High tech to poverty: CU researchers look to future at AAAS

Cornell researchers had the future of the complex, post-modern world on their minds when they presented talks Feb. 12-16 at the 170th annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), held this year in Seattle.

The meeting of the world's largest science body brought together roughly 6,000 researchers and policymakers to consider subjects as diverse as the ethical and political questions surrounding stem-cell research to addressing human rights violations around the world.

The subjects addressed by Cornell researchers were equally as diverse, from poverty in Kenya, to photonic microchips, to reviving traditional Iroquois farming methods. Overall, the theme of the meeting was the search for answers in a world increasingly facing massive developmental problems.

But there was a note of hope. As Cornell agricultural ecologist David Pimentel noted: "We have to try to consider the future while there is still time to make meaningful changes."

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