Author: Spencer Turney
VU engineers and VUMC doctors team up for open-source ventilator design
Mar. 27, 2020—As COVID-19 continues to push unprecedented challenges on medical communities, one of the most pressing threats for hospital staff across the country is a dwindling supply of ventilators. Now, an interdisciplinary team of Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center faculty is taking on the challenge by way of a fabricated, open-source ventilator design.
Physics grad student embraces ‘dissertation-at-home’ format for creative presentation
Mar. 25, 2020—For graduate students nearing the end of their programs, COVID-19 has created an unexpected challenge: remotely presenting an effective and engaging dissertation defense. That was the new reality for Kyle Godbey, a graduate student of physics at Vanderbilt studying nuclear reactions.
Biology researchers capture shape-shifting delivery structures in body’s cellular “FedEx system”
Mar. 9, 2020—A new cellular biology study reports the first visualization of a unique shape-shifting structure in the human body which plays an important role in the timely delivery of fats and proteins.
Fasting at night or in the morning? Listen to your biological clock, says new research
Feb. 27, 2020—According to a new study published by biological science researchers at Vanderbilt, the answer to eating (or fasting) windows lies in the circadian rhythms of the body’s biological clock.
Bangladesh collaboration offers lessons for facing rapid environmental changes
Feb. 24, 2020—With a population of roughly 150 million people, the delta country of Bangladesh holds about half the population of the entire United States in an area the size of Louisiana, and exists under a near-constant risk of sea level rise and other dynamic climate changes. Now, as the world faces a future chock-full of increasing...
Where are the quokkas? New study explains what happened to the “happiest animal in the world”
Feb. 21, 2020—The quokka, a small marsupial native to Australia, is an example of a species vulnerable to extinction in the country’s harsh surroundings. In a new study, researchers at Vanderbilt University demonstrate evidence for the dramatic decline of quokkas over the past century.
New thalattosaur species discovered in Southeast Alaska
Feb. 4, 2020—Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and Vanderbilt University have identified a new species of thalattosaur, a marine reptile that lived more than 200 million years ago.
How ants get angry: Precise “lock and key” process regulates aggression, acceptance
Feb. 3, 2020—In a new study, scientists at Vanderbilt report definitive evidence of a mechanism within ants that is responsible for unlocking aggression. The research—the first to pinpoint this mechanism and its precise role in ant biology—reports a social characteristic which could help account for their evolutionary success.
How many stars eventually collide as black holes? The universe has a budget for that.
Jan. 31, 2020—A promising new study developed by one Vanderbilt astrophysicist may give us a method for finding the number of available stars in the history of the universe that collide as binary black holes.
Experiments into amorphous carbon monolayer lend new evidence to physics debate, lay groundwork for future devices
Jan. 8, 2020—A new study into two-dimensional amorphous carbon is providing answers to long-standing questions regarding the atomic makeup of bulk amorphous materials, opening the door to exciting device applications in the future.
Seeing the unseen: Vanderbilt science hub helps set a standard for innovative microbiome research, education
Dec. 19, 2019—The Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative is receiving attention for its role as a standard bearer for other microbiome programs, thanks to a new article on the importance and emergence of microbiome centers – academic hubs of microbiome-related research.
Ph.D. bridge programs show success in fostering diversity and inclusion, according to new study
Dec. 6, 2019—A team of STEM researchers, including Vanderbilt astrophysicist Kelly Holley-Bockelmann, have published a new collaborative study on Ph.D. bridge programs as a mechanism to empower students, foster diversity and spur a more holistic approach to graduate education.