In a surprising move, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy dropped out of the race for Speaker following John Boehner’s resignation. Elizabeth Sanders, an election expert and professor of government, says McCarthy’s exit could make it harder for the GOP to find a presidential candidate and message they can rally behind.Sanders says:
James R. Houck, a noted astronomer in the field of infrared spectroscopy for astrophysics, died in Ithaca Sept. 18 at age 74 from complications of Alzheimer's Disease.Houck received his Ph.D. from Cornell in condensed matter physics in 1967, then switched fields to astronomy. After post-doctorate work at the Naval Research Laboratory, he worked at Cornell until he retired as the Kenneth A. Wallace Professor of Astronomy in 2012.
Joseph Margulies, civil rights attorney and professor of government and law, comments on the Justice Department’s decision to release 6,000 inmates. He says the move is a step in the right direction, but adds that it does not solve the problem of mass incarceration in America. Margulies says:
Prof. Jonathan Culler, English and comparative literature, spoke Wednesday about his new book The Theory of the Lyric as part of Cornell University Library’s Chats in the Stacks book talk program.
… I recently took one of my high school friends there when he visited campus, and he loved it! As the days become shorter … and Treman State Park are other awesome off-campus areas to visit with family or friends, walk around and enjoy the …
Holly Case, associate professor of history, writes this piece in Dissent Magazine about Hungarian thinker and former statesman, István Bibó.Case is the author of Between States: The Transylvanian Question and the European Idea During World War II (Stanford University Press, 2009).
This article about languages includes the research of Morten Christiansen, psychology professor and co-director of Cornell's Cognitive Science Program. He is a co-author of new research finding that language is less arbitrary than assumed: the sounds and shapes of words can reveal aspects of meaning and grammatical function.
The idea of introducing a novel gene into a few individuals that then spreads through an entire population sounds like a premise for science fiction. And yet fiction can be prophetic.Cornell researchers have used mathematical models to illuminate the promises – and potential problems – of a new genome editing mechanism, called a gene drive.
In an article published by the Huffington Post, Frederic J. Whiton Professor of English Literature Daniel R. Schwarz speaks to parents about what they need to know about the college experience. Here are a few highlights:
Grad student Rachel Abbott and undergrads Andy Wong ‘17 and Diamond Oden ‘17 have become experts in identifying various creatures of the Adirondacks – the calanoid copepods that they’re studying, as well as myriad others that were biting them as they spent hours taking water samples in canoes.
Joseph Margulies, professor of government and law, writes in this column in Verdict about the lack of alternatives to the criminal justice system in the U.S., which he says has gone "horribly awry."
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.
