Anticipation is mounting around the possible spread of disinformation on social media channels in the lead up to Tuesday’s presidential election and following the closing of polls.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday parents whose children are currently enrolled in all-remote classes will now have until Nov. 15 to opt back into in-person classes – a shift from the previous plan which allowed parents numerous opportunities to choose to enroll for in-person education.
The first literary festival featuring multiple African languages will take place virtually from Oct. 26 to Nov. 2 as part of Afrolit Sans Frontières, a series of virtual literary festivals for writers of African origin. The festival will take place simultaneously on the Afrolit Sans Frontiéres Facebook page, YouTube and on Twitter via the handle AfrolitSansFro1.
The Trump administration has accused Iran of targeting Democratic voters in an e-mail intimidation campaign seemingly designed to create uncertainty around the U.S. election.
A forensic team in Tulsa, Oklahoma has unearthed 11 coffins while searching for victims of the 1921 massacre in which hundreds of Black residents were killed.
The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to vote on the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court on Thursday, with a possible final vote on her confirmation as soon as Monday, Oct. 26 – a week in advance of the election.
The European Commission has launched a new system designed to link national COVID-19 tracing apps across the European Union — starting with Germany’s Corona-Warn-App, Ireland’s COVID tracker and Italy’s immuni. With the system — known as the interoperability gateway — the apps can work in all participating countries.
On Thursday, a former Mexican defense minister, General Salvador Cienfuegos, was detained in Los Angeles on drug charges. The arrest prompted President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to vow to punish other military officials involved.
Thousands continued to protest in Thailand in the wake of an emergency decree issued Thursday by the government limiting gatherings to groups of five and the arrest of key protest leaders. Tamara Loos, professor of history and Thai studies at Cornell University, says the events of this week indicate that Thailand has reached a tipping point, with widespread protests necessitating a response from the regime and monarchy.
Hungry giant predators, treacherous mud and a tired, probably cranky toddler – more than 10,000 years ago, that was the stuff of every parent’s nightmare. Evidence of that type of frightening trek was recently uncovered, and at nearly a mile it is the longest known trackway of early-human footprints ever found.
Authorities in Nigeria disbanded a controversial police unit following nationwide protests to end police brutality. The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) had been linked to several recent cases of kidnapping, murder and extortion that fueled citizens’ outcry over its tactics and government protection.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was jointly awarded on Wednesday to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna for their 2012 work on the development of Crispr-Cas9, a method for genome editing. This is the first time a Nobel Prize has been awarded to two women.
Questions swirl about President Donald Trump’s health status following his COVID-19 diagnosis late last week, even as he left the hospital to greet supporters. Mabel Berezin, professor of sociology at Cornell University and an expert on the history and development of populism and fascism in Europe, weighs in on the president’s public appearance Sunday during treatment and his disregard for public health guidelines:
On Monday, British company Cineworld, which owns Regal Cinemas in the United States, announced it would temporarily close all of its 663 movie theaters in both countries, a move expected to impact 45,000 employees and send the future of the entertainment industry further into uncertainty.
President Trump and others in the White House testing positive for COVID-19 has raised questions about what impact the news will have on coronavirus messaging.
Yagna Nag Chowdhuri, Ph.D. ’20, is a recent alumna of the Asian literature, religion, and culture program at Cornell from which she holds a Ph.D. Now, she will be starting a new position as Manager of Strategic Research at Asian Cultural Council in New York as a Mellon/ACLS Public Fellow. What is your area of research and why is it important?
President Donald Trump will debate former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday evening in Cleveland, Ohio. Chris Wallace of Fox News will moderate the matchup and announced the debate will include discussion of the Supreme Court, COVID-19, economy, race and violence, and election integrity.
Following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, President Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett on Saturday to the Supreme Court. Barrett, a federal appeals court judge, is a religious conservative and draws criticism from Democrats for her positions on healthcare and abortion.
Protests continued in Thailand on Friday after parliament failed to reach an agreement on possible constitutional reforms. Demonstrators have been taking to the streets since July in an effort to pressure parliament to limit the powers of the country’s monarchy. Tamara Loos, professor and chair of history, says that the rallies highlight how Thai society has changed its approach to politics, and the monarchy:
On Sept. 23, the mayor of Louisville, Kentucky declared a state of emergency for the city in advance of the attorney general’s announcement regarding possible charges against the police officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor in March.
