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Illustration: red sky and land, people in space suits, modular buildings

Article

Humans need Earth-like ecosystem for deep-space living

Carl Sagan Institute researcher Morgan Irons examined the long-term physical needs of humans living far from Earth.
A hand holds up a clear glass ball, which reflects foliage, sky and sunlight

Article

Archaic equation helps scientists control CO2 transformations

To manage atmospheric carbon dioxide and convert the gas into a useful product, Cornell scientists have dusted off a 120 year old electrochemical equation.
Two people look at a piece of art portraying the face of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Article

Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’54 carved portrait to adorn NYS Capitol

"We are both honoring Justice Ginsburg’s legacy as a trailblazer for justice and gender equality, and also celebrating New York’s history as the birthplace of the women’s rights movement.”
Person shouts joyfully, waving a card that says "American Idol"

Article

Amara Valerio ’24 advances on ‘American Idol’

The American Studies major nailed her March 12 audition, making a childhood wish come true.
Two people sign a document on a podium

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Cornell repatriates ancestral remains to Oneida Indian Nation

The remains, unearthed in 1964, had been kept in a university archive for six decades. They were returned on Feb. 21 at a small campus ceremony.
Black and white historic photo: a serious person leans against a wall, explaining something

Article

Peter Gierasch, planetary astronomer, dies at 82

Gierasch contributed to a wealth of knowledge on the processes of planetary atmospheres and served as a team scientist on the Viking, Pioneer, Voyager, Galileo and Cassini missions for NASA.
Eleven people pose on a staircase

Article

Cornell students to work at UN’s COP27 conference in Egypt

Eleven Cornell students, including two from Arts & Sciences, will help delegations from specialized agencies and small countries gain a stronger voice at the United Nations’ COP27 conference.
Stamps showing Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Toni Morrison

Article

Morrison, Ginsburg to be honored with U.S. postage stamps

Both Morrison and Ginsburg graduated from the College of Arts & Sciences.
artist drawing of Jupiter's moon Europa

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Juno’s new views heighten Europa Clipper excitement

Scientists believe Europa’s global ocean contains more than twice as much water as all of Earth’s oceans combined and may be suitable for life.
Person standing in front of a small space craft

Article

Scientists depict Dragonfly landing site on Saturn moon Titan

When NASA’s 990-pound Dragonfly rotorcraft reaches Saturn’s moon in 2034, Cornell’s Léa Bonnefoy '15 will have helped to make it a smooth landing.
Blazing yellow celestial body seen beyond the horizon of another globe, tinted red

Article

Synthetic lava in the lab aids exoplanet exploration

Cornell researchers developed a starter catalog for finding volcanic worlds that feature fiery landscapes and oceans of magma.
2030 PROJECT LOGO

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From methane to microbes: 2030 Project conveys first grants

“Climate change is a pressing challenge and we don’t have a moment to lose."
Person standing in front of a huge black & white image of a comet with a rocky surface

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Cornell scientists show how terrain evolves on an icy comet

Astronomers have shown how smooth terrains – a good place to land a spacecraft and to scoop up samples – evolve on the icy world of comets.
Two spherical celestial bodies against a dark background

Article

Cornell helps detect CO2 for first time on faraway world

A large international team found molecular evidence of carbon dioxide on the exoplanet WASP-39b, a giant gaseous world orbiting a sun-like star about 700 light-years away.
Giant white dish-shaped structure set in lush hills

Article

Rapid-fire fast radio burst shows hot space between galaxies

Sending out an occasional and informative cosmic ping from more than 3.5 billion light years away, these quick-fire surges provide a pathway for scientists to comprehend the perplexing, mysterious and million-degree intergalactic medium.
Barn-like building with open doors, lit within

Article

Tear down academic silos: Take an ‘undisciplinary’ approach

A new Cornell study suggests that solving societal problems such as climate change could require dismantling rigid academic boundaries, so that researchers from varying disciplines could work together collaboratively.
2030 PROJECT LOGO

Article

The 2030 Project to marshal faculty to solve climate crisis

Fueled by the collaborative spirit of Cornell’s faculty, the 2030 Project is helping to remove silos, activate research and leverage existing expertise across all disciplines to find solutions now.
Colorful planet

