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Authors, poets, scholars celebrate Morrison in ‘Bluest Eye’ reading & teach-in

The Oct. 8 event is the fourth in the College of Arts & Sciences’ Arts Unplugged series, which brings artistic, scientific and creative works into the public sphere for discussion and inspiration.

Anthology explores Asian American California through art

There isn’t one unified Asian American vision of California, argues Christine Bacareza Balance, associate professor of Performing and Media Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences, in “California Dreaming: Movement and Place in the Asian American Imaginary,” a new multi-genre collection she co-edited.

Gemmell honored for years of work in A&S dean’s office

"I have had such good friendships with faculty and staff and have been universally impressed by the caliber of people I’ve had the chance to work with,” said Katherine Gemmell.

Democracy 20/20 webinar to assess ‘deep state’

Since arriving in Washington with a promise to “drain the swamp,” President Donald Trump has often called out the “deep state” for blocking his political goals. The fourth event in the Democracy 20/20 webinar series will examine how the capacity and professionalism of the federal government has fared over the past four years.

Can life survive a star’s death? Webb telescope will explore

When stars like our sun die, all that remains is an exposed core – a white dwarf. A planet orbiting a white dwarf presents a promising opportunity to determine if life can survive the death of its star, according to Cornell researchers. In a study published Sept. 16 in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, they show how NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope could find signatures of life on Earth-like planets orbiting white dwarfs.

Breakthrough telescope in Chile renamed for benefactor alum

Fred Young ’64, M.Eng. ’66, MBA ’66 has been instrumental in keeping the telescope project moving forward.

Biopesticide startup gets $750K more in NSF funding

Cornell-based startup Ascribe Bioscience, which applies the emerging field of metabolomics to the soil microbiome to develop new products for agriculture, has won a $750,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II award to field test its unique pathogen-fighting technology.

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.

Lost frogs rediscovered with environmental DNA

Scientists have detected signs of a frog listed extinct and not seen since 1968, using an innovative technique to locate declining and missing species in two regions of Brazil.

Considerations about language and presenting ‘The Bluest Eye:’ A critical discussion

Faculty members planning this year’s Cornell Celebrates Toni Morrison series have spent considerable time discussing how to handle, for a general audience, the brutal language of racism and scenes of sexual violence in “The Bluest Eye.”

Middle East deal underscores foreign policy chasms in region

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.                                            

Venus may hold the answers about life we’ve been looking for

Summer in the cloud for undergraduate researchers

Four Cornell undergraduates spent the summer learning about the latest cloud computing technologies and making contributions to the Aristotle Cloud Federation as well as the computational tools researchers use to make scientific breakthroughs. Their work and learning experiences were funded by the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program, which supports research activities by undergraduates in NSF-funded areas.

Ancient ocean, meteorites could have seeded life in Venusian clouds

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.

Putin’s support is weakening. Will that show up in Russia’s regional elections this weekend?

In an op-ed in the Washington Post, Bryn Rosenfeld, assistant professor of government, and co-authors discuss whether waning support for Putin will show up in Sunday's  elections, featuring 9,000 races in 83 regions.