Trapping and moving DNA with light
Cornell researchers have used a beam of light to trap and move particles as small as 75 nanometersn diameter, including DNA molecules, a new approach to the 'lab on a chip.' (Dec. 31, 2008)

Grad student creates portable ultrasound devices
Biomedical engineering Ph.D. student George K. Lewis is making therapeutic ultrasound devices that are smaller, more powerful and many times less expensive than today's models. (Dec. 18, 2008)

Mann Library offers rare beekeeping volumes online
Cornell's Mann Library has added the first 20 volumes of The American Bee Journal, the first English-language journal devoted to the beekeeping field, to its online library of historical beekeeping materials. (Dec. 18, 2008)

Professor 'sings' like a bird to study bird song
Professor Sandra Vehrencamp records bird songs and plays them back to birds to better understand exactly how birds use songs to communicate and convey information. (Dec. 18, 2008)

Technique provides snapshot of all genes in human genome
In the Dec. 19 issue of Science, Cornell researchers report on a new technique that takes a snapshot of all the locations on the human genome where RNA polymerases actively transcribe genes. (Dec. 16, 2008)

Why interdisciplinary research institutes now?
Why have a number of research universities recently jumped on the bandwagon of building interdisciplinary institutes in the biomedical sciences? Cornell's Anthony Bretscher explains. (Dec. 11, 2008)

Device could filter cancer cells from blood
Cornell researcher Michael King shows that a tiny, implantable device can capture and kill cancer cells in the bloodstream before they spread through the body. (Dec. 10, 2008)

Who gets the frozen embryos when a couple splits?
Visiting scholar Esther Farnós-Amorós discussed who gets the embryos when a couple divorces. At play is the right not to procreate, she says. (Dec. 2, 2008)

High tunnels protect crops from catching diseases
Fred Forsburg's tomatoes are perfect and blemish free - tough to do in a certified organic operation where no pesticides, herbicides or fungicides are used. The secret? He grows all his tomatoes in high tunnels. (Dec. 2, 2008)

Vitamin B1 biosynthesis: Think Rubik's cube
Cornell scientists have characterized a key enzyme's structure to better understand its activity in vitamin B1 synthesis. The enzyme performs a complex series of 15 to 20 steps. (Nov. 19, 2008)

Soil study suggests future climate change models should be revised
A detailed analysis of black carbon - the residue of burned organic matter - in computer climate models suggests that those models may be overestimating climate change predictions. (Nov. 18, 2008)

Cornell researchers link autism and rain
Cornell researchers find that autism rates are higher in those counties with higher rainfall in Washington, Oregon and California than in drier parts of the states. (Nov. 11, 2008)

Following the leader can be a drag, research shows
Graduate student Leif Ristroph found that two or more flexible objects in a flow - flags flapping in the wind, for example - experience drag very differently from rigid objects in a similar flow. (Nov. 6, 2008)

Researcher finds changing North Atlantic climate
As a result of global warming, which has caused Arctic freshwater ice to melt and flow southward, the ranges of some cold water, northern marine species have been moving down the North American coast. (Nov. 6, 2008)

Researchers describe how cells take out the trash
Molecutar biologist Scott Emr and colleagues describe in detail how cells recycle protein "garbage" in two recent papers appearing in the journals Cell and Developmental Cell. (Oct. 31, 2008)

Center for Comparative and Population Genomics launched
To highlight the growing importance of the study of genome variation and Cornell's expertise in the field, the university has launched the Cornell Center for Comparative and Population Genomics. (Oct. 29, 2008)

Minimally invasive spine surgery shown effective
Minimally invasive surgery can help patients suffering from worn and painful spinal disc degeneration in the same amount of time as standard, more invasive procedures, a study shows. (Oct. 29, 2008)

Drug resistance could make plague a renewed threat
Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have located a gene that could mutate to make Y. pestis, the bacterium responsible for the Black Plague, resistant to many common drugs. (Oct. 29, 2008)

