Bright Ideas

High-profile role models are one driver of improved academic performance for African Americans. The presidential run of Barack Obama has made a strong positive impact on the test-taking achievement of African Americans, according to research by Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management Professor Ray Friedman. Documenting what Friedman and his… Read More

Let’s say you’re the owner of a widget factory who’s worried about maintaining your talent pool as baby boomers begin retiring from the workforce in droves. In making your business attractive to employees, is your best bet to focus on (a) motivation-enhancing practices such as incentive pay plans, performance bonuses and… Read More

Binary stars, as every science-fiction aficionado knows, are pairs of stars that orbit around their center of mass. In the world of astrophysics, binary stars are important because observing their mutual orbits not only helps determine the mass of the binaries, but also, by extrapolation, the mass of many single stars. Read More

Who will save America? Which presidential candidate has the intelligence, charisma and acumen to fix our economy, deal with Iraq, address rising oil prices, eradicate poverty, lead democracy, and put the nation on a better moral track? It’s a trick question, and every four years we pound our heads… Read More

Worldwide, 15 to 20 percent of people suffer from migraines—excruciating headaches often presaged by dramatic sensations, or “auras.” By studying a rare inherited form of migraine, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have found clues to the biological basis of the debilitating disorder. In the July 15, 2008, edition of the Proceedings… Read More

Hoping to ward off the flu bug, these boys wear bags of camphor around their necks during the influenza epidemic of 1918. The influenza pandemic of 1918 killed nearly 50 million people worldwide, including many healthy young adults. With fears of another flu pandemic stoked by “bird flu” in Asia… Read More

Corruption in the former Soviet Union threatens the European Union’s attempts to standardize university degrees, warns Stephen P. Heyneman.Photo by Daniel Dubois. Graduates of universities in the former Soviet Republic may find their degrees losing value as corruption among higher education programs continues to rise, two Vanderbilt professors… Read More

Nicolas P.B. Bollen’s research suggests the purposeful avoidance of reporting hedge-fund losses. Photo by Steve Green. Significant numbers of hedge-fund managers purposefully and routinely avoid reporting losses by marking up the value of their portfolios, according to research from the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management. Read More

New technology could help pilots, fighters and commanders to communicate seamlessly. getty images/CHECK SIX A computer freeze-up in the office is a hassle. In a fighter jet peppered with enemy fire, it’s a matter of life and death. Getting the increasingly large and complex… Read More

istockphoto.COM Basic lifestyle changes could save children with obesity-related diabetes from a lifetime of complications. But making changes in areas such as diet and exercise is more difficult than adjusting to medical management of the disease, a Vanderbilt study shows. “Type 2 diabetes in children is such a new… Read More

Staph bacteria, shown here growing on a culture dish in Professor Eric Skaar’s laboratory, is the leading cause of deadly infections acquired in hospitals. Photo by Neil Brake Antibiotic-resistant forms of Staphylococcus aureus (staph) have made staph the leading cause of infectious heart disease, the No. 1 cause of… Read More

Illustration by Joe Johnston In its ability to learn, the cockroach is a numskull in the morning and a genius in the evening. Dramatic daily variations in the cockroach’s learning ability were discovered by a new study performed by Vanderbilt University biologists and published last fall in the Proceedings… Read More

Middle school students teach a cartoon character and then test her comprehension. Photo by Jason Tan Anyone who has ever helped children with homework knows how much they resist checking their answers. Now a new animated computer program created by Vanderbilt engineers is showing students that self-checking is an… Read More

Courtesy of Don Hyatt–www.donhyatt.com Anthropologists working on the slopes of the Andes in northern Peru have discovered the earliest-known evidence of peanut, cotton and squash farming, dating back 5,000 to 9,000 years. Their findings provide long-sought evidence that some of the early development of agriculture in the… Read More

Women have made their way into every aspect of the workforce and comprise 46 percent of employees. Yet they consistently earn less than men. In separate research studies a Vanderbilt economist has found a disappointing answer to the age-old wage debate regarding pay inequity, and also has pinpointed which professions… Read More

Research from Vanderbilt shows for the first time that the brain processes aggression as a reward–much like sex, food and drugs–offering insights into our propensity to fight and our fascination with violent sports like boxing and football. The research was published online the week of Jan. 14 by the… Read More

The toddler entertainment market has exploded in recent years: Infants, toddlers and preschoolers in the United States watch an average of one to three hours of video media and television programming per day. But new research suggests parents should choose videos with high interactive content if they want their… Read More

Illegal immigration is hurting African Americans, according to research by a Vanderbilt professor of law and political science. In Debating Immigration, a book of essays that Carol Swain edited and contributed to, she says African Americans are losing more jobs to illegal immigrants than other racial or ethnic groups;… Read More

Women who undergo breast augmentation surgery are nearly three times as likely to commit suicide, according to a study published in the August issue of Annals of Plastic Surgery. This research confirms previously seen links between breast implants and a high risk of suicide, as well as deaths from alcohol… Read More

Winnter Reynolds may have within her body a clue to the legendary Hatfield- McCoy feud. The 11-year-old is a descendant of McCoys who harken from West Virginia and are, according to her grandmother, Goldie, kin to the family known for its long-running clash with the Hatfield family. Winnter… Read More