Gates Foundation awards Cornell $26.8 million to lead global fight against deadly wheat plague

Cornell has been awarded a $26.8 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to launch the Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat project, a broad-based global partnership to combat stem rust, a deadly wheat disease that poses a serious threat to global food security. (April 2, 2008)

Web site hosts gardeners' ratings on veggie varieties

Now is the perfect time to curl up with seed catalogs and pick vegetable varieties for summer gardens. To see how various varieties have worked out for thousands of other gardeners, check out Cornell's Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners Web site. (Jan. 21, 2008)

Diet for small planet may be most efficient if it includes dairy and a little meat, Cornell researchers report

A low-fat vegetarian diet is very efficient in terms of how much land is needed to support it. But adding some dairy products and a limited amount of meat may actually increase this efficiency.

Four departments get top billing for faculty productivity

Cornell's Departments of Food Science, Information Science, Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering are No. 1 in the country in their fields, according to the latest Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index. (Sept. 12, 2007)

An apple peel a day might keep cancer at bay, Cornell food science study finds

Cornell researchers have identified a dozen compounds in apple peel that either inhibit or kill cancer cells in laboratory cultures. Three of the compounds have not previously been described in the literature. (May 30, 2007)

CU begins 'new era' in grape research in Lake Erie region

The New York State Agricultural Experiment Station will move its grape research laboratory from Fredonia to Portland, N.Y., onto recently purchased land, with more than $5 million of state funding.

Why tipsy flowers don't tip over: Booze stunts stem and leaves, but doesn't affect blossoms, study finds

Dilute solutions of alcohol -- though not beer or wine -- can reduce paperwhite growth by half but not affects its flowers, says William Miller, professor of horticulture and director of the Flower Bulb Research Program at Cornell. (March 31, 2006)

'Slow, insidious' soil erosion threatens human health and welfare as well as the environment, Cornell study asserts

Around the world, soil is being swept and washed away 10 to 40 times faster than it is being replenished, destroying cropland the size of Indiana every year, reports a new Cornell University study.

Wanted by Cornell and USDA researchers: A natural enemy to curb two invasive, poisonous vines

With no known enemies in North America, two types of invasive vines are growing rampant in forests and fields, threatening reforestation, fragile butterfly populations and bird habitats.