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Cornell-chaired panels advocate Uranus, Enceladus missions

Professors Jonathan I. Lunine and Alexander Hayes played leadership roles in identifying U.S. national scientific priorities through 2033.
Scientists talk in a lab

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Cornell joins NY-led group to propose hydrogen energy hub

Cornell chemists and Cornell research-startups aim to propose a Northeast research hub to make hydrogen a viable, clean-energy alternative to carbon-based fuels.
Colorful planet

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Tint of life: Color catalog built to find frozen worlds

As ground-based and space telescopes improve, astronomers need a color-coded guide to compare Earth’s biological microbes to cold, distant exoplanets to grasp their composition.
Rocky object against a black background

Article

Comet 67P emits ancient molecular oxygen from its nucleus

After a European spacecraft rendezvoused with Comet 67P about seven years ago, astronomers now have found a cosmic revelation: It emits molecular oxygen drawn from its nucleus.
View from Mars: red landscape and robot

Article

Rock stars on Mars: Students look for life on big red planet

For the past year, two Cornell doctoral students have been living, thinking and working on the red planet Mars, digitally commuting from our own blue world.
Kemi Adewalure

Article

Students completing their studies eye the future

Some of the 1,450 students who graduated in December share their transformational Cornell experiences.
Jupiter with bands of swirling color and a red spot at top of sphere.

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Juno craft provides first 3D view of Jupiter’s deep storms

“This answers questions that scientists have asked for 200 years," said co-author Jonathan Lunine, the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences and chair of the Department of Astronomy.
A black and white aerial image of Titan's river system.

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Titan’s river maps may advise Dragonfly’s sedimental journey

A Cornell-led team of astronomers has published the final maps of Titan’s liquid methane rivers and tributaries, as seen by NASA’s late Cassini mission.
telescope

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Detected: 1,652 radio bursts from 3 billion light-years away

An international team of astronomers including Cornell researchers have detected 1,652 independent millisecond explosions – called fast radio bursts, or FRBs – over a period of only 47 days.
Swirls of red and white representing a planet's atmosphere

Article

Spectrum reveals extreme exoplanet is even more exotic

An international team led by Cornell researchers has discovered ionized calcium on the fiery, inferno-like WASP-76b exoplanet.
man working on a computer
Maxwell Davis, an Air Force veteran, reviews his Warrior-Scholars Project assignments.

Article

Boots in the books: Veterans succeed at academic prep camp

Sixteen military veterans participated in a virtual academic boot camp at Cornell July 26 to Aug. 6. The university partnered with the Warrior-Scholar Project for the seventh consecutive year to help recent or soon-to-be military veterans transition into higher education.
Reflections of Mars' South Pole

Article

Mars’ bright south pole reflections may be clay – not water

“Those bright reflections have been big news over the last few years because they were initially interpreted as liquid water below the ice.”
Fuertes Observatory against a starry sky

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Lai and Mish win initial graduate, professional teaching prize

Dong Lai, M.S. ’91, Ph.D. ’94, professor of astronomy, has won Cornell’s inaugural Provost Award for Teaching Excellence in Graduate and Professional Degree Programs.
Glowing gold mountian
NASA/JPL Maat Mons, a large volcano on Venus, is shown in this 1991 simulated-color radar image from NASA’s Magellan spacecraft mission.

Article

Trace gas phosphine points to volcanic activity on Venus

Cornell astronomers say the detection of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus shows evidence of explosive volcanoes on the mysterious planet.
A planet with stars and a dark sky in the background
OpenSpace/American Museum of Natural History Artistic view of the Earth and sun from thousands of miles above our planet, showing that stars can enter and exit a position to see Earth transiting the sun.

Article

Exoplanets get a cosmic front-row seat to find backlit Earth

Astronomers have identified 2,034 nearby star-systems – within 326 light-years – that could find life on Earth by watching our pale blue dot cross our sun.
A disk in space
NASA/JPL/Provided In an artist's depiction, the Voyager 1 craft continues to cruise through interstellar space.

