A Cornell research team is joining local efforts in Ecuador to help design a socio-ecological corridor that could help save endangered, threatened...
A graphic depicting weight gain tracking technology

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Roc mom studies show online tools help avoid excess weight gain
Websites and phone apps that offer information and tools can be effective in preventing major weight gain and obesity associated with pregnancy, according to Cornell studies. These so-called e-interventions provide alternatives for doctors and...
Two men stand with a cow wearing a collar in Kenya

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Pilot project lets satellite images and cell-phone apps steer African herders
Space-age technology is coming to the aid of rural herders in Kenya, helping them deal with drought, climate change, civil unrest and land-use pressures that threaten food security in the region. In a pilot project launched by Cornell...

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Smolka Lab: DNA safeguard may be key in cancer treatment

Cornell researchers have developed a new technique to understand the actions of key proteins required for cancer cells to proliferate. The technique will help guide the development of drugs currently in clinical trials for anti-cancer treatments...

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New faculty focus: Messer tracking rapid evolution with powerful new tools
By Celina Scott-Buechler Charles Darwin’s lament was that he would never seesignificant evolutionary changes occur in a species within his lifetime. Theprocess of species changing their genetic code and observable characteristics, he felt, was...
A man and a woman stand in a boat on a river with fishing rods in the water

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Book notes: Humans increasingly heal, and are healed by nature
Around the world, people continually come together to rebuild and restore local environments affected by crisis or disaster. In New Orleans after Katrina, in New York after Sandy, in Soweto after apartheid and elsewhere, people unite to restore...

News

Many join the 1 percent, but few stay and some face longer odds

By John Carberry and Ellen Leventry Here’s some good news for the New Year: According to new research by Tom Hirschl, professor of development sociology at Cornell University, and Mark Rank of Washington University in St. Louis, there’s a 1-in-9...

Icicles hang on the side of a building

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More Americans accept “climate change” but doubt “global warming”
Stop someone on the street in the storm-battered Northeast (or Northwest or just about anywhere in between) this winter. Ask about “global warming” and you’d better be prepared for a heated debate. Ask about “climate change” and cooler heads may...

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New faculty focus: Dyson’s Hwang watches social media and the markets

By Celina Scott-Buechler #sexylist2014, #mtvhits, #katyperrysexist, #NASDAQ, #stocks. Believe it or not, these are all trending social media hashtags. But is finance really a topic of social media buzz? “An increasingly popular one,” Assistant...

One hand holds moldy corn and another hand holds non-moldy corn

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CALS faculty working to reduce crop molds for healthier babies
Malnutrition is responsible for more than two million children’s deaths annually, and too little food is not the only problem. Sometimes even adequate diets—rich in corn and nuts, for instance—aren’t enough to nourish babies and children, when...