Cornell University

One month until a new class of Cornellians makes their own odyssey to Ithaca. Different from Odysseus's Ithaca — Cayuga Lake instead of the Ionian Sea — but the same promise at the end of the road: they're arriving somewhere that's about to become home.

Thanks to a heat dome and North American wildfires, smoke is blanketing communities in parts of the Northeast and Midwest — presenting health hazards. Alistair Hayden, assistant professor of practice @cornellvet's Department of Public & Ecosystem Health, shares how you can protect yourself while the smoky haze lingers.

A type of brain cancer, called glioma, tends to progress toward greater malignancy due to an increasing tendency of the glioma cells to transform into immature, stem-cell-like states, according to a study led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine, the New York Genome Center, Harvard Medical School and Mass General Brigham. The findings showcase the power of modern laboratory technology for illuminating cancer development, and could inform future treatments and prognostic measures for gliomas. Read more: news.cornell.edu/stories/2026/0…

Dog safety during poor air quality! hen there is an alert for poor air quality, such as from wildfire smoke, the pollution concentrations and particulate matter in the air can reach hazardous levels that are unhealthy for the general population, including our pets.

You may have seen memes about the stomach bug that’s sweeping the country, causing explosive diarrhea. This severe illness is called Cyclosporiasis. Symptoms can start about one week after exposure and can last for weeks. Learn more about Cyclosporiasis.

Blue skies, good vibes, Big Red throwback. @CornellAlumni To check out more long-unseen images of balmy days on the Hill, visit alumni.cornell.edu/cornellians/vi…. Photos courtesy of the @Cornell_Library Rare and Manuscript Collections.

Proud of our postdoc, Dr. Milan Sharma, for presenting at #PSA2026! Exciting findings on grape pomace, gut microbiota, and poultry health highlight the potential of upcycled food ingredients to improve intestinal resilience. Great work, Milan! 👏🍇🐔 @Cornell #sustainability

Our team member, PhD candidate, Chloe McGovern, is rocking it at @IFT First 2026 conference ! @CornellGrad @Cornell @CornellCALS

Training artificial intelligence to enforce even seemingly straightforward rules – like balls and strikes in Major League Baseball (MLB) – is a messy, dynamic process that takes time and careful evaluation of the technology in the wild, according to new @Cornell_Bowers research. Read more: news.cornell.edu/stories/2026/0…

What if one of the best workplace wellness strategies was just outside the door? 🌿 Cornell research shows that spending even 5 minutes in nature can reduce stress, improve focus, and boost well-being. Read more: news.cornell.edu/stories/2026/0…

To plan your visit to campus, check out cornell.edu/visit.

Idyllic summer conditions at Cornell right now. Come see it for yourself.

“If you blink you miss it.” @CornellAstro researcher Victoria Boehm and others had only 8 minutes to gather info on exoplanet WD 1856 b with @NASAWebb. But with that glimpse they got a preview of what could happen to Jupiter & Saturn after our sun dies. smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/thi…

There may be three times as many insect species than previously thought, @CornellCALS research finds. Most experts have currently accepted an estimate of about 6 million insect species, a figure that has stood for the last 40 years. But the new count, which used genetic information for 1.6 million individual tropical insects, a census of a highly diverse group of parasitoid wasps in Costa Rica, and statistical strategies, conservatively estimates the total number of insect species at closer to 14 to 20 million. The study, published June 29 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, claims that a doubling or tripling of estimated insect species – already established as the most diverse group of animals – has profound implications for understanding the scale, richness, and future of biodiversity on Earth. “We know there are many more to go, and one of the challenges is the more we sample, the more we discover,” said Laura Melissa Guzman, assistant professor in the Department of Entomology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the paper's corresponding author. “It's a question of trying to estimate what is unobserved based on what we know.” Read more: news.cornell.edu/index%2ephp/st….

An artificial intelligence system that operates like a collaborative team of medical experts could accelerate clinical trial design, one of the most difficult steps in drug development, according to a new study by @WeillCornell investigators. The findings, published July 7 in Nature Communications, evaluated the potential of the system, called EmulatRx, to simulate, design, and improve clinical trials using real-world patient data. Read more: news.cornell.edu/stories/2026/0…

Autonomous drones could deliver packages, inspect bridges and skyscrapers, monitor emergencies like wildfires, and, eventually, ferry people. But the airspace still lacks the testing and coordination infrastructure needed to prove drones can operate safely around people, buildings, aircraft, and each other. Mehrnaz Sabet, a doctoral student in the field of information science in @Cornell_Bowers, is working to create that infrastructure. Learn how at news.cornell.edu/stories/2026/0….

ALL THINGS LOCAL 7-7-26 Kate Supron’s guest is @Cornell Botanic Garden’s Todd Bittner soundcloud.com/whcuradio/all-…

The thermometer reads 95 degrees in Brooklyn, and vulnerable individuals need information in order to take appropriate actions. New York City officials must gather facts quickly to provide updates on cooling centers, power outages and other details that could save lives. Are these details best gleaned from simple, low-complexity methods or AI-based tools? A Cornell-led research team from @Cornell_Tech and @Cornell_Bowers. discovered that the answer is far from black-and-white. The benefits of a simple, human-understandable index score vs. a less-interpretable predictive AI algorithm depend, they found, on the desired outcome as well as the decision’s intended audience. For example, AI may be better at making on-the-fly decisions that can inform outreach or emergency alerts, while a human-based index could be better at measuring more abstract concepts, such as “heat vulnerability.” Read more:news.cornell.edu/stories/2026/0…

As seen at Cornell: Afternoon light finds its way through the Song of the Vowels sculpture with McGraw Tower looking proudly down.

The @Cornell_Library's holdings tied to the founding of the USA are as varied as they are historic. “Not only are many of the well-known Founding Fathers represented,” University Archivist Evan Earle ’02, MS ’14, says of Cornell’s holdings related to the Revolutionary War era, “but also lesser-known figures who had involvement in the dawn of the United States.” As we celebrate America's 250th anniversary, check out some of our Revolutionary-era collections at alumni.cornell.edu/cornellians/ar….