Enzymes are nature’s best nanoscale catalysts, and often show what’s known as catalytic allostery – that is, reactions at one site affecting reactions at another site, typically a few nanometers away, without direct interaction between the reactants.
How do plants “know” it is time to flower? A new study uncovers exactly where a key protein forms before it triggers the flowering process in plants.Until now, no one has pinpointed which cells produce the small protein, called Flowering Locus T (FT). The study also points to an extensive intercellular signaling system that regulates FT production.
In a talk on “Gestural Communication and Pantomime in Great Apes” March 6 in Cornell's Goldwin Smith Hall, evolutionary anthropologist Itai Roffman from the University of Haifa and three Cornell faculty respondents explored the implications of the latest findings on primate culture and communication.
Zhiyu Gong (linguistics) will travel to China to record some of the last remaining speakers of the critically endangered Daur language. Kara Fikrig (entomology) will go to Colombia to study the feeding habits of mosquitoes that carry dengue fever and other diseases. Ali Abbas (applied economics and management) will spend time in Pakistan exploring collusion between citizens and the state in the property tax market.
Two Cornell students were chosen to participate in the West Point National Conference on Ethics in America last month based on essays they submitted and a recommendation from Cornell’s Program on Ethics & Public Life.