New technique improves prostate cancer surgery
To ease the pain of recovery following prostate cancer surgery, researchers have developed an innovative and patient-friendly approach that eliminates the use of a catheter. (Oct. 29, 2008)

Gift supports life sciences startup incubator
The IDEA Center, the life sciences business incubator, is now the Kevin M. McGovern Family Center for Venture Development in the Life Sciences, thanks to the McGovern family's gift of $7.5 million. (Oct. 22, 2008)

'Cutting of DNA' celebrates Weill Hall dedication
Weill Hall, the new state-of-the-art life sciences building, was officially dedicated Oct. 16 as its primary donors, Sanford and Joan Weill, unlocked a DNA-shaped gate. (Oct. 17, 2008)

Faculty share views at Weill Hall opening
A panel of Cornell faculty had a lively discussion on research and issues in the life sciences during the dedication of Weill Hall and the Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology, Oct. 16. (Oct. 17, 2008)

Emr elected into European Molecular Biology Organization
Scott Emr, director of the Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology and professor of molecular biology and genetics, has been elected an associate member of the European Molecular Biology Organization. (Oct. 16, 2008)

David Campbell '77 teaches evolution in Florida
The high school biology teacher was one of the Florida educators who helped write the state's new science standards, updated for the first time since 1996 and the first time the word 'evolution' was included. (Oct. 15, 2008)

Weill Hall: a center for ideas, innovation, collaboration
Weill Hall, which will be dedicated Oct. 16, marks a giant leap toward advancing Cornell's leadership nationally and internationally in the genomics-led science revolution. (Oct. 10, 2008)

Weill Hall fosters collaborations
Weill Hall is designed for big-picture scientists: researchers who think beyond the confines of their field to tackle challenges in creative new ways. (Oct. 10, 2008)

Which grass is greener to power the bioenergy era?
At the first switchgrass field day Sept. 10, farmers and others learned about the status of Cornell studies designed to determine which field grasses have the best potential for biofuel. (Oct. 2, 2008)

Search for 'green' gold in the Amazon rain forest
Two Cornell fiber scientists are working with researchers in Brazil to hunt for plants in the Amazon jungle that might prove to be useful for sustainable, high-performance materials. (Oct. 1, 2008)

Entomologist edits book on sustainable pest control
Anthony Shelton, Cornell professor of entomology, has co-edited the new book, which informs the debate about using transgenic crops to control pests. (Sept. 29, 2008)

CNF celebrates new office at Weill Cornell
Bringing Cornell's nanotechnology capabilities closer to medical researchers, Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility has opened a satellite office at Weill Cornell Medical College. (Sept. 26, 2008)

Researchers describe how some bacteria kill males
A Cornell scientist has helped describe for the first time how certain male-killing bacteria manage to specifically kill off males of a parasitic wasp: They first invade the mother. (Sept. 23, 2008)

CU physicists create world's thinnest balloon
A team of Cornell researchers has created a balloonlike membrane that is just one atom thick -- but strong enough to contain gasses under several atmospheres of pressure without popping. (Sept. 18, 2008)

Powerhouse team battles to save right whales
Cornell is working with Georgia Ports Authority, among other organizations, to monitor and help protect North Atlantic right whales off the eastern seaboard. (Sept. 18, 2008)

Archaeology at Smuttynose reveals fate of fisheries
An Island archaeology course at the Isles of Shoals digs up historical artifacts and clues about the decline of fisheries in the North Atlantic. (Sept. 18, 2008)

Researchers trace drugs in key brain cells
Researchers describe how brain cells process antidepressants, cocaine and amphetamines. The findings could lead to more targeted medications for psychiatric diseases and addiction. (Sept. 17, 2008)

NSF recognizes ribosome researcher Blanchard
Weill Cornell Medical College researcher Scott Blanchard received the Career Award from the National Science Foundation for his groundbreaking work in cell biology. (Sept. 17, 2008)

