Swarms of mosquitoes may be a season away, but Cornell researchers are trying to unlock a new method of controlling mosquito reproduction that could help dengue fever victims in developing countries as well as itchy students.

The Bdelloid rotifer has survived 30 to 40 million years without ever having sex. Without genetic variation from sexual reproduction to defend against predators these small invertebrates should have already gone extinct, but Cornell researchers have discovered the rotifers’ trick to staying alive: a drying-up adaptation that protects them against parasites.

Stimulus funds provided in the form of a grant from the National Science Foundation will help Cornell scientists at the frontier of their fields explain their research to those within the scientific community as well as those outside it, according to the University.

Fifty percent of all non-immigrant American children will use food stamps at one point in their lives, according to a Cornell researcher who co-authored a study on childrens’ food stamp use in this month’s issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, a monthly professional journal published by the American Medical Association.

Health care is big money. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says that health care represents America’s largest industry, providing roughly 14 million jobs. The Bureau goes on to mention that seven of the 20 fastest growing occupations are health related. Here at Cornell, medical research is a huge deal, producing shiny new buildings like Weill Hall, and attracting top professors from around the country. And our top students have always been lured towards medicine as an attractive, stable, intellectually stimulating career option.

But question: Jobs and investments aside, is this approach to medicine effective? Does it produce a healthy, productive society in the most efficient way possible?

Family dinners have transformed from home-cooked meals at the dining room table to take-out in front of the T.V., according to a recently published Cornell study, which examined the correlation between irregular work hours and family food choices.

The study, funded by the National Cancer Institute, was led by Prof. Carol Devine, nutritional science, and arose after a preliminary study showed that work schedules are the biggest obstacle for working parents when it comes to eating healthily.

“There are factors in people’s lives that make it difficult to adhere to nutritional regulations that the federal government has made over the years,” said Prof. Elaine Wethington, human development and co-investigator for the study.

Each fall, we students partake in a cathartic transition from summer love back to the rigor and routine of school. Freshmen throw frisbees in front of Appel, juniors and seniors (and some older looking sophomores) partake in the drunken debauchery of the Collegetown bars, and professors do their best to remind us that we’re supposed to be mature young adults focused on earning undergraduate degrees. And like clockwork, students turn to the many controversial and questionable study practices, including (but not limited to) SparkNotes, CourseHero and, of course, the powerhouse Wikipedia.

Research.

Quick, what associations did you make? I’d venture to guess that either a beaker or a pipette crossed your mind, however briefly.

According to Nobel laureate Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, “ Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought.” Szent-Gyorgyi’s definition, not specific to any particular field of study, implies extended creative thought on a particular subject. “Research” for many, however, suggests little about creativity.

Why, then, does “research” conjure up images of lab coat-clad, microscope-using individuals, mainly in the fields of biology, chemistry or physics?

Cornell researches will have greater access to Internet-scale supercomputers for conducting systems and applications research as a result of Yahoo! granting the University access to its cloud computing cluster, ccording to a Yahoo! Research press release.

In an effort to expand its cooperation with top U.S. universities, Yahoo! Inc. will collaborate with Cornell, U.C. Berkeley and University of Massachusetts at Amherst, along with Carnegie Mellon. Yahoo!’s cloud computing cluster will enable Cornell, along with these other universities, to conduct research of large-scale systems software rand explore new applications.

“If you ask a typical student where electricity comes from, they [would] say, ‘From the outlet,’” said Lanny Joyce, Cornell University manager of engineering, planning and energy and yesterday’s keynote speaker at “Spirit of Sustainability,” a lunchtime talk in Sage Chapel about Cornell’s energy conservation and sustainability efforts. The first of a month-long series, yesterday’s talk focused on the subtle contributions from all people on Cornell’s campus in order to reduce carbon emissions. Future speakers will address sustainability issues ranging from cutting-edge research to new construction.