Article

In the emptiness of space, Voyager 1 detects plasma ‘hum’

As Voyager 1 – launched in 1977 – zips through interstellar space more than 14 billion miles away, it has detected the constant drone of plasma waves.
People in graduation caps and gowns wave balloons

Article

Face-to-face: Families celebrate the newest Cornell grads

Four Commencement ceremonies were held May 29-30, spaced out to meet health guidelines. Though campus was less crowded, the campus mood was warm and celebratory.
Satellite view of a canal
Ursa Space/provided Dozens of oil tankers and commercial cargo ships line up at Great Bitter Lake to enter the Suez Canal in this early April satellite image

Article

Cosmos unveils space-tech business, science opportunities

More than a dozen space industry leaders, capital investors, startup entrepreneurs, a Jet Propulsions Lab manager and Cornell professors gathered virtually for Cornell’s first Space Tech Industry Day/K.K. Wang Day symposium on April 23 – featuring this year’s event theme, “New Opportunities in Space Technology.”
Illustration of future north campus residence halls

Article

New residence halls named for Hu, Morrison, Ginsburg

Hu Shi 1914, Toni Morrison, M.A. ’55, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’54 are honored in the North Campus expansion.
Milky Way

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Ancient light illuminates matter that fuels galaxy formation

Using light from the Big Bang, an international team led by Cornell and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has begun to unveil the material which fuels galaxy formation. Lead author is Stefania Amodeo, a Cornell postdoctoral researcher in astronomy, who now conducts research at the Observatory of Strasbourg, France.
Blue sign: "Hydrogen Fuel Station"

Article

Green hydrogen filling station fueled by Cornell research

Catalyzed by a Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability grant and prompted by other Cornell eco-friendly research over the past decade like the Cornell Fuel Cell Institute and the university’s Energy Materials Center, the Standard Hydrogen Corporation (SHC) and National Grid announced plans March 11 to build the first hydrogen “energy station” of its kind in the nation.
Walter LaFeber at a podium.

Article

Walter LaFeber, revered history professor, dies

“Walter LaFeber was the most distinguished historian of American foreign policy in the last 60 years."
Roberto Sierra, sitting at a piano
Cornell University File Photo Composer Roberto Sierra, the Old Dominion Foundation Professor in the Humanities in the Department of Music.

Article

Composer Roberto Sierra elected to American Academy of Arts and Letters

The award is considered the highest form of recognition of artistic merit in the United States.
capsule approaches a red planet
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Provided Illustration of the spacecraft containing NASA’s Perseverance rover

Article

Raring to rove: Perseverance lands on Mars

Cornell researchers spent the eight months since launch preparing for the craft's landing Feb. 18.
Pencil drawing of a fort, seen from above
National Park Service Russian Commander Iurii Lisianskii’s 1804 outline drawing of the Tlingit fort used to defend against Russia’s colonization forces. Cornell and U.S. National Park Service researchers have pinpointed the fort’s exact location in Sitka, Alaska.

Article

Historic Alaskan Tlingit 1804 battle fort site found

Cornell and National Park Service researchers found the fort using geophysical imaging techniques and ground-penetrating radar.
Bright gold sea with mountains in distance
NASA/John Glenn Research Center An artistic rendering of Kraken Mare, the large liquid methane sea on Saturn’s moon Titan.

Article

Astronomers estimate Titan’s largest sea is 1,000 feet deep

Cornell astronomers have estimated that Kraken Mare, a sea of liquid methane on Saturn's largest moon, is at least 1,000 feet deep near its center.
dense, gray swirls on the surface of a planet

Article

NASA extends Cornell-involved Juno, InSight missions

NASA’s Juno spacecraft – currently orbiting Jupiter, flying close approaches to the planet and then out into the realm of the Jovian moons – and the InSight lander, now perched in Mars’ equatorial region, have both received mission extensions, the space agency announced Jan. 8. Cornell astronomers serve key roles on both projects.
Illustration of Earth on dark blue background

Article

Astronomers find possible hints of low-frequency gravitational waves

An international team of astronomers – including 17 Cornellians – report they have found the first faint, low-frequency whispers that may be gravitational waves from gigantic, colliding black holes in distant galaxies. The findings were obtained from more than 12.5 years of data collected from the national radio telescopes at Green Bank, West Virginia, and the recently collapsed dish at the Arecibo Observatory, in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
Bright yellow star with a small, dark planet

Article

Researchers detect possible exoplanet radio emission

The team has already begun a campaign using multiple radio telescopes to follow up on the signal.
Large concrete dish set in lush hills

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NSF to decommission Cornell-designed Arecibo telescope

The large Cornell-designed telescopic “ear” at Arecibo, Puerto Rico, which listened for the enlightening crackle of the cosmos for nearly six decades, now hears silence.

ice berg

Article

Engineer to model sunshine deflection for cooling planet

Global warming reduction may someday get a cool new tool: climate engineering.

