Cornell in the National News, August 19, 2005
Friday August 19, 2005 Category: News Permanent Link
The following is a sampling of recent major news stories, courtesy of the Cornell News Service.
Elephants, lions to roam North America once more?
Reuters, AP, August 17 (picked up by major media worldwide including CNN and ABC News. Featured on the Today Show and Good Morning America 8/19)
Scientists are proposing reintroducing large mammals such as elephants, lions, cheetahs and wild horses to North America to replace populations lost 13,000 years ago.
The scientists say that not only could large tracts of North America act as breeding sanctuaries for species of large wild animals under threat in Africa and Asia, but that such ecological history parks could be major tourist attractions.
“Africa and parts of Asia are now the only places where megafauna are relatively intact, and the loss of many of these species within this century seems likely,” the team, led by Josh Donlan from New York’s Cornell University, said.
The Deadliest Cancer
Newsweek (cover story) August 17
Doctors Claudia Henschke and Nasser Altorki from the Weill Cornell Medical Center are featured in this story about lung cancer. They discuss new methods of diagnosing the disease – their benefits and risks.
Full story at MSNBC.com.
Moderate drought declared from Finger Lakes west to Buffalo
AP, August 11 (picked up by major regional outlets including Long Island Newsday)
Based on a report from the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell.
The affected area stretches from the Finger Lakes region west to Buffalo and south to north-central Pennsylvania, according to Keith Eggleston, climatologist for the climate center in Ithaca, which has been drier than anywhere else in the Northeast.
Doubt a man’s masculinity and he’ll get macho
Reuters Health, August 11 (picked up by major outlets including ABC News, the Today Show and MSNBC)
This story was highlighted in the last edition of CU in the News but had not hit the majors yet.
Tell a man that he’s not “man enough” and he may exhibit extremely macho behavior to compensate, new study findings suggest.
“In general, men in our society are very invested in maintaining a masculine identity,” study author Robb Willer, a PhD candidate in sociology at Cornell University, told Reuters Health.
When their masculinity is threatened, “they overcompensate,” he said.
Yarn, spandex, and dogs teach new tricks
Christian Science Monitor, August 11
Mathematics Professor Daina Taimina’s method of teaching about hyperbolic space using crocheted creations had another nice hit (following it’s original placement in the New York Times) as part of a comprehensive story about math teaching methods.
