Research Blog

(iSTOCK) Like the Wizard of Oz, computer scientists have largely been happy to perform their magic behind the curtain, out of public view.  However, this reticence has begun causing problems in the digital realm. “Computer scientists face the drawbacks of lacking public awareness,” wrote an international team… Read More

Astronomer Davy Kirkpatrick (Courtesy of Davy Kirkpatrick) If Davy Kirkpatrick’s calculations stand up, then Vanderbilt will have solid connections to two of the Sun’s nearest stellar neighbors. One link is long standing. Barnard’s star, which is six light years away from the Sun and its second-closest… Read More

Thomas Schwartz Thomas Schwartz, professor of history, recently responded to an interview request from a journalist in São Paulo, Brazil, about the lasting political impacts of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Professor Schwartz’s responses provide a concise overview of the lasting impact of a day… Read More

Scanning electron micrograph of a Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus colony by Perrin Ireland. Art and science are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, these two important fields of human endeavor often draw from and inspire each other. Think Leonardo da Vinci and Benjamin Franklin. A 21st century version of this cross-fertilization currently… Read More

Last week when the Nashville Scene’s annual Innovations Issue hit the newsstands, three of its ten “forward-thinking ideas that are pushing Nashville – and the world – into the future” came from Vanderbilt. The three campus projects that impressed the Scene editors were: Digging for Drugs:… Read More

  It’s easy to make fun of things you don’t understand. That is particularly true of scientific research. In fact, making fun of federally funded science projects has become an unfortunate political tradition. The Association of American Universities has taken up the challenge of defending publicly… Read More

  Every so often a piece of research makes it into the popular culture. That is the case with the discovery of Vanderbilt biologists Antonis Rokas and Jason Slot that entire gene clusters have jumped between unrelated species of mold millions of years… Read More

First appearance from "Uncanny X-Men" #96. Art by Dave Cockrum. Via Wikipedia. Here’s another reason to love the X-Men: real science. Listen carefully to the dialogue between Professor Charles Xavier and CIA agent Dr. Moira MacTaggart in the new movie, “X-Men: First Class,” and you’ll hear a… Read More

Vanderbilt graduate student Cassidy Cobbs has investigated recent news reports linking cell phone emissions with bee mortality and found that there is no scientific basis for the claims. Read More

Photo of a true blue-eyed cicada (Matt Weiss, Cicada Mania) Have you heard the latest buzz going round that scientists at Vanderbilt are paying as much as $3,000 for specimens of the rare blue-eyed cicada? If you have, I hope you haven’t spent a lot of time… Read More

Students at BSC111c poster session discussing project that determined the phylogenetic relationship of a number of common insects (Susan Urmy / Vanderbilt) In an educational environment increasingly characterized by canned and virtual science experiments that always come out right, Vanderbilt’s alternative introductory biology laboratory (BSC 111c) stands… Read More

Karoly Mirnics and Krassimira Garbett, staff scientist in his laboratory (Susan Urmy / Vanderbilt). I arrived in the states 21 years ago as a student, from what was to become the war-torn country of Yugoslavia. Twenty-one years later I am holding a title of James G. Blakemore Chair and vice… Read More

Representative Phil Roe (R-TN) chatting with Prof. Sandra Rosenthal, front, graduate student Scott Niezgoda and Christina West, assistant vice chancellor of federal relations, in Washington D.C. at the 17th annual CNSF Exhibition & Reception. (David Scavone) Last Wednesday, Sandra Rosenthal and Scott Niezgoda accepted the invitation… Read More

  An adult cicada (John Russell / Vanderbilt) Vanderbilt commencement speakers may have some unusual competition this year: Nashville’s largest brood of cicadas are predicted to emerge in May and hang around for about five or six weeks. Besides their practice of appearing in 13- or 17-year… Read More

Federal funding from the National Institutes of Health contributed to the development of a new laser technique being used at Vanderbilt to aid in drug discovery. Research Amanda Kussrow is pictured. (Joe Howell / Vanderbilt) Federal investment in scientific research is a major driver of job growth… Read More

Vanderbilt researchers are using a variety of approaches to hasten the beginning of the end of malaria. Read More

"Genetics Today" was the subject of a recent Science Café, a monthly free scientific exploration held at Nashville coffee shop Fido and sponsored by the Adventure Science Center. Read More

Last Sunday, Vanderbilt’s Aerospace Club participated in a major NASA rocket competition at Huntsville, Alabama and came away with a first place award for their payload design. This is the fourth year that the Vanderbilt group has been invited to the NASA Student Launch Projects rocketry challenge and… Read More

With the beginning of the spring rains, cholera is on the rise in Haiti once again. Pioneering Haitian physician Jean William "Bill" Pape is determined to be ready. "The new vision is to build back better," Pape said during this year's Tennessee Global Health Forum hosted by the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health. Read More

When the residents of Lwala, Kenya, raised $900 for a one-way ticket to send Milton Ochieng' to college in the United States nearly a decade ago, they could not have envisioned that he would return to build a medical clinic in the heart of their rural village near the shores of Lake Victoria. Read More