Trade policy professor Eswar Prasad says China has shown solid ability to handle "micro-stresses" in financial markets.

Molecular sequencing work of samples is underway at Cornell to identify possible viruses and bacteria that could be causative agents.

Amanda Rodewald, professor and director of conservation science at the Lab of Ornithology, writes this opinion piece about the need to conserve biodiversity.

A feature on how climate change will impact the Finger Lakes including comments and explanations from climatologist Mark Wysocki, entomologist Mark Whitmore, Executive Director of the Cornell Institute for Climate Solutions Michael Hoffman, and plant and soil ecology professor David Wolfe. Data from the Northeast Regional Climate Center is also referenced and the Climate Smart Farming website is highlighted as a resource to analyze trends on the various fields and crops.

Why are people are so naturally drawn to sweets? "Sugar releases dopamine and opioids in the brain, which are substances that are known to be released in the reward center of the brain," explains Dr. Rekha Kumar, an endocrinologist at Weill Cornell Medicine. "Some people can take one bite of a dessert and be satisfied," Kumar adds. "For others, one bite of something sweet is a trigger to really lead to a binge."
 

From a dozen proposals to the agency’s New Frontiers competition, NASA announced two finalists Wednesday. One proposed mission, led by Steven Squyres, professor of physical sciences, is Comet Astrobiology Exploration Sample Return, or Caesar, a spacecraft that would go to Comet 67P and bring back a small chunk to Earth for closer study.

This piece mentions a possible proposal for a cometary sample return, named Caesar, led by planetary sciences professor Steven Squyres. Another proposal mentioned, the Enceladus Life Finder, led by Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science Director, Jonathan Lunine, would fly to Saturn’s moon with instruments that could identify carbon-based molecules and other ingredients to discern if the oceans possess conditions amenable for life.

Ornithologist Kevin J. McGowan, offers an explanation: “Almost all parrots have a similar social system: an individual bonds and mates with a single other individual, and they spend all of their time together for the rest of their lives. Pet parrots mimic human speech and other noises because they’re trying to be a good mate.”

ILR professor Alexander Colvin’s 2011 research shows the more often companies head to arbitration, the better their chances of winning the case. Of 3,945 employment cases decided by arbitrators from one of the nation’s biggest arbitration firms, plaintiffs prevailed in about 31 percent of them when employers had only one case before the arbitrator.

A new study out of the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute shows that of some 5,000 humanities and social sciences Ph.D.s, those working in nonprofits are more satisfied with their jobs than are their peers in tenure-track faculty positions.

This op-ed by Kate Manne, assistant professor of philosophy, makes the case that powerful men in entertainment and politics get away with years of sexual harassment and abuse by utilizing fear. “They inspire fear, of course, by directly threatening their victims—and we as the public inspire little faith that we will listen to victims’ testimony. They often make you dependent on their good will, or else, because their pronouncements are consequential . . . And if you thwart their will or wound their egos, they may be prone to retaliate."

An article about utilizing Greek yogurt waste for feed or fuel quotes Lars Argument, adjunct professor of biological and environmental engineering. “We want to recover everything from that material, including the water,” Angenent said. “And this would also help the industry be more profitable.”