Bright green sprout in dark soil

SPROUT Awards cultivate early-stage engineering research

From designing a reversible male contraceptive to detecting life on distant ocean worlds, the latest Cornell Engineering SPROUT Awards are cultivating breakthroughs across medicine, space exploration, robotics and environmental sensing.

A conductor directs an orchestra

Concert celebrates the wonders of space March 2

In a musical journey through the cosmos, the Cornell Symphony Orchestra will perform the world premiere of “Ex Terra, Ad Astra,” a new work commissioned especially for this year’s Young Person’s Concert.

This image shows an updated version of the iconic Pale Blue Dot image taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft.
This image shows an updated version of the iconic Pale Blue Dot image taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Memories of Carl Sagan on the 35th Anniversary of the Pale Blue Dot

In November, we celebrated 90 years since Carl Sagan was born. On Valentine’s Day today, we celebrate 35 years since the birth of—thanks to Prof. Sagan’s persuasion—one of the greatest photographs of all time.

Illustration showing a mountain, clouds and nearby rocks spewing vapor

Scientists compile library for evaluating exoplanet water

Cornell scientists are developing a library of basalt-based spectral signatures that not only will help reveal the composition of planets outside of our solar system, but also could demonstrate evidence of water on those exoplanets.

NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft.
An artist's concept of NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Scientists supporting mission to assess Europa’s habitability

NASA has launched its next flagship science mission, Europa Clipper – the space agency's first dedicated spacecraft mission to study an ocean world beyond Earth – and Cornell scientists will play a role in reporting discoveries about its habitability.

Lisa Kaltenegger

Dr. Lisa Kaltenegger Receives Polar Star Award

"The Austrian Space Forum (OeWF) has awarded Dr. Lisa Kaltenegger the Polar Star Award – the Austrian Space Prize. Gernot Grömer, Director of the Austrian Space Forum awards presented Dr Kaltenegger with the award at a ceremony on Monday 23 September."

Jupiter moon Io
Nearly 400 active volcanoes punctuate the Jupiter moon Io. Using flyby data from NASA’s Juno mission that examines the volcanoes, doctoral student Madeline Pettine led a group of Cornell astronomers to study a fundamental process in planetary formation and evolution: tidal heating. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS

Volcanoes may help reveal interior heat on Jupiter moon

By examining flyby data from the NASA spacecraft Juno, the astronomers found that Io has active volcanoes at its poles that may help to regulate tidal heating – which causes friction – in its magma interior.

Britney Schmidt

Scientist Britney Schmidt wins Blavatnik Award

Schmidt received the award for “advancing climate science and planetary habitability studies through groundbreaking research on ice-ocean interactions and innovative exploration of Earth’s polar regions and icy planetary bodies.”

Nearby star-forming cluster, NGC
This stunning new mosaic of images from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope showcases the nearby star-forming cluster, NGC 1333. Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Scholz, K. Muzic, A. Langeveld, R. Jayawardhana

Webb Discovers Six New “Rogue Worlds” that Provide Clues to Star Formation

Reported in Universe Today, "a team of astronomers working with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) announced the discovery of six rogue planet candidates in an unlikely spot. The planets, which include the lightest rogue planet ever identified (with a debris disk around it), were spotted during Webb‘s deepest survey of the young nebula NGC 1333, a star-forming cluster about a thousand light-years away in the Perseus constellation. These planets could teach astronomers a great deal about the formation process of stars and planets. The team was led by Adam Langeveld, an Assistant Research Scientist in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University (JHU)" and Visiting Scholar at Cornell's Department of Astronomy.

Ice sheets at Mars' south pole
This image taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows ice sheets at Mars’ south pole. NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/JHU

Simulations dampen excitement about liquid water on Mars

Cornell researchers have provided a simple and comprehensive – if less dramatic – explanation for bright radar reflections initially interpreted as liquid water beneath the ice cap on Mars’ south pole.

Jonathan Lunine, with glasses, beard and mustache, and suit and tie

Astronomer Lunine appointed chief scientist of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

As chief scientist, Lunine will guide the laboratory’s scientific research and development efforts, drive innovation across JPL’s missions and programs and enhance collaborations with NASA Headquarters, NASA centers, the California Institute of Technology, academia, the science community, government agencies and industry partners.

