Here is a sampling of quotations from Cornell University faculty, students and staff that have appeared recently in the national and international news media:

"People would shake their heads when they heard the idea. They'd chuckle, 'How's that ever going to work?'"

--Bruce Reisch, professor of grape breeding and genetics at Cornell's New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, N.Y., discussing the gene gun, developed at Cornell, in a feature article about genetic engineering in the May issue of National Geographic.

"This may create a new image for processed fruits and vegetables."

--Rui Hai Lui, assistant professor of food science, on his new findings that cooking tomatoes does not kill their nutritional value, but actually enhances it, in the Guardian (London), April 25.

"Claims of sexual misconduct by priests are certainly not unheard of in Europe. But one might expect a larger number in the U.S. because of the influence of larger likely recoveries. This is not to say that there are more such cases of priestly misconduct in the U.S. than in Europe, just that the litigation system and the greater access to courts and higher recoveries in the U.S. would work to encourage such claims."

--John J. Barceló III, the W.N. Cromwell Professor of International and Comparative Law, commenting on the differences between American tort law and European legal systems in The New York Times, April 23.

"For all practical purposes, neither soluble nor insoluble fiber is affected by puréeing in your kitchen. If cream of broccoli soup or a fruit smoothie or fruit soup is the form in which you will eat fruit and vegetables, by all means choose it."

--Christina Stark, extension associate in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, replying to a question about whether puréeing fruits and vegetables destroys their fiber content, in the Science Q&A column in The New York Times, April 23.

"People anticipated when they came into business school that 'If I do well and have a good background, it's all going to happen.' The fact that, all of a sudden, that is not true has sort of been a mindbender."

--Richard Shafer, associate dean for corporate relations in the Johnson Graduate School of Management, discussing the tough job market faced by this year's B-school graduates in an Associated Press wire story, April 12.

"There was very little flavor to save."

--Christopher Watkins, associate professor of horticulture, commenting on why the so-called Flavr Savr tomato failed. He made those comments in an April 11 Associated Press story discussing the discovery of a new gene by the laboratory of Jim Giovannoni (USDA/Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell) that could result in improving the ripening, nutrition and taste of commercially grown tomatoes.

"I think it's sad. I think it's a symbol of affluence. I think it's a symbol of distaste for age. ... mature women are not given a lot of value. If you happen to be able to look extremely young at 55 or 60, then you maintain your power and attractiveness."

--Joan Jacobs Brumberg, professor of human development and American studies, commenting on the craze for Botox injections to smooth out frown lines and crow's feet, in USA Today, March 11.