Life, Earth And Space

An interdisciplinary team of scientists have successfully tagged a protein that regulates the neurotransmitter serotonin with tiny fluorescent beads, allowing them to track the movements of individual molecules for the first time. This capability makes it possible to study the manner in which serotonin regulates mood, appetite and sleep at a new level of detail. Read More

A small telescope with a lens no more powerful than a high-end digital camera has discovered the existence of two very unusual exoplanets. Read More

Vanderbilt is on track this year to become the number one producer of minority Ph.D. recipients in physics, astronomy and materials science, an area where minorities are grossly underrepresented. Watch the emotional journey of the latest doctoral graduates from the Fisk-Vanderbilt-Master’s-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program. [vucastblurb]… Read More

Super-eruptions are potentially civilization-ending events and new research suggests that they may have surprisingly short fuses. Read More

Post-doctoral researcher Andrew Steigerwald has been selected by the Materials Research Society and the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society as their 2012-2013 Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow. Read More

Four Vanderbilt researchers collaborated with scientists from the University of Illinois-Chicago, University of Kansas and MIT to describe the consistency of an unusual fluid produced when atoms of lead are smashed in the Large Hadron Collider. Read More

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

Physicist Kirill Bolotin is one of 126 researchers who received Sloan Foundation research fellowships this year. 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

Physics professor Joseph H. Hamilton has been elected as a member of the Academia Europaea, a non-governmental association that serves as a European academy of arts and sciences. 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