Life, Earth And Space

Vanderbilt researchers have boosted the efficiency of a novel source of white light called quantum dots more than tenfold, making them of potential interest for commercial applications. Read More

Astronomers have identified nearly 700 rogue stars that appear to have been ejected from the Milky Way galaxy. Read More

The first study of how mammals in North America adapted to climate change in “deep time” found that taxonomical families with greater diversity were more stable and maintained larger ranges than less diverse families. Read More

VINSE is starting new high school field trip program where they will have students create a solar cell out of blackberries and raspberries. Read More

Vanderbilt physicists report that they have nailed down the source of the interference inhibiting the rapid flow of electrons through graphene-based devices and found a way to suppress it. Read More

A method for taking ultrafast "sonograms" of materials undergoing phase transitions sheds new light on the dynamics of this important phenomenon in the world’s fastest phase-change material. Read More

http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/science_nation/nosingoutmosquitoes.jsp Read More

Julian Hillyer is the 2012 recipient of one of the Entomological Society of America’s annual recognition award. Read More

The smallest exoplanets yet discovered orbit a dwarf star almost identical to Barnard’s star, one of the Sun’s nearest neighbors. The similarity helped the astronomers calculate the size of the distant planets. Read More

A team of Vanderbilt chemists have designed and successfully synthesized the largest artificial protein using a new approach that greatly expands scientists’ ability to create proteins unknown in nature. Read More

Professor of Astronomy David Weintraub wanted his students to remember more of what they learned in his introductory class than the answers to typical questions on a quiz show. That was a strong impetus for his book How Old Is The Universe? It strives to make astronomy understandable… Read More

A team of scientists has taken a major step toward developing robot biologists. They have shown that their system, the Automated Biology Explorer, can solve a complicated biology problem from scratch. Read More

Astronomer David Weintraub has given introductory astronomy a “CSI” format by following the scientific evidence that gives us the age of the universe and has put this in a popular science book. Read More

Vanderbilt chemists have developed the first method that can rapidly and accurately map the surfaces of tiny particles that possess two chemically distinct faces. The findings have broad potential applications ranging from drug delivery to video displays. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers are exploring what role, if any, bacteria play in environmental diversity, with the aim of answering one of biology's most fundamental questions. Read More

Prof. Thomas Weiler, right, and graduate fellow Chui Man Ho (John Russell / Vanderbilt) If the latest theory of Tom Weiler and Chui Man Ho is right, the Large Hadron Collider – the world’s largest atom smasher that started regular operation last year – could be… Read More

A new laser technique can measure interactions between proteins tangled in a cell's membrane and a variety of other biological molecules: extremely difficult measurements that can aid the process of drug discovery. Read More

Since the days of Darwin, the “tree of life” has been the preeminent metaphor for the process of evolution, reflecting the gradual branching and changing of individual species. The discovery that a large cluster of genes appears to have jumped directly from one species of fungus to another, however,… Read More

Physicist James Dickerson, left, and graduate student Saad Hasan (Photo by Daniel Dubois) Windshields that shed water so effectively that they don’t need wipers.  Ship hulls so slippery that they glide through the water more efficiently than ordinary hulls. These are some of the potential applications for graphene, one of… Read More

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III collaboration, which includes Vanderbilt University, has resulted in a picture of the sky so big that it would take 500,000 high-definition TVs to view it at full resolution. The color image contains more than a trillion pixels and covers about one-third of the entire sky. Read More