Here is a sampling of quotations from Cornell University faculty, students and staff that have appeared recently in the national and international news media:
"It gives us a little hope, but it's certainly not a reason for complacency."
Stephen Zinder, professor of microbiology, discussing strain 185, a bacterium he and other Cornell researchers discovered that appears to eat toxic pollutants, in The New York Times, June 10.
"It [iron-depletion without anemia] is rather innocuous. There are no physical signs like with severe anemia....We suspect that iron-deficient women will not benefit from physical training as much as women with higher iron status because their metabolic responses to exercise are impaired. It is an important finding. Women in the U.S. in general are iron-deficient. "
Jere Haas, the Nancy Schlegel Meinig Professor of Maternal and Child Nutrition, discussing his study on how iron depletion in women affects performance, in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, June 23.
"The more often you ask kids to visualize an event that didn't happen, the faster they can create the image and the more embellished the image will be. It is exceedingly, devilishly difficult for professionals to tell fact from fiction when a child has been repeatedly suggestively interviewed over a long period of time."
Stephen J. Ceci, professor of human development, discussing his study on how repeated interviews can influence children's memories and testimony, on Morning Edition, National Public Radio, June 26.
"Even during the downturn, all our students got jobs, but instead of three offers and eight interviews, they may have had one offer. The hospitality industry is back; there's a great demand for new talent."
David Dittman, dean of the School of Hotel Administration, discussing job prospects for graduates in the Tulsa (Okla.) World, June 29.
"Although life may be abundant, communicative, technological life may not be abundant. I have been surprised that we have not seen any super-intelligent civilizations out there so far. The other thing that has bothered me for a long time is the possibility that a technological civilization does not last very long. Every time it develops it ceases to exist or destroys itself."
Yervant Terzian, chair of the Department of Astronomy, discussing the possibility of life on other planets, in USA Today, July 1.
"Most kids don't perceive it to be the case, but in the long run, you'll lose out if you don't study."
John Bishop, associate professor of human resource studies in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, commenting on studies that show that high school graduates with B averages earn an average $6,000 more per year than those who got D's, in USA Today, July 1.
"We're now getting down to a smaller number of what I'd call comprehensive agriculture schools."
Brian Chabot, associate dean in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, commenting on changes in agriculture schools nationwide, in the Los Angeles Times, July 4.
"I would be extremely suspicious of any project that studies minorities. Many scientists are simply good technocrats and are not very well-educated about the rights of women or people of color."
Eloy Rodriguez, the James Perkins Professor of Environmental Studies, discussing the Human Genome Project and attempts by some researchers to patent human cell lines of indigenous peoples, in the Fresno (Calif.) Bee, July 7.
"The medicalization of fat encourages otherwise healthy people to risk their health by taking powerful metabolic drugs to lose weight. ...We have turned fat into a national obsession and dieting into a $40 billion industry. The desire to be thin in America, already the fattest nation in the world and getting fatter, may prove in the long run to be a greater risk to public health than the fat it wants to banish."
Richard Klein, professor of French and Romance studies, in an op-ed piece in The New York Times, July 14.