Blood pressure meds put women at greater risk
New research shows that women benefit less than men from two common blood pressure drugs for the reduction of left-ventricular hypertrophy, which is a thickening and enlargement of the heart. (Sept. 17, 2008)

To survive, tiger moths are bright for birds, click for bats
A study shows that a tiger moth's bright coloring and clicking sounds evolved independently as a response to specific predators - visually oriented birds and acoustically oriented bats. (Sept. 16, 2008)

Protected whales heard near NYC for first time
For the first time, beckoning calls of endangered fin, humpback and North Atlantic right whales have been recorded in waters around New York City, according to Cornell experts. (Sept. 16, 2008)

CU scientists receive American Heart Association grants
The American Heart Association has awarded seven new grants to Cornell researchers for their work, which is geared at fighting heart disease and stroke. (Sept. 16, 2008)

Evidence of evolutionary selection found in 544 genes
By comparing the genomes of humans and five other mammals, Cornell researchers have identified 544 genes that have been shaped by positive selection over millions of years of evolution. (Sept. 15, 2008)

Workshop on applying nanotech to cancer research, Sept. 26
Experts in cancer biology and nanotechnology will discuss problems in the clinical and basic science of cancer, and will showcase nanotechnology advances that have led to breakthroughs in research and treatment. (Sept. 15, 2008)

Stroock lab creates first synthetic tree
The 'tree' simulates the process of transpiration, the cohesive capillary action that allows real trees to wick moisture upward to their highest branches. (Sept. 10, 2008)

CU researchers survey for rare birds among Mayan ruins
Greg Budney, audio curator of the Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library, traveled to Guatemala's Peten region to inventory bird species and collect audio recordings at two pre-Columbian Mayan archaeological sites. (Sept. 9, 2008)

Kresovich welcomes nine new life sciences fellows
Vice Provost for the Life Sciences Stephen Kresovich welcomed nine new graduate students selected as this year's Presidential Life Sciences Fellows at an Aug. 29 reception. (Sept. 4, 2008)

New institute will apply computer power to sustainability
The Institute for Computational Sustainability at Cornell, launched with a $10 million NSF grant, will apply computer science to problems in managing and allocating natural resources. (Sept. 3, 2008)

Researchers locate geographic origins from DNA
In the journal Nature, an international team of researchers describes the use of DNA to predict the geographic origins of individuals from a sample of Europeans, often within a few hundred kilometers of where they were born. (Sept. 2, 2008)

Soderlund receives international award for research
David Soderlund of Cornell's NYS Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva has received the International Award for Research in Agrochemicals from the Agrochemicals Division of the American Chemical Society. (Aug. 21, 2008)

Iowa professor to speak at BBS Symposium, Aug. 22
Michael Welsh, one of the world's leading researchers on cystic fibrosis, will outline his recent discoveries in his quest for early diagnosis and cutting-edge gene therapies. (Aug. 14, 2008)

Forum features update on particle accelerator
The Energy Recovery Linac, now in planning stages at Cornell, could revolutionize fields from biophysics, chemistry and molecular biology to high pressure physics. (Aug. 7, 2008)

Behavioral ecology conference offers deal for Cornellians
Learn how animals mate, communicate, feed and prey by attending the 12th International Behavioral Ecology Congress, Aug. 10-14, at Cornell. (July 29, 2008)

Pheromones enhance sex, slow aging -- in worms
Frank Schroeder and colleagues have uncovered a class of molecules in worms that attract mates and arrest development for months in larvae. The results of the study were published in Nature. (July 25, 2008)

Researcher shows evolution of milkweed defense system
Cornell research suggests that milkweed plants may be shifting away from elaborate defenses against specialized caterpillars toward a more energy-efficient approach, namely, fast repair. (July 21, 2008)

CU provides crucial support to fight plum pox virus
Plant pathologist Marc Fuchs is helping New York state officials fight the plum pox virus by testing all the samples collected in the state. He expects to test more than 100,000 samples this year. (July 21, 2008)

Researchers trace evolution of speech back to fish
Cornell neurobiologist Andrew Bass found that the neural network behind sound production in vertebrates can be traced back to an era long before the first animals ventured onto land. (July 17, 2008)

BTI's Schroeder wins grant from Dupont
Frank Schroeder, assistant professor at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research at Cornell, is a recipient of the 2008 DuPont Young Professor grant for his research. (July 17, 2008)

A new look at how genes unfold to enable their expression
Cornell researchers have uncovered surprising new information about the process by which genes are unwrapped and exposed so that they can be expressed. (July 11, 2008)

Forest birds evolved early, DNA shows
A new DNA study of wood warblers supports the theory that great diversification occurred early on, when there was a lot of 'ecological space' available. (July 9, 2008)

Ag 'library in a box' gets upgrade
Mann Library has issued an upgrade of the Essential Electronic Agricultural Library, a database of journal articles for the world's poorest countries stored on an external hard drive. (July 9, 2008)

Project Budbreak studies climate change locally
The Cornell project encourages concerned citizens to study the effects of global warming on plants in their own backyards. (July 3, 2008)

Supplement slims down cows' carbon 'hoofprint'
Cornell researchers find that recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST), a biotech product in use by American farmers for the past 15 years, significantly reduces the environmental impact of milk production. (July 2, 2008)

Quagga mussels threaten western U.S. waters, researcher reports
Pipe-clogging invasive mussels caused up to $1.5 billion in damage across 23 states between 1989 and 2007, said senior extension associate Chuck O'Neill told a House subcommittee, June 24. (July 1, 2008)

Cornell's Sondermann receives Pew Award
Holger Sondermann will use the award to investigate how communities of harmful bacteria are able to form biofilms, which are microbial blankets that shelter the bacteria from attack by antibiotics. (June 26, 2008)

Wanted: Kids to help Cornell find missing ladybugs
Cornell has received $2 million from the National Science Foundation for the Lost Ladybug Project, which will enlist the help of children nationwide to find ladybugs and learn about biodiversity. (June 25, 2008)

Pregnant women get morning sickness to protect fetus
Morning sickness, reports Cornell's Paul Sherman, protects both the pregnant woman and the developing embryo just when the fetus is most vulnerable. (June 25, 2008)

Cornell life sciences tools are available to everyone
The Cornell Life Sciences Core Laboratories Center provides an array of instruments and services for experimentation on genomics, proteomics, imaging, IT and informatics. (June 25, 2008)

Clean, white, open spaces and lots of light: Weill Hall opens
With great expectations, the $162 million, 263,000-square-foot building designed by architect Richard Meier will open officially in October, though key residents are starting to move in this month. (June 6, 2008)

The time is ripe for apples that taste like berries and more
Horticultural scientist Susan K. Brown is mining the apple genome for the keys to some revolutionary reconceptions of a long-familiar fruit. (June 5, 2008)

Gene therapy slows progression of Batten Disease
Gene therapy is a safe and effective way of slowing the debilitating and ultimately fatal effects of Batten disease, Weill Cornell researcher Ronald Crystal and colleagues found. (May 30, 2008)

Michelle Wang named Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
Biophysicist Michelle Wang is the first researcher on Cornell's Ithaca campus to be named an HHMI Investigator, an award that recognizes innovative and promising researchers in the biomedical sciences. (May 28, 2008)

Cell and molecular biology institute announces four new hires
The Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology has hired four outstanding young researchers, according to the institute's director, Scott Emr. They are: Chris Fromme, Yuxin Mao, Marcus Smolka and Fenghua Hu. (May 15, 2008)

'Farm kid from Wisconsin' fights bugs with bugs
Mike Hoffmann, director of the Cornell Agricultural Experiment Station, oversees $5.1 million in research projects and helps create a 'culture of sustainability' on campus. (May 9, 2008)

Cornell researcher searches DNA for secrets to bacteria's large size
The secret to an unusual bacterium's massive size may be found in its ability to copy its genome tens of thousands of times. (May 6, 2008)