The Cornell Center for Historical Keyboards (CCHK) presents a full program of virtual events for the fall 2020 semester, comprised of two distinct series: "Music as Refuge," beginning Sept. 23; and "Beethoven and Pianos: Off the Beaten Path," beginning Oct. 2.
On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump will host leaders of Israel, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain at the White House in a ceremony to mark the normalization of relations between Israel and the two Gulf countries. The deal, which the Trump administration has described as a pivotal step towards peace in the Middle East, signals a shift amongst Arab countries, traditionally wary of siding too close to Israel.
An international team of researchers has discovered the presence of the chemical compound phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus — a discovery that could indicate some form of life on the hot planet. They describe their findings in the journal Nature Astronomy.
In the wake of the largest anti-government protests in Thailand since 2014, the Thai King Vajiralongkorn reinstated his Royal Noble Consort, Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi, after having demoted her in October of 2019. Tamara Loos, professor and chair of history, says that the King’s treatment of Sineenat represents one of the many reasons why protestors in Thailand have targeted the monarchy for reform:
Name and title: Jason Simms, Assistant Professor, Performing & Media Arts Academic focus: Design in performing and media arts Current research project: The Hive, a social distancing performance and gathering venue Previous positions:
Name and title: Alexandra Domike Blackman, Assistant Professor, Government Academic focus: Middle Eastern politics, history, religion, gender Current research project:
Name and title: Kelly Presutti, Assistant Professor, History of Art & Visual Studies Academic focus: 19th-century European art, landscape, environmental history Current research project: A book on landscape representation and the changing politics of land use in post-Revolutionary France
Name and title: Chloe Ahmann, Assistant Professor, Anthropology Academic focus: Environmental anthropology, urban history, United States Current research project:
Emily Donald is a doctoral student in history from Brisbane, Australia studying modern southeast Asian history; feminist, gender, and sexuality studies; and queer history. After attending the University of Queensland as an undergraduate, she chose to pursue further study at Cornell due to its scholars, library collections, and commitment to graduate student learning. What is your area of research and why is it important?
Name and title: Alex Nading, Associate Professor, Anthropology Academic focus: Medical anthropology, environmental studies, science and technology studies, labor Current research project:
Name and title: Erin Stache, Assistant Professor, Chemistry & Chemical Biology Academic focus: Polymer chemistry and sustainability Current research project: Depolymerization of commodity polymers Previous positions:
Name and title: Jerel Ezell, Assistant Professor, Africana Studies and Research Center Academic focus: Health disparities and social inequalities Current research project:
Name and title: Isabel M. Perera, Assistant Professor, Government Academic focus: Health, labor and social policy, in comparative and historical perspective Current research project:
Name and title: Helena Aparicio, Assistant Professor, Linguistics Academic focus: I use a combination of experimental and computational methods to study how humans process and interpret language. Current research project:
Name and title: Laura Niemi, Assistant Professor, Psychology Academic focus: Moral psychology, social psychology, cognitive science, psychology of language Current research project: I study how people judge each other, make morally relevant decisions, and live out their values.
Name and title: Imane Terhmina, Assistant Professor, Romance Studies Academic focus: Francophone African literature and culture, postcolonial theory, affect theory, political philosophy, petrofictions/eco-topias, Afropolitanism Current research project:
Name and title: Todd Hyster, Associate Professor, Chemistry & Chemical Biology Academic focus: Biocatalysis and organic synthesis Current research project:
Name and title: Natasha Raheja Assistant Professor, Anthropology Academic focus: Documentary, ethnographic film, migration, borders, bureaucracy, nationalism, South Asia Current research project:
Name and title: Leslie S. Babonis, Assistant Professor, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Academic focus: Evolutionary development, the origin of novelty, invertebrate biodiversity Current research project:
Name and title: Barum Park, Assistant Professor, Sociology Academic focus: Political sociology, social networks, social mobility Current research project:
