Research

Fast forward to a civilization about three trillion years in the future. Astronomers at that time equipped with instruments equal to those of today would likely come to a much different conclusion about the basic nature of the universe, one that harks back to static models that were popular at the turn of the century. Read More

The Supreme Court followed the advice of a Vanderbilt University professor and 25 other top antitrust economists and overturned the decision made by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on the telecom antitrust lawsuit Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly. Read More

An employee is fired for having a political bumper sticker on his car. Another is let go for complaining about co-workers on a MySpace page. A third person didn't receive a call-back on a prospective job because of the sermon he gave on his church's podcast. Are these violations of free speech? Are private companies breaking the law by firing or not hiring these people? Read More

Can you imagine an archer trying to improve her accuracy by practicing blindfolded, never seeing how close she was to hitting her target, never getting any information to help correct her aim? Read More

The program at Vanderbilt University that helped give Muhammad Yunus to the world is a small but mighty wonder. The Graduate Program in Economic Development (GPED) has been producing ambassadors, finance ministers and heads of central banks around the world for 50 years. Read More

New research by a Vanderbilt professor of law and political science found that illegal immigration is hurting African Americans and the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is not doing enough about it. Read More

If you've ever wondered about the ultimate fate of the universe, Lawrence Krauss and Robert Scherrer have some good news...sort of. Read More

College is clearly an investment in a person's future. But how do you pick the right school for you and which school will give students and parents the best return on their investment? Read More

A man with no prior history of sexual misconduct was caught trying to molest a child. A brain scan found that he had a large tumor pressing on his right frontal cortex. When the tumor was removed, he no longer wanted to molest children. A suicidal man tried to kill himself with a crossbow. When the arrow went into his skull, the damage done to his prefrontal cortex reversed his anti-social tendencies. Read More

In this day and age women are CEO's, senators, construction workers, stock brokers, economists and more. Women have made their way into every aspect of the workforce and comprise 46 percent of employees. Yet women consistently earn less than men. Read More

Education experts from Vanderbilt University's Peabody College of education and human development will be presenting their latest research April 9-13, 2007, in Chicago at the American Educational Research Association's annual conference. Read More

Vanderbilt engineers have won an award from Microsoft Corp. to develop a real-time, online, detailed and accurate picture of air quality in large metropolitan areas like Nashville. The mobile air quality monitoring system will make it possible to monitor air quality more accurately than the current system of fixed stations performing low-resolution sampling by including car-mounted sensors that measure, process and report emission levels. Read More

A new Vanderbilt University study