A tree grows in White Plains -- a blight-resistant chestnut
A 12-foot, blight-resistant chestnut tree has recently been planted in a park in White Plains, N.Y., to honor Ezra Cornell and to launch a Cornell Cooperative Extension project to help restore the American chestnut tree to the state. (May 2, 2008)

New hope to aid antibiotics comes with era of 'anti-infectives'
As antibiotics lose effectiveness against drug-resistant bacteria, researchers hope virulence factors could provide new targets for combating infectious disease. (April 30, 2008)

Antioxidants may aid in Alzheimer's treatment, research shows
Curbing harmful processes in the brain's vasculature set off by the enzyme NADPH oxidase may reverse some of the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's disease, Weill Cornell researchers found. (April 30, 2008)

Helping people with autism recognize faces could be in the eyes
In an ongoing study, Nim Tottenham, assistant professor of psychology in psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, is examining how normal and autistic brains behave when viewing faces. (April 30, 2008)

Manhattan extension training is a walk in the park
Cornell University Cooperative Extension-New York City has partnered with the Central Park Conservancy and NYC Parks Department to train staff and volunteers on the basics of horticulture and urban ecology. (April 28, 2008)

First nanoscale image of soil reveals an 'incredible' variety
By zooming in on soil at a scale of 50 nanometers, Cornell researchers find an incredible variety of known compounds, rich with patterns. (April 24, 2008)

Smart buoys warn ships of endangered whales
Endangered North Atlantic right whales are safer along Massachusetts Bay's busy shipping lanes this spring, thanks to a new system of buoys that recognize whales' distinctive calls. (April 22, 2008)

What horses can tell us now about the coming human flu pandemic
A Cornell expert believes that the next influenza pandemic is a lot more likely to be an H7 serotype rather than an H5, which has been circulating in the human population for almost 10 years. (April 22, 2008)

Boyce Thompson researchers help rescue a Costa Rican rain forest
Researchers from the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Sciences at Cornell are doing what many thought was impossible: reviving a rain forest that was demolished 50 years ago. (April 17, 2008)

Cornell researcher finds fossilized shell-breaking crab
Cornell paleontologist Greg Dietl's chance discovery of a 69 million-year-old crab fossil shows that shell-breaking crabs lived 20 million years earlier than scientists thought. (April 16, 2008)

Discovery could lead to attack on mosquito-borne disease
Cornell researchers have identified a mating mechanism that possibly could be adapted to prevent female mosquitoes from spreading the viruses that cause dengue fever. (April 9, 2008)

Gates Foundation awards $26.8M to CU to fight deadly wheat plague
Cornell has been awarded a $26.8 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to launch the Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat project, a broad-based global partnership to combat stem rust, a deadly wheat disease that poses a serious threat to global food security. (April 2, 2008)

Wheat stem rust threatens consumers on a global scale
After decades of relative quiet, black stem rust fungus has emerged again in a virulent new form for which 90 percent of the world's wheat varieties have no resistance. (April 2, 2008)

Bird watchers help the Great Backyard Bird Count set new records
More checklists submitted and more species identified than ever before made this year's Great Backyard Bird Count a banner year. (April 1, 2008)

Students present research at BioExpo 2008
The student-run 2008 Annual Bioengineering Expo at Cornell, on March 5, featured a career fair, poster session, refreshments, speakers and a research poster competition. (March 10, 2008)

$6 million research lab will produce ethanol and other biofuels
Construction has begun on a state-of-the art Biofuels Research Lab that will convert perennial grasses and woody biomass into ethanol thanks to a $10 million grant awarded to Professor Larry Walker. (March 6, 2008)

Behaviorists discover a code within male loons' yodel
Imagine if an intruder entered your home, took the place of your spouse and you carried on with life as if nothing had changed. Such is the habit of loons that live on small lakes. (March 6, 2008)

Cornell researchers investigate mass bat deaths
First it was bees that were mysteriously dying. Now it's bats. To help diagnose the problem, NYDEC scientists are sending samples to Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine. (Feb. 20, 2008)

