Month: April 2011

Vanderbilt participants in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey are, from left: David Weintraub, Leslie Hebb, Andreas Berlind, Trey Mack, Keivan Stassun and Kelly Holley-Bockelmann. Imagine a picture of the sky so big that it would take 500,000 high-definition TVs to view it at full resolution. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey… Read More

Dr. Jeffrey Sosman, Dr. William Pao and Dr. Cindy Vnencak-Jones gather in the Molecular Genetics Lab for the launch of the new Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center’s Personalized Cancer Medicine Initiative.Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center has become the first cancer center in the Southeast and one of the first in the nation to offer… Read More

ClintonThe top three priorities for Tennessee’s elected officials should be the economy, education and health care, according to a new poll launched by Vanderbilt. A majority of respondents rated the state’s economic condition as “fairly bad” or “very bad.” The Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions undertook its first… Read More

A surgeon at Vanderbilt holds his index finger against a fetus’ hand in utero during surgery With the conclusion of a landmark seven-year study showing clear benefits for babies who undergo fetal surgery to treat spina bifida, Vanderbilt has begun offering the delicate procedure, which repairs a baby’s spine while… Read More

Jean Heard was a graduate of the Juilliard School and an active studio musician in Nashville. During the past few days as I was thinking about these words to honor Jean Heard, a still, small voice in the back of my mind kept repeating something the fifth chancellor of Vanderbilt… Read More

“Nobody writes letters much anymore,” goes a common lament among alumni magazine editors. Who doesn’t like to receive letters? And who doesn’t enjoy reading a fat, juicy letters section? It’s often the first thing I turn to when I open a magazine, especially when I’m reading a publication I’ve never… Read More

Lifting lives with song! See how Vanderbilt was spotlighted at the ACM Awards. Plus, a new label to put consumers in the “green,” and are menthol cigarettes more dangerous than regular smokes? It’s all in this week’s VUCast newscast. [vucastblurb]… Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is a laboratory for health care reform. Increasingly, Vanderbilt researchers are applying their expertise in informatics, genomics, drug discovery, basic science and clinical medicine to the solution of critical problems in patient care. Bedside checklists and electronic “dashboards” developed at Vanderbilt, for example, enable doctors and… Read More

Antioxidant compounds may counteract the neurotoxic effects of methylmercury, new research suggests. Read More

I’ve always been fascinated, and occasionally frustrated, by the tendency of string, yarn, rope and wire – any thing that is long, thin and flexible – to knot and tangle. Fields Medal winner Vaughan F.R. Jones Clearly, I’m not the only one. Mathematicians have been studying knots… Read More

Illegal immigrants are finding it increasingly harder to find work, pay taxes and submit tax returns because of tighter immigration restrictions. Read More

Watch video of Vanderbilt Professor David A. Weintraub speaking April 13 on “How Old is the Universe?” as part of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. David A. Weintraub is professor of astronomy, director of the Communication of Science & Technology program, and director of Undergraduate Studies for Department of Physics… Read More

Watch video of Marshall Eakin, professor of history at Vanderbilt University, speaking April 13 on “The Americas in the Age of Revolution, 1776-1836,” as part of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. The revolution that created the United States was only one of many American revolutions. From 1776 to 1836, wars for… Read More

Watch the April 7 talk by Bobby Lovett, professor of history at Tennessee State University, “Nashville and the Civil War, 1860-1866, and the Economic, Social and Political Transformations.” Lovett’s areas of expertise include African-American history and Tennessee as well as Nashville history. His books include The African American History of… Read More

Read a transcript of this talk » Watch video of Michael Burry speaking April 5 on “Missteps to Mayhem: Inside the Doomsday Machine with the Outsider who Predicted and Profited from America’s Financial Armageddon,” as part of the 2010-2011 Chancellor’s Lecture Series. Burry, a Vanderbilt University School of Medicine alumnus… Read More

An obesity-associated genetic variation makes fatty food more rewarding yet less satisfying, new research in mice suggests. Read More

A prenatal yoga class is offered noon to 1 p.m. April 21 in Room 415 Light Hall. Read More

Michael Burry spoke April 5, 2011 on “Missteps to Mayhem: Inside the Doomsday Machine with the Outsider who Predicted and Profited from America’s Financial Armageddon,” as part of the Chancellor’s Lecture Series Burry, a Vanderbilt University School of Medicine alumnus profiled in author Michael Lewis’ bestselling book “The Big Short,”… Read More

A new study finds no link between childhood vaccinations and a type of metabolism disorder. The study is the latest to provide evidence of vaccination safety. Read More

My study-abroad experience began much like anyone else’s. I spent months preparing personal statements, making travel plans, and preparing for the cultural transition. I would be Vanderbilt’s first, and only, student participating in an Arabic-language study-abroad program at the American University in Cairo, a premier university renowned throughout the Middle… Read More