In 1687 Sir Isaac Newton made a pretty compelling case for gravity — but it never hurts to get a second opinion.

Two weeks ago Cornell’s Prof. Hod Lipson, mechanical and aerospace engineering, and Michael Schmidt grad did just that when they unveiled a supercomputer that discovered Newton’s natural laws on its own.

The computer’s algorithm is so sophisticated that it can literally teach itself some of the most influential principles in the history of science without any prior knowledge of them.

Now, it is no secret that newspapers and other print media have been waging what seems to be a losing war against technology (mostly against free, internet-based media), and so I can’t help but wonder: How long will it be before Lipson invents an algorithm for writing columns?

Outsourcing is abuzz and computer science enrollment has dropped, but in Cornell’s world-renowned computer science department, students and professors alike are confident that this outsourcing trend will not impact their futures.

When asked if outsourcing is a concern that comes up among friends, Noah Santorello ’09, president of the Association of Computer Science Undergraduates, said, “Never. Computer science is not like finance where everyone’s concerned about getting a job when the economy gets bad.”