Migration from Africa left mark on European genetic diversity
A Cornell-led study that compared more than 10,000 sequenced genes from 15 African-Americans and 20 European-Americans suggests that European populations have more harmful variations. (Feb. 20, 2008)

Ray Wu, acclaimed pioneer of genetic engineering, dies at 79
Ray J. Wu, Cornell professor of molecular biology and genetics, who developed the first method for sequencing DNA and some of the fundamental tools for DNA cloning, died at Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca Feb. 10. (Feb. 14, 2008)

Scientists close in on taurine's activity in the brain
A finding by a team of scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College opens the door to better understanding the amino acid taurine's impact on the brain. (Feb. 13, 2008)

PARP-1 protein and regulating the human genome
Out of chaos, control: Cornell molecular biologists have discovered how a protein called PARP-1 binds to genes and regulates their expression across the human genome. (Feb. 7, 2008)

A fruit a day may keep Alzheimer's away
Eating more apples, bananas and oranges just may help stave off such neurodegenerative diseases as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, suggests a new Cornell study published online in the Journal of Food Science. (Feb. 6, 2008)

Acid rain is critical to climate change studies, says scientist
Acid rain is not only changing soil chemistry, it is impacting climate change and depleting the soil of calcium, said a U.S. Geological Survey scientist, speaking on campus Jan. 25. (Jan. 30, 2008)

Seminal fluid can impact female fruit fly's fertility
The reproductive biology of the fruit fly may have a lot to teach us about human fertility. Cornell research identifies six so-called accessory-gland proteins in the seminal fluid of fruit flies that affect reproduction. (Jan. 30, 2008)

Plant fungus indirectly affects parasitoid wasp
Understanding survival of a species can be a lot more complicated than meets the eye because ecosystems are so interrelated. In a recent study, a Cornell researcher discovered that host caterpillars that eat fungus-infected plants harbor more female than male wasp larvae by 2-to-1. (Jan. 23, 2008)

Web site hosts gardeners' ratings on thousands of veggies
Now is the perfect time to curl up with seed catalogs and pick vegetable varieties for summer gardens. To see how various varieties have worked out for thousands of other gardeners, check out Cornell's Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners Web site. (Jan. 21, 2008)

Genetic discovery can boost provitamin A content in maize
A new study has identified a set of genetic variants in maize that accounts for levels of vitamin A precursors among varieties. The discovery could lead to at least tripling provitamin A levels in maize in Africa, where millions go blind due to vitamin A deficiency. (Jan. 17, 2008)

CU, Yale to share $5.5 million grant to study major cereal crops
Cornell and Yale universities will share a $5.5 million, four-year grant from the National Science Foundation for research to better understand the biology of rice, maize and sorghum, among other crops. (Jan. 16, 2008)

Lab of O's Great Backyard Bird Count slated for Feb. 15-18
The 11th annual Great Backyard Bird Count, Feb. 15-18 invites birders across North America to take a real-time snapshot of where the birds are. (Jan. 16, 2008)

Researchers uncover secret to genes that activate plant defenses
Researchers at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research on Cornell's campus have identified a crucial player in the defense network that allows plants to respond to pathogens. (Jan. 16, 2008)

CU receives almost $2 million from N.Y. for stem cell research
Cornell University received two one-year institutional development grants for stem cell research from the state of New York as part of $14.5 million in similar awards granted statewide Jan. 7. (Jan. 16, 2008)

Research sheds light on the mechanics of gene transcription
While some reports have suggested that activated genes move to a specific nuclear location for transcription, Cornell research supports the traditional view that gene activation is not dependent on movement to special locations, or so-called 'transcription factories.' (Jan. 8, 2008)

Cornell patents a pink lily look-alike that blooms all summer long
Mauve Majesty is a new pink ornamental, developed by Professor Mark Bridgen and patented by Cornell, that can bloom all summer long in the cooler, northern states until the first hard freeze in the fall. (Jan. 4, 2008)