David Salisbury

A new microfluidic device containing human cells that faithfully mimics the behavior of the blood-brain barrier is providing new insights into brain inflammation, the silent killer. Read More

A laboratory study of four animal species and their microbiota finds that each species hosts a unique community of microbes that can significantly improve its health and fitness. Read More

"Mood ring materials" constitute a new type of smart sensing technology that could play an important role in minimizing and mitigating damage to the nation's failing infrastructure. Read More

A study finds men are better at recognizing Transformer faces while women are better at recognizing Barbie faces, supporting the theory that we're more likely to recognize what we're used to seeing. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered how to make high-performance batteries using scraps of metal from the junkyard and household chemicals. Read More

A team of Vanderbilt scientists have genetically modified luciferase, the enzyme that produces bioluminescence, so that it acts as an optical sensor that records activity in brain cells. Read More

Sometimes you can't improve on a classic method: Touch typing is still the fastest. Read More

DNA related to black widow spider toxin been discovered in a phage that infects the bacterial parasite Wolbachia. It is the first time animal-like DNA has been found in a bacterial virus. Read More

Paleoclimatic cave study in California is designed to identify the factors that made megadroughts commonplace in the western U.S. from 5,000 to 8,000 years ago. Read More

Research by Associate Professor of Psychology Suzana Herculano-Houzel finds that human intelligence comes from the number of neurons in our brains—and it was the invention of cooking that made neuron development possible. Read More

Researchers from Vanderbilt University have developed porous polymer-fiber electrodes that may make fuel cells more powerful. Read More

There is new evidence that the "mother’s curse" – the possibility that moms may transmit genes to their children that harm their sons but not their daughters – holds true in animals. Read More

New fossil evidence strengthens the proposition that the world’s first mass extinction was caused by ‘ecosystem engineers’ – newly evolved organisms that radically altered the environment. Read More

Associate Professor of Psychology Bunmi Olatunji is one of 45 members elevated this year to the status of fellow by the Association for Psychological Science. Read More

A team of engineers and psychologists have developed a virtual reality driving simulator designed to help teenagers with autism spectrum disorder learn to drive, a key skill in allowing them to live independent and productive lives. Read More

A microscopic analysis of quartz crystals from an ancient California super-eruption indicates that the process of decompression preceding the eruption took place less than a year before. Read More

Fecal transplants are increasingly being used to treat certain human illnesses and more scientists have begun to research the transplants' effects in animals. Read More

A team of Vanderbilt scientists have identified some of the methods that mutant mitochondrial DNA use to circumvent the molecular mechanisms that cells use to regulate mitochondrial activity. Read More

Vanderbilt Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy Kelly Holley-Bockelmann explains the meaning of the first discovery of gravitational waves at TEDx Nashville. Read More

The first study to systematically measure the number of neurons in the brains of birds has found that they have significantly more neurons packed into their small brains than are stuffed into mammalian and even primate brains of the same mass. Read More