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Cover of Nature Magazine
Astronomy

Across the universe, fast radio bursts ‘shout and twist’

Cornell Chronicle

An international group of astronomers has found that the Cornell-discovered fast radio burst FRB 121102 – a brief, gigantic pulse of radio waves from 3 billion light years away – passes through a veil of magnetized plasma. This causes the cosmic blasts to “shout and twist,” which will help the scientists determine the source.The research is featured on the cover of Nature, Jan. 11.

Award

Astronomer Jonathan Lunine delivered Carl Sagan Lecture at AGU

A&S Communications

Jonathan Lunine, the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences and director of the Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, was selected as the American Geophysical Union’s (AGU) 2017 Carl Sagan Lecturer.

Future Faculty Initiative

Gifts create new Arts & Sciences professorships

A&S Communications

Faculty growth is essential in multidisciplinary areas such as nanoscale science, behavioral economics, sustainability and media studies, as well as other emerging research areas in the social sciences, sciences, arts and humanities.

Alumni

An “unfiltered” voice

Cornell Alumni Magazine

“Whatever we’re talking about, we try to do it civilly and quietly," says A&S alum and CNN host S.E. Cupp '90.

Cornell in NYC

Faculty committee tasked to envision opportunities in New York City

Cornell Chronicle

Noliwe Rooks, associate professor of Africana Studies, is leading a presidential committee of faculty.

Humanities

New volume offers a wider view of Africa

A&S Communications

Editors document the contributions African people have made to the world without romanticizing the difficult conditions in which many people on the African continent live.

English

Sara Holdren winner of 2016-17 George Jean Nathan Award

A&S Communications

Sara Holdren has been named the winner of the 2018 George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism.

Performing & Media Arts

Circus musical ‘Pippin’ at Schwartz Center Jan. 12-14

A&S Communications

The magic of the circus comes alive in Running to Places’ (R2P) “Pippin.” From jugglers to unicycles to acrobatics, the musical is a comedic extravaganza in the spirit of the recent Broadway revival. The production, with backstage support by Cornell staff, runs Jan. 12-14 at Cornell’s Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts and is a collaboration with Ithaca’s Circus Culture school.

Physics

Research reveals ‘shocking’ weakness of lab courses

A&S Communications

With the new emphasis on hands-on, active learning throughout higher education, lab courses would seem to have an advantage – what could be more active than doing experiments? But surprising new research reveals traditional labs fall far short of their pedagogical goals.

Close up image of Titan
Astronomy

Saturn's moon Titan sports Earth-like features

A&S Communications

Using the now-complete Cassini data set, Cornell astronomers have created a new global topographic map of Saturn’s moon Titan that has opened new windows into understanding its liquid flows and terrain. Two new papers, published Dec. 2 in Geophysical Review Letters, describe the map and discoveries arising from it.

Physics

Physicists take first step toward cell-sized robots

These electricity-conducting, environment-sensing, shape-changing machines could become a powerful source for exploration.

London, England: Looking Forward

In the last post of the year, junior Meredith guides us through how she came to decide to study abroad in London next semester. Thank you all for following our blog this year, and happy holidays!By Meredith Chagares '19, History major, Business and Law & Society double minor

Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Social Connectedness and Stress

Cornell Research

Exposure to stressors can profoundly influence how individuals cope with future challenges, sometimes priming them for future stress and sometimes debilitating them. While social connectedness has emerged as a key predictor of the psychophysiological impact of stress, it's very difficult to test in a lab setting. 

Mathematics

Randomness a key in spread of disease, other ‘evil’

Cornell Chronicle

An unfortunate church dinner more than 100 years ago did more than just spread typhoid fever to scores of Californians. It led theorists on a quest to understand why many diseases – including typhoid, measles, polio, malaria, even cancer – take so much longer to develop in some affected people than in others.

Psychology

The Influence of Relationships

Cornell Research

“Our relationships are a source of joy and comfort, but they also bring a lot of pain,” says Vivian Zayas, associate professor of Psychology.