Delegates at the 2010 4-H  Career Explorations Program at Cornell University are 540 strong this year. Youth and chaperones gathered together as organizers divided them into course tracks. Delegates from Fulton and Montgomery Counties include Marybeth Allen, Abigail Andrews and Victoria Guisti with chaperones Craig Clark and Laurie Guisti.

Delegates to the 2010 4-H Career Explorations Program at Cornell University arrived on campus all ready to participate in a myriad of learning activities! Delegation staff chaperone Craig Clark shared this photo.

Congratulations and Best Wishes to the 18 4-H members who are graduating from area high schools this week. The family of Cornell Cooperative Extension in Fulton and Montgomery Counties wish you success on your adventure through life. We hope that you are taking with you some valuable skills and lessons learned through project and club work in 4-H. We also congratulate all of the graduating seniors who are former 4-H members, but not currently members this year.

Congratulations to 2009-2010 4-H Member High School Graduates: Brittany Arnold, Angela Banick, Karissa Belden, Ian Chapin, Loren Conbeer, Kenneth DeBlock III, Matthew Gogis, Brittany Hotaling, Krystle Hutchison, Sarah Johnson, Cody Knowlton, Rolland Krohn, Aaron Milonovich, Catherine Opalka, Sara Orlowski, Jacob Pamkowski, Courtney Shaver, and Shelby Taylor.

Yesterday, some of New York’s residents experienced a relatively rare event – tremors from a 5.0 magnitude (Richter scale) earthquake whose epicenter was located about 35 miles north of Ottawa, Canada. The last notable earthquake in New York State was in 2002. Here are some resources about earthquakes:

FEMA Earthquake website (http://www.fema.gov/hazard/earthquake/)

Fast Facts about earthquakes (http://www.fema.gov/hazard/earthquake/facts.shtm)

Information for Individuals and Families (http://www.fema.gov/plan/prevent/earthquake/info_homeowners.shtm)

What to do during an earthquake (http://www.fema.gov/hazard/earthquake/eq_during.shtm)

What to do after an earthquake  (http://www.fema.gov/hazard/earthquake/eq_after.shtm)

Also, here is a website to help children learn about and understand earthquakes. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/kids/

Space remains open for the food preservation class “Pressure Canning of Low-Acid Foods” on Tuesday, June 29^th, 6:00-8:00 p.m. The class, presented by Cornell Cooperative Extension in Fulton and Montgomery Counties, will be a combination of instruction, demonstration and hands-on practice. The cost is $15 per person.

Canning can be an economical way to preserve food at home, but it is important to know and use the latest research-based information and practices. Use of home preservation recipes prior to 1994 is not recommended. New research has caused some important changes in practice. This class is geared for those who would like to learn how to can low-acid foods, canners who want to be sure they are using the latest pressure canning recommendations, and those who wish to have a refresher course in pressure canning.

A pressure canner is the only safe method of canning all common vegetables (except tomatoes), meats, fish and poultry. Pressure is necessary to produce the high temperature that kills the bacteria that may cause botulism, a deadly form of food poisoning, which can grow on low-acid foods.

Space is limited. Call 518-762-3909 x 101 immediately to get into the class.

Come out to Shuttleworth Park in Amsterdam on Saturday, July 10th, 7:05 p.m. to watch the Amsterdam Mohawks play the Cooperstown Hawkeyes and show your supprt for 4-H in Fulton & Montgomery Counties!

• Promote 4-H – Wear your 4-H t-shirt or your green t-shirt and 4-H accessories!
• Meet 4-H members, alumni, volunteers and their families from local communities!
• Meet some 4-H Heroes who will receive special recognition during the game!
• Stop by the 4-H display table to get your 4-H pin and put in your entry for a drawing of 4-H goodies!
• Join other 4-H fans ON THE FIELD between innings to recite the 4-H pledge!
• Say "Hello" to Chris Clover, the 4-H mascot! (Maybe even take your photo with Chris!)
• Fill out your admission ticket to win prizes at the game!
• Enjoy a night of great baseball with your friends and the 4-H family!

Get your tickets from 4-H staff at Cornell Cooperative Extension, 55 East Main Street, 2nd Floor #210, Johnstown. General admission tickets at a special price: adults $3 and youth (up to age 19) just $1. For more information call 518-762-3909 x 114.

A compound found in sunless tanning spray may help to heal wounds following surgery, according to a study by Cornell biomedical engineers and plastic surgeons at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. 

Results published online May 31 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences show that a sticky gel of polyethylene glycol and a polycarbonate of dihydroxyacetone (MPEG-pDHA) may help to seal surgical wounds.

Procedures to remove cancerous breast tissue, for example, often leave a hollow space that fills with seroma fluid and must typically be drained by a temporary implant. "This is an unpleasant side effect of surgery that is often unavoidable," said co-author Dr. Jason Spector, a plastic surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center."The new substance would act to glue together the hole left behind to prevent seroma buildup."

DHA sticks to certain compounds (amines) in biological tissues. Its sticky properties allow sunless tanners to adhere to the skin without being wiped off. Because it is biodegradable and water soluble, DHA does not stay tacked onto the body's tissues forever. Currently used "bio-glues" are made from animal products and take a long time to degrade in the body -- factors that raise the risk of infection.

Exposure to pollutants, allergens, drugs and potentially harmful elements in the human diet abound and can damage the immune systems of embryos, babies and older children, says Cornell toxicologist Rodney R. Dietert, a professor of immunotoxicology in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

To help parents, physicians and other professionals prevent such damage in children, Dietert and his wife, Janice Dietert, have written the new book "Strategies for Protecting Your Child's Immune System: Tools for Parents and Parents-to-Be" (World Scientific Publishing Co.). 

"It provides science-based information and specific strategies to help parents proactively protect their child's immune system," says Dietert.

Do you want to speak English better? Do you want to understand, read and write English better? Do you need English skills for work or training?

HFM BOCES is accepting new students into the English as a Second Language classes. Classes meet Monday and Wednesday mornings for beginners at Centro Civico, 143-145 East Main Street, Amsterdam, while intermediate classes meet Tuesday and Thursday evenings at Trinity Luteran Church, 40 Guy Park Avenue, Amsterdam. Classes for advanced students begin in September.

For information or reserve a space, please call 518-736-4340. Voicemail is available 24 hours. Download an information sheet in English and Spanish.

Overhearing people chatting on cell phones is not only annoying; it is so distracting that it compromises cognitive performance, reports a new Cornell study to be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science.

The researchers say that overhearing half a conversation -- a "halfalogue" -- is more distracting than other kinds of conversations because we're missing the other side of the story and so can't predict the flow of the conversation.

The findings suggest that drivers of motor vehicles may be significantly compromised by overhearing the cell phone conversations of their passengers, say Michael Goldstein, assistant professor of psychology at Cornell, and doctoral candidate Lauren Emberson, who is also affiliated with Weill Cornell Medical College's Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology.