Arts and Sciences

Fortepiano contest attracts international talent

Five finalists, including two Cornellians, performed an hour of music each on historic keyboard instruments Aug. 6 at the Schwartz Center for the first Westfield International Fortepiano Competition. (Aug. 8, 2011)

Computers synthesize sounds -- from fire to frictional contact -- to go with graphics

Cornell researchers have devised methods for synthesizing more realistic sounds of hard objects colliding and the roar of fire. (Aug. 8, 2011)

To be a pundit: Write a book, network and have really strong opinions, says political commentator

Conservative political commentator S.E. Cupp '00 told her audience her tips on how to become a political pundit, July 27 as part of the summer lecture series. (Aug. 1, 2011)

Survey: Bin Laden killing triggers jump in negative view of Muslim Americans

A new survey finds that Americans view Muslim Americans with greater negativity and fear since the killing of Osama bin Laden. (July 27, 2011)

Study: Setting eyes on Old Glory moves voters toward GOP

The first study to examine the effect of seeing the American flag on voters finds that such exposure moves voters to the right. (July 25, 2011)

Via Facebook, Google and other sites, 'the invisible become visible,' in human interaction, says Kleinberg

Today's online experience is really the experience of being part of a gigantic crowd of people, said Jon Kleinberg, in a lecture about what social media can teach us about ourselves. (July 25, 2011)

A theory linking two 'broken symmetries' in high-temperature superconductors is proposed and verified

A theory advanced by a Cornell theoretical physicist to link two 'broken symmetries' in a high-temperature superconductor has been verified by experiment, a step toward better superconductors. (July 21, 2011)

Provost announces universitywide economics department

The new universitywide Cornell Department of Economics combines all economics faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences and ILR School and some faculty with joint appointments in other colleges.

Researchers teach robots to recognize what we're doing

Cornell researchers are programming robots to identify human activities by observation, and they report that they have trained a robot to recognize 12 different human activities. (July 18, 2011)