Cornell astrophysicists Saul Teukolsky and Lawrence Kidder have earned a share in the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics – a $3 million award – that recognizes those who helped create the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and its ability to find gravitational waves. The discovery announced in February provided strong confirmation of Albert Einstein’s…
From creating well-mannered robots to updating weed field guides to understanding why catchy songs turn into earworms, more than four dozen graduating seniors explained their projects at the 2016 Senior Expo for Hunter R. Rawlings III Cornell Presidential Research Scholars April 21.The Rawlings Scholars program provides significant research support throughout their undergraduate careers to…
Think “Game of Thrones” meets “Hunger Games.” For the annual Cornell Fashion Collective show on March 12, warriors, rangers and magicians – models draped in LED lights and electroluminescent tape – will role-play on the runway.For the Cornell Wearable Tech team, led by fiber science student Eric Beaudette ’16 and Lina Sanchez Botero and Neal Reynolds, doctoral students in the fields of fiber…
In testimony before the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies March 3, Jonathan Lunine, the David Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences, discussed the rationale for scientific, seafaring journeys to Jupiter’s moon Europa, and to Saturn’s moons Enceladus and Titan – trips that may take place in the 2020s.Lunine, who directs the Cornell Center for Astrophysics…
After combing through Cornell-archived data, astronomers have discovered the pop-pop-pop of a mysterious, cosmic Gatling gun – 10 millisecond-long “fast radio bursts” – caught by the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico, as reported in Nature, March 2.In the past eight years, scientists have found 17 fast radio bursts, or FRBs, and another was reported Feb. 24. Until now, scientists believed these…
In the shadow of Saturn’s hulking planetary mass, Titan’s liquid hydrocarbon seas seem a bit choppy, astronomers say.Two and a half years ago, surfing through Cassini mission radar images of Ligeia Mare, the second-largest sea on Saturn’s moon Titan, a team of Cornell astronomers found a bright, mysterious feature – a transient feature they dubbed “Magic Island.”Now, after Cassini observations in…
A platoon of Cornell faculty, alumni and students contributed to the mix of eminent global researchers at the 2016 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C., Feb. 11-15. They offered fresh thought on the world’s scientific strides.As part of a “Smart, Autonomous Machines May Threaten Jobs” news briefing Feb. 13, Bart Selman, professor of computer…
Cornell astrophysicists and scientists played a vital role to validate the historic news of the first direct detection of gravitational waves – as predicted 100 years by Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity.Led by scientists from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) collaboration at the California Institute of Technology and the Virgo group collaboration,…
After examining hidden density waves from Saturn’s B-ring – the largest of the planet’s awe-inspiring, cosmic bands – astronomers confirm that this circular object is as lightweight as it is opaque. Their findings are published online in the journal Icarus.Philip Nicholson, Cornell professor of astronomy, and lead author Matthew Hedman, a University of Idaho professor of physics and a former…
Six panelists, including Cornell faculty members, who attended the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris last fall recalled the historic proceedings for a spirited audience that spilled into the hallway of the Tompkins County Public Library’s BorgWarner Room Feb. 3.The panel, “COP21: Reflections on the Historic Climate Agreement,” was co-sponsored by…
Cornell faculty and students will be among thousands of scientists from about five dozen countries – representing a broad array of research – to swarm Washington, D.C., Feb. 11-15 for the “The world of science – from agriculture to engineering to zoology – is inherently collaborative,” said Ronnie Coffman, director of International Programs at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “By…
Thanks to nearly 300 solar panels installed on both buildings in mid-December, the sun’s rays hitting the roof on Cornell’s Human Ecology Building and Klarman Hall now produce energy.More than 228 solar panels installed on the roof of the Human Ecology Building – a certified LEED Platinum structure – will produce about 70 kilowatts daily on sunny days. On the Arts Quad, the new Klarman Hall…
Paul Mutolo ’94 harnesses the hydrogen future, bringing it to bear on the carbon present: For his TEDx Chemung River talk in November, Mutolo, director of external partnerships at Cornell’s Energy Materials Center, imagined a world where cars no longer use oil. “There would be no smog in our cities. There would be no wars over oil-rich regions. There would be no oil spills to clean up,” he said…
Benedict Anderson, a Cornell professor emeritus in government who wrote “Imagined Communities,” the book that set the pace for the academic study of nationalism, died Dec. 13 in East Java, Indonesia. He was 79.Anderson, the Aaron L. Binenkorb Emeritus Professor of International Studies, taught at Cornell from 1967 to 2002.In his 1983 book, “Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and…
To review current astrobiological knowledge and assess the prospects of life beyond Earth, the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space and Technology heard testimony Sept. 29 in Washington, D.C., from Cornell’s Jonathan Lunine and three other space experts on the reasons, ways and means for space exploration’s next steps.“One of the most important outcomes of the last two decades of solar system…
To feed the world’s burgeoning population, producers must grow crops in more challenging terrain – where plant roots must cope with barriers. To that end, Cornell University physicists and Boyce Thompson Institute plant biologists have uncovered a valuable plant root action, in that roots – when their downward path is blocked, as often occurs in rocky soil – display a “grow and switch” behavior,…
Will Dichtel, Cornell associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, whose innovations may allow for ample electricity and for detecting trace amounts of explosives, has received a 2015 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. In its announcement today, the foundation called him “a leading figure in chemistry.”Twenty-four awards, the so-called “Genius Awards,” were given this year to scientists,…
When members from the Cornell Glee Club’s 1966 tour of Southeast Asia joined the current singers on stage Sept. 19 at Bailey Hall, passion poured through the music. The audience replied with a standing ovation, making it a Homecoming concert for the ages.During the 1966 spring semester, 41 members of the Glee Club – using musical currency to transcend economic and cultural differences – played a…
The National Science Foundation has selected the Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility (CNF) to be part of the newly established National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI). Cornell will receive $8 million from the federal agency over five years.Additionally, the Empire State Development Corp., New York state’s economic development arm, has committed to matching the…
By measuring with exquisite precision the tiny wobbles of Saturn’s moon Enceladus – whose cosmic quavers are detectable only in high-resolution images taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft – Cornell University researchers have learned that a global ocean lies beneath the moon’s thick icy crust.Cornell planetary scientists have analyzed more than seven years worth of Enceladus images taken by the…
Sibling suns – made famous in the “Star Wars” scene where Luke Skywalker gazes toward a double sunset – and the planets around them may be more common than we’ve thought, and Cornell astronomers are presenting new ideas on how to find them.NASA AmesNASA video describes the Kepler satellite's first discovery of a planet orbiting sibling suns in 2011. With the publication of this Cornell research,…
To sort out the biological intricacies of Earth-like planets, astronomers have developed computer models that examine how ultraviolet radiation from other planets’ nearby suns may affect those worlds, according to new research published June 10 in Astrophysical Journal.“Depending on the intensity, ultraviolet radiation can be both useful and harmful to the origin of life,” says Lisa Kaltenegger,…
While looking for life on planets beyond our own solar system, a group of international scientists has created a colorful catalog containing reflection signatures of Earth life forms that might be found on planet surfaces throughout the cosmic hinterlands. The new database and research, published in the March 16 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), gives humans a better chance…