Arid land, hill in the background

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Clay subsoil at Earth’s driest place may signal life on Mars

Earth’s most arid desert may hold a key to finding life on Mars.

Diverse microbes discovered in the clay-rich, shallow soil layers in Chile’s dry Atacama Desert suggest that similar deposits below the Martian surface may contain microorganisms, which could be easily found by future rover missions or landing craft.

Screen shot showing four people

Article

In election’s waning days, panel sees hope for democracy

Amid the clatter in the days before the presidential election – the long lines at early polls, racial strife, street protests, political ad skirmishes and the streaming patter of television punditry – three College of Arts and Sciences professors offered a bright light at the end of the 2020 tunnel: hope for democracy.

Close up of a spider with two large black eyes

Article

Buzz kill: Spiders ‘hear’ airborne prey via their legs

"These spiders have finely tuned sensory systems and a fascinating hunting strategy."
Hand placing ballot in box

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‘Democracy Contested?’ forum panel to meet online Oct. 29

As the frenzied 2020 presidential campaign reaches culmination, the nation’s media, political parties and courts brace for a possible contested outcome. But in the United States and around the world, heated national elections are nothing new.

Planet in foreground, bright star beyond

Article

Smile, wave: Some exoplanets may be able to see us, too

Three decades after Cornell astronomer Carl Sagan suggested that Voyager 1 snap Earth’s picture from billions of miles away – resulting in the iconic Pale Blue Dot photograph – two astronomers now offer another unique cosmic perspective:

Lea Bonnefoy

Article

Postdoc honored by L’Oreal, UN for innovative research

Lea Bonnefoy ’15, a Cornell postdoctoral researcher in astronomy who will soon examine NASA mission landing spots on the Saturnian moon Titan, has been awarded a 2020 L’Oréal-United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Young Talents France Prize For Women in Science.

Bonnefoy, who was among 20 doctoral candidates and 15 post-doctoral researchers in all selected to represent France, was recognized in the physical chemistry category.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, speaking at a podium

Article

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’54 dies

Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’54, whose legal career in the fight for women’s rights, equal rights and human dignity culminated with her ascent to the U.S. Supreme Court, and who – as an octogenarian – became a cultural hero and arguably the most beloved justice in American history, died Sept. 18 in Washington, D.C. She was 87.

Ginsburg died from complications of cancer, according to a statement from the Supreme Court.

Illustration of a six-wheeled machine on dry, red terrain

Article

Study shows difficulty in finding evidence of life on Mars

In a little more than a decade, samples of rover-scooped Martian soil will rocket to Earth.

While scientists are eager to study the red planet’s soils for signs of life, researchers must ponder a considerable new challenge: Acidic fluids – which once flowed on the Martian surface – may have destroyed biological evidence hidden within Mars’ iron-rich clays, according to researchers at Cornell and at Spain’s Centro de Astrobiología.

Dark clouds with flashes of light

Article

Ammonia sparks unexpected, exotic lightning on Jupiter

Jupiter’s lightning occurs not only deep within water clouds, but also in shallow atmospheric regions.
Drawing of a small helicoptor flying through an orange landscape

Article

Cornellians help NASA zoom in on red planet

Mars is about to become a little more red, thanks to the Cornellians who helped develop and calibrate instruments soon bound for the planet.

Early on July 30, the NASA/Jet Propulsion Lab’s Mars 2020 spacecraft will roar away from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, bound for Earth’s rusty red neighbor.

