Cornell University

10/15/2026

Through plants and personal stories, a new student-led exhibit explores the concept of reciprocity: that people live because the natural world lives.

The students, representing Indigenous cultures from across the Americas, recorded personal anecdotes about how plants support their well-being and connection to community. They include tales of a family heirloom made of sweetgrass, the strawberry’s benefits to the body and spirit, and passing seeds down through generations.

Their stories, collectively titled Rooted in Reciprocity, are part of the botanic gardens’ Cultivating Hope: Plants and Indigenous Knowledge exhibit, which also features displays of plants that are deeply connected to Indigenous communities.

They include white pine, whose clusters of five needles represent the union of the original five nations of the Haudenosaunee, and elderberry, used to treat fever and skin problems and as a dye. The exhibit runs through the end of 2027.

Read more: https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2026/10/rooted-reciprocity-indigenous-students-share-stories-how-plants-fuel-connection.

09/25/2026

Cornell researchers have documented the first molecular characterization of Marfan syndrome, a rare inherited disorder that weakens connective tissues, in domestic cats.

Researchers at the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Baker Institute of Animal Health have documented the first molecular characterization of Marfan syndrome, a rare inherited disorder that weakens connective tissues, in domestic cats.

09/24/2026

Two new studies led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators represent a big step forward in understanding metabotropic glutamate receptors and how they can be targeted effectively to potentially treat conditions such as epilepsy, depression, and anxiety disorders.

Metabotropic glutamate receptors interact in varied ways with their principal regulatory proteins, according to Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The findings could inform treatments for epilepsy, depression and anxiety disorders.

09/23/2026

The biologic drug interferon-alpha can benefit patients with blood cancers called myeloproliferative neoplasms by forcing mutant blood stem cells to become shorter-lived white blood cells, according to a study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

Because the broad activity of interferon-alpha can induce significant side effects, developing new focused strategies based on these mechanistic findings could meet an important need in cancer therapy.
https://lnkd.in/e_BrAGFK

The biologic drug interferon-alpha can benefit patients with blood cancers called myeloproliferative neoplasms by forcing mutant blood stem cells to become shorter-lived white blood cells.

09/22/2026

Cornell researchers have developed a portable diagnostic test that can simultaneously detect and distinguish Ebola and Lassa, two serious viruses whose early symptoms can be difficult to tell apart.

09/21/2026

Obesity caused by disrupted stress-hormone rhythms is metabolically very different from obesity caused by a high-fat diet, according to a new preclinical study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

The researchers found in mice that glucocorticoid-rhythm disruption concentrates insulin resistance in skeletal muscle while preserving key insulin responses in fat tissue and liver. This allows fat tissue to continue storing lipids, while the liver remains largely protected from the fat accumulation typically seen with high-fat diet obesity.

Read more: https://news.cornell.edu/index%2ephp/stories/2026/09/stress-hormone-timing-creates-different-kind-obesity.

Obesity caused by disrupted stress-hormone rhythms is metabolically very different from obesity caused by a high-fat diet, according to new research.

09/18/2026

Nathan Lewis stands in a three-acre yard at Gates East Farm on the Cornell AgriTech campus, plants strung high over his head. He is harvesting flowers, splitting each cone in half and rubbing the two sides together to release their aromas from the sticky, yellow gland in the middle. Is it ready?

Each of the 61 varieties of hops matures on a particular day; each has a different length of time between its initial flowering and the cone maturity; each cone requires a certain level of dryness.

Lewis is a third-year doctoral student in Larry Smart's lab in the Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, where researchers aim to take some of risk off farmers by assessing how hop varieties bred in the Pacific Northwest will fare in New York state.

Read more at the link in our comments.

09/16/2026

For the first time in more than a decade, the line is back.

Cornell Athletics will bring back The Great Wait on Saturday, September 19, as the traditional kickoff to men's ice hockey student season ticket sales, but this year’s edition trades the overnight campout of Great Waits past for a single morning at Bartels Hall.

“There’s nothing like the energy of the Lynah Faithful, and seeing students lined up again to be part of that is exactly what makes this program special,” said Casey Jones ’90, the Jay R. Bloom ’77 Head Coach of Cornell Men’s Hockey. “Our fans push us every single night, and I’m excited for a new group of students to experience what it means to be part of that tradition.”

The Great Wait has been a Cornell tradition dating back to the 1970s. Students camped out, sometimes for days at a time, to secure a place in the Lynah Rink’s student section. It helped create a bond that made the Lynah Faithful one of the most acclaimed student sections in collegiate sports.

Learn more at the link in our comments.

09/15/2026

A new wireless device – lighter than a U.S. dime and shaped like a tiny chef’s hat – can track the brain waves of animals as they move in natural habitats, opening doors to understanding complex behaviors that are impossible to study in the lab.

In a paper published last week, Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences researchers provide a proof-of-concept for the device, which includes flexible probes that can track groups of neurons for months, as well as different modules to manipulate brain activity or log an animal’s locomotion and orientation, vocalizations, and eye movements.

The device, called the Wireless, Interactive, Lightweight Datalogger (WILD), will allow researchers to study how the brain responds to changes in a natural environment and group social contexts for the first time.

Read more: https://news.cornell.edu/index%2ephp/stories/2026/09/device-gives-first-view-animal-brain-activity-field.

09/14/2026

Some of the best moments on this campus happen between the big ones. A laugh shared in between classes. Ivy climbing brick. Students heading home under McGraw Tower as the day winds down.

This is Cornell on an ordinary day — and it's worth celebrating.