Peter Loewen

Peter Loewen named dean of Arts and Sciences

Coming from the University of Toronto, where he was the director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, Loewen began his five-year appointment as the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Aug. 1.

asteroid Dinkinesh and Selam
A pair of stereoscopic images of the asteroid Dinkinesh and Selam created with data collected by the L’LORRI camera on NASA's Lucy spacecraft in the minutes around closest approach on Nov. 1, 2023. NASA/Goddard/SwRI/Johns Hopkins APL/NOIRLab for the original images/Brian May/Claudia Manzoni for stereo processing of the images

Novel calculations peg age of ‘baby’ asteroid

A Cornell-lead research team derived the age of Selam, a “moonlet” orbiting the asteroid Dinkinesh in the main asteroid belt, based only on the pair’s dynamics.

Person in lab coat holding a glass bottle

In search for alien life, purple may be the new green

Purple bacteria is one of the primary contenders for life that could dominate a variety of Earth-like planets orbiting different stars, and would produce a distinctive "light fingerprint," Cornell scientists report.

Lisa Kaltenegger, founding director of the Carl Sagan Institute
Lisa Kaltenegger, founding director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University. “I think a lot of people might not be so aware of where we are right now, and that they are living in this momentous time in history,” she said. “We can all be a part of it.” Heather Ainsworth for The New York Times

She Dreams of Pink Planets and Alien Dinosaurs

"Have dinosaurs evolved on other worlds? Could we spot a planet of glowing organisms? What nearby star systems are positioned to observe Earth passing in front of the sun? These are just a few of the questions that Lisa Kaltenegger has joyfully tackled. As the founding director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University, she has pioneered interdisciplinary work on the origins of life on Earth and the hunt for signs of life, or biosignatures, elsewhere in the universe."

Ligia Coelho, with wire glasses and t-shirt, smiling at the camera next to her lab bench with dials and beakers and wires connecting them

Two Cornell scientists chosen for 51 Pegasi b Fellowships

The three-year postdoctoral fellowship, granted to Lígia Fonseca Coelho and Zach Ulibarri, provides recipients with resources, freedom, and flexibility to conduct theoretical, observational, and experimental research in planetary astronomy.

The frozen ocean world of Enceladus, a moon of Saturn.

Ice shell thickness reveals water temp on ocean worlds

Decades before any probe dips a toe – and thermometer – into the waters of distant ocean worlds, Cornell astrobiologists have devised a way to determine ocean temperatures based on the thickness of their ice shells, effectively conducting oceanography from space.

Jake Turner

Earth to be exhibit A for lunar exoplanet research

With the help of a Cornell astronomy researcher, the first radio telescope ever to land on the moon will lay the foundation for detecting habitable planets in our solar system by observing Earth as if it’s an exoplanet.

bacteria Vibrio natriegens
The laboratory of Buz Barstow has engineered the the bacteria Vibrio natriegens, shown here, to conduct low-cost science without expensive incubators, shakers or freezers. Credit: Bryce Brownfield/Provided

Low-cost microbe can speed biological discovery

Cornell researchers have created a new version of a microbe to compete economically with E. coli – a bacteria commonly used as a research tool due to its ability to synthesize proteins – to conduct low-cost and scalable synthetic biological experiments.

Sailing to the Stars founding members
Cornell students and founding members of Sailing to the Stars, from left: Raghav Inder, Ethan Francolla, Ryan Lee, Joshua Umansky-Castro, Verena Padres and Adam Yonas. Joshua Umansky-Castro/Provided

Cornell light sail to deploy on International Space Station

A light sail that could one day propel small spacecraft through interstellar realms is headed to the International Space Station and will be tested by astronauts on behalf of Cornell’s Space Systems Design Studio.

Cassini spacecraft swoops through plumes from Enceladus
Dramatic plumes spray water ice and vapor from many locations along the famed "tiger stripes" near the south pole of Saturn's moon Enceladus. The tiger stripes are four prominent, approximately 84-mile- (135-kilometer-) long fractures that cross the moon's south polar terrain. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

A new way to characterize habitable planets

This "study emphasizes new directions for future missions to measure habitability on other worlds, using Saturn's icy moon Enceladus as a primary example."

Megan Holycross
Megan Holycross, assistant professor of earth and atmospheric sciences Provided

Holycross wins NSF CAREER award to research Earth's crust

Megan Holycross, assistant professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at Cornell Engineering, has received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award for her research into the origins of the Earth’s continental crust.

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