Two white orbs on a blue background

Article

Milky Way neutron star pair illuminates cosmic cataclysms

A pair of binary neutron stars is giving researchers a front-row seat at what they believe will be the stars’ eventual cataclysmic merger.
Dog wearing a vest, sniffing in leaves

Article

Cornell Atkinson awards $1.1M to innovative projects

The Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability has awarded seven Academic Venture Fund (AVF) interdisciplinary seed grants, totaling $1.1 million, for projects that engage faculty from eight Cornell colleges and 16 academic departments.

Illustration of colorful planets

Article

Kaltenegger details diversity of exoplanets in lecture

When astronomer Joan Schmelz met then-postdoctoral researcher Lisa Kaltenegger a decade ago at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the hottest cosmic theme to study was exoplanet exploration.

Earth-like planet divided into stripes

Article

Astronomers develop ‘decoder’ to gauge exoplanet climate

After examining a dozen types of suns and a roster of planet surfaces, Cornell astronomers have developed a practical model – an environmental color “decoder” – to tease out climate clues for potentially habitable exoplanets in galaxies far away.

Three students holding camaras, colorful background

Article

Online showcase celebrates students’ community engagement

The COVID-19 pandemic is keeping people apart, but Cornell students showed that despite physical distancing they can still make meaningful local, regional and global connections.

Woman in dark room gazing into computer screen

Article

Cornell Atkinson awards five more COVID-19 rapid grants

The proliferation of medical misinformation on social media and the human experience of social distancing are among the pandemic-related topics to be studied with Rapid Response Fund grants from the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.

Blue hills and a horizon

Article

Long-dead stars can yield clues to life in the cosmos

The next generation of powerful Earth- and space-based telescopes will be able to hunt distant solar systems for evidence of life on Earth-like exoplanets – particularly those that chaperone burned-out stars known as white dwarfs.

The chemical properties of those far-off worlds could indicate that life exists there. To help future scientists make sense of what their telescopes are showing them, Cornell astronomers have developed a spectral field guide for these rocky worlds.

Purple ball near a flaming sphere

Article

Researchers use ‘hot Jupiter’ data to mine exoplanet chemistry

After spotting a curious pattern in scientific papers – they described exoplanets as being cooler than expected – Cornell astronomers have improved a mathematical model to accurately gauge the temperatures of planets from solar systems hundreds of light-years away.

Man fishing with net

Article

Chemists create faster-degrading plastic for marine uses

“This material could reduce persistent plastic accumulation in the environment.”
Exoplanet Kepler-62f

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Earth’s own evolution used as guide to hunt exoplanets

Cornell astronomers have created five models representing key points from our planet’s evolution, like chemical snapshots through Earth’s own geologic epochs.

They will use them as spectral templates in the hunt for Earth-like planets in distant solar systems in the approaching new era of powerful telescopes.

Omar Padilla-Vélez and Renee Sifri examine the tensile strength of a high-density polyethylene “dog bone.”

Article

‘Triangle 2’ plastic containers may see environmental makeover

Recyclable plastic containers with the No. 2 designation could become even more popular for manufacturers as plastic milk jugs, dish soap containers and shampoo bottles may soon get an environmental makeover.

The domed wind and thermal shield covers NASA InSight lander's seismometer

Article

InSight detects gravity waves, low rumbles and devilish dust

Don Banfield ‘87, principal research scientist at the Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, is the science lead for a suite of sensors aboard InSight.
Earth, shown faintly in space

Article

Iconic ‘pale blue dot’ photo – Carl Sagan’s idea – turns 30

The photo of Earth was taken at a distance of 3.7 billion miles by the NASA spacecraft Voyager 1.
Earth-sized planets at the TRAPPIST-1 star

Article

After dust-busting the cosmos, Spitzer telescope’s mission ends

The Spitzer Space Telescope – with its Cornell-developed infrared spectrograph instrument – has been peering through murky cosmic dust to study the distant heavens for 16 years. Originally scheduled to last 2.5 years, the mission officially will end Jan. 30.

Spitzer was the final mission of NASA’s Great Observatories program. The infrared spectrograph portion of the mission ended in 2010.

Black and white close up of Comet 67P

Article

Dancing debris, moveable landscape shape Comet 67P

A comet once thought to be a quiet, dirty snowball cruising through the solar system becomes quite active when seen up close.
Yervant Terzian

Article

Yervant Terzian, who explored matter between stars, dies at 80

Yervant Terzian, the Tisch Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Astronomy, who studied the physical matter between stars, dedicated his career to education and chaired the department for two decades, died Nov. 25 in Ithaca. Terzian was 80.

Artist's rendition of the surface of Proxima b

Article

Looking for exoplanet life in all the right spectra

A Cornell senior has come up with a way to discern life on exoplanets: a spectral field guide.
Artistic impression of Proxima b

Article

Looking for exoplanet life in all the right spectra

A Cornell senior has come up with a way to discern life on exoplanets loitering in other cosmic neighborhoods: a spectral field guide.
Steve Squyres

Article

Planetary scientist Steve Squyres to retire from Cornell

Steve Squyres ’78, Ph.D. ’81, the James A. Weeks Professor of Physical Sciences, who has taught astronomy, conducted research and chaperoned two Mars rovers on their 300 million-mile journey to Earth’s rust-colored neighbor, will retire from Cornell Sept. 22.

Lakes on Titan

Article

Explosive nitrogen created craters that pock Saturn moon Titan

Scientists solve mystery of steep ridges around Titan's methane lakes.
Red sun and exoplanet with a biofluorescent glow, with a person in a spacesuit hovering above

Article

Fluorescent glow may reveal hidden life in the cosmos

Astronomers seeking life on distant planets may want to go for the glow.

Harsh ultraviolet radiation flares from red suns, once thought to destroy surface life on planets, might help uncover hidden biospheres. Their radiation could trigger a protective glow from life on exoplanets called biofluorescence, according to new Cornell research.

Artist's rendition of the GJ357 planet system

Article

TESS satellite uncovers its ‘first nearby super-Earth’

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), a mission designed to comb the heavens for exoplanets, has discovered its first potentially habitable world outside of our own solar system – and an international team of astronomers has characterized the super-Earth, about 31 light-years away.

Image of campus from the columns outside Baker Lab

Article

Three A&S faculty win White House early career awards

The White House has recognized four Cornell faculty members – Thomas Hartman, Jenny Kao-Kniffin, Kin Fai Mak and Rebecca Slayton – with prestigious 2019 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). The awards were announced July 2.

The award is the highest honor bestowed by the federal government to scientific and engineering professionals who are in first stages of their independent research careers and who show exceptional promise for leadership.

To understand where exoplanets are in their own evolution, astronomers can use Earth’s biological milestones as a Rosetta stone.

Article

Exoplanet evolution: Astronomers expand cosmic ‘cheat sheet’

Cornell astronomers have reached into nature’s color palette from early Earth to create a cosmic “cheat sheet” for looking at distant worlds. By correlating tints and hues, researchers aim to understand where discovered exoplanets may reasonably fall along their own evolutionary spectrum.

Phil Nicholson

Article

Nicholson wins astronomy’s 2019 Masursky Award

The American Astronomical Society (AAS) Division for Planetary Sciences will honor Cornell astronomy professor Phil Nicholson with the 2019 Harold Masursky Award, a prize for meritorious service to planetary science.

Cassini captured this photo of Saturn's rings

Article

Flyby of Saturn’s C ring prompts plateau puzzlement

As NASA’s Cassini spacecraft threaded its way through Saturn’s rings to acquire the last drops of data before its fatal plunge into the planet nearly two years ago, it collected spectral information about the enchanting C ring and its bright plateaus.

Instead of uncovering definitive scientific answers, the spectral images from the Cassini flyby triggered more questions, according to new research published June 13 in Science.

A graduation cap message honoring Carl Sagan

Article

Smiles, sunshine, sweets and song punctuate Commencement

As students began to line up for Cornell’s 2019 Commencement May 26, the morning skies that threatened rain gave way to rays of sunshine wriggling between the clouds. Families noshed on bagels, cream cheese and coffee in Collegetown before heading to Schoellkopf Field for the pomp and circumstance.

Merrill Scholar thanks her high school teacher

Article

Merrill scholars honor their mentoring teachers, professors

The arc of educational continuity and inspirational teaching was celebrated May 22 at the 31st annual Merrill Presidential Scholars convocation in Willard Straight Hall. Thirty-four seniors – among the very best of the Class of 2019 – honored beloved, guiding-light high school teachers and inspirational Cornell faculty members.

Jacob Mathal

Article

Rawlings scholars exhibit wide-ranging research

Fresh air, nature and playing outdoors is the perfect prescription for sedentary and sluggish children, Briana Lui ’19 advises. Lui and more than three dozen Cornell seniors presented their undergraduate research at the 17th annual Hunter R. Rawlings III Research Scholars Senior Expo on April 17 in the Physical Sciences Building and the Clark Atrium.
Titan lakes

Article

Cassini’s last Titan flyby reveals deep methane lakes, Earth-like cycles

By examining data from the Cassini spacecraft’s last close encounter with Saturn’s moon Titan, scientists have found that its methane-filled lakes are up to 300 feet deep, much deeper than previously thought.

Elizabeth Latham

Article

Calling for kindness, Elizabeth Latham ’20 wins sermon contest

Elizabeth Latham ’20 – calling for kindness throughout the world with her oration, “Feed and You Will Be Fed” – won the ninth annual Harold I. Saperstein ’31 Cornell Student Topical Sermon Contest.
NASA's InSight

Article

Weather on Mars: Chilly with a chance of ‘dust devils’

NASA's Insight mission now provides daily weather reports from Mars, with help from Cornell astronomer Don Banfield.
Opportunity Mars Rover

Article

Built to last 90 days, Mars rover Opportunity ends mission after 15 years

Opportunity reshaped our understanding of ancient Mars: it was "more habitable, more Earthlike," says Cornell astronomer Steve Squyres.
NASA and JPL mission engineers continue to check tools aboard the Martian lander InSight in this photo from Dec. 4.

Article

NASA’s InSight captures first ‘sound’ of Martian wind

“Listening to this sound from the [lander’s] pressure sensor reminds me of a windy summer afternoon," said astronomer Don Banfield.
Kristina Hugar, Ph.D. ‘15, Ecolectro’s chief science officer, conducts research in the startup’s laboratory space at Cornell’s McGovern Center.

Article

Ecolectro receives $1.7M from DOE to accelerate hydrogen fuel development

A Cornell startup is working toward a day when harmful carbon dioxide in automobile exhaust vanishes into thin air – for good.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has granted $1.7 million to Ecolectro to accelerate production of hydrogen – a green fuel of the future. Ecolectro is based at the McGovern Family Center for Venture Development, a Cornell business incubator.

Mars equipment

Article

As InSight lands on Mars, Cornell's Banfield gets to work

After cruising for 205 days over 301 million miles, NASA’s InSight spacecraft – a mission designed to probe beneath the surface of Mars – landed flawlessly Nov. 26 at Elysium Planitia.
Maryame El Moutamid, research associate in the Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science

Article

Odd bodies, rapid spins keep cosmic rings close

Forget those shepherding moons. Gravity and the odd shapes of asteroid Chariklo and dwarf planet Haumea – small objects deep in our solar system – can be credited for forming and maintaining their own rings, according new research in Nature Astronomy.

atacama desert rainbow

Article

For arid, Mars-like Peruvian desert, rain brings death

When rains fell on the arid Atacama Desert, it was reasonable to expect floral blooms to follow. Instead, the water brought death.

An international team of planetary astrobiologists has found that after encountering never-before-seen rainfall three years ago at the arid core of Peru’s Atacama Desert, the heavy precipitation wiped out most of the microbes that had lived there.

hangovers from 50 years ago

Article

Hangovers note 50th anniversary with Nov. 10 concert

After a half-century singing songs you know, the Cornell Hangovers offer a harmonic convergence to celebrate their golden anniversary. The group’s Fall Tonic concert will be Nov. 10 at 8 p.m. at Bailey Hall

2015 Homecoming Weekend: Professor Robert Isaacs (MUSIC) speaks at the Cornell Glee Club Homecoming Concert.

Article

Glee Club to sing its history at Nov. 3 concert

The Cornell University Glee Club, the university’s oldest, continuously operating student organization, will celebrate its sesquicentennial with a free concert. The group will sing pieces from different eras Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. in Sage Chapel. The event is open to the public.
"any person, any study" seal

Article

At 150, ‘… any person … any study’ still stands strong

One hundred and fifty years ago, the “radical” idea that was Cornell University became a reality.