Academia can be a very siloed place, but Itai Cohen, professor of physics in the College of Arts and Sciences, has managed to work on an incredibly eclectic range of projects, from studying the neuroscience behind insect flight, to making origami-like solar materials that wrap buildings, to creating tiny diffractive microrobots that can probe the microscopic world. He reflects on where his diverse interests and collaborations have led him, and the role that fear played in the evolution of his scientific trajectory.
Read about the tiniest walking robot and its micro-measurements.

As social media platforms deployed psychological “inoculation” on a large scale, hoping to help people spot techniques common to misinformation, Gordon Pennycook, associate professor and Himan Brown Faculty Fellow in the Department of Psychology and College of Arts and Sciences, had doubts about its effectiveness. He discusses new research identifying a way to strengthen inoculations, and why he began studying misinformation.
Read more about it.

This week's top stories on the Cornell Chronicle include MacArthur “genius grant” winners Nicola Dell and Ling Ma, the kick off of McGraw Hall’s renovations, and some good news for parents trying to get their kids to eat healthy meals: Kids don’t need to eat salads to maintain a healthy weight.

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