Author: Sarah Foust

  • A scientific speaker’s guide to losing your audience

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    Let’s face it, scientific talks are the most annoying part of a researcher’s job. Talks are an unwelcome interruption to the real work — the actual doing — of science. We are constantly being forced to explain, again and again, what our research means and why it’s important — as if that was not painfully…

  • Pets of Tri-I: Our Furry Friends’ Summer Shenanigans

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    As summer heats up, it’s the perfect time to grab a cool drink, find a cozy spot, and enjoy these charming insights into the lives of the pets from our community. Whether you’re a cat lover or a dog enthusiast, we believe in giving equal representation to both paws and claws. So, in the spirit…

  • Trust your Instincts: Gut-Brain Research at Tri-I

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        Have you ever experienced “butterflies in your stomach?” Maybe a “gut feeling” that just cannot be explained? Nerve cells can be found in even more places than the brain or the central nervous system: enter the enteric nervous system (ENS). The ENS, a unit of the peripheral nervous system, is a group of…

  • The Pickleball Experiment: How Courts Created Community

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    A silly name for a serious game. Pickleball is a paddle sport invented in 1965 that combines tennis, badminton, and ping-pong into a fast-paced game. The simple rules make it an easy sport to get into for all ages, but a more competitive pickleball scene has quickly overtaken New York City. For young professionals and…

  • Like Hela Cells

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    For Henrietta Lacks if i die mid experimentation working with tuberculosis will I be used like Henrietta Lacks if it’s not written on a document does the brain lose its privacy as if rotted thoughts cannot still be trapped by skull before my body fuses with mother earth will my cells be enslaved by latex…

  • A comfort poem after you finish an experiment

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    today is friday at 5pm, and i want you to remind your body that it did a good day’s work  today remind your body that it is enough  let every muscle fiber twitch down your knuckles shock your nerve endings  marionette palms to your shoulder and hold yourself  feel comfort  embrace that you have made…

  • We’re Nuts about Cashew!

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    This month I had the pleasure of speaking with the adorable and rambunctious Cashew Carreiro, who took a pause from playtime to answer some questions about life at Rockefeller with her human mom, Jeannie.  Audrey Goldfarb: How did you and Jeannie meet? Cashew Carreiro: My brother and I were getting ready to move out and…

  • February 2024 Book Recommendations

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    2024 is upon us, and many of us have set our reading goals for the year. If you need some help getting started, look into these informative, entertaining, and thought-provoking picks. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot will walk  you through the history of one of the most important, and often misunderstood…

  • New Weill Cornell postdoc union begins collective bargaining

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    On November 15th, 2023, postdoctoral fellows at Weill Cornell Medicine voted to unionize by a 99% majority of 328 to 4. Forming the union gives postdocs the legal right to engage in collective bargaining with the institution. Postdocs aim to use this right to improve workplace conditions through increased salary minimums, improved housing and childcare…

  • Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Bench and Computer Scientists?

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    One popular topic buzzing around laboratory corridors is the debate on whether artificial intelligence (AI) could replace hands-on bench work. While AI has proven its worth in various domains like economics, customer service, and climate science, it makes you think – what are the real limits to these technologies? To what extent will human work…

  • New Director May Bring Positive Changes to the NIH

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    In 2023, the Tri-I received 1,056 grants—nearly $600 million in total—from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH).  While many members of the Tri-I community rely on such NIH funding, we represent just 1.5% of NIH-funded research. The NIH had a total budget of almost $48 billion last year, of which $40 billion was allocated…

  • Navigating Health Equity Amidst the Gene Editing Revolution

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      From the characterization of the double-helix structure of DNA, to the development of the first chimeric recombinant DNA in 1972, to the mapping of the human genome in 2001, technological improvements have historically led to advances in conceptual understanding of molecular and cellular biology. These conceptual advances in turn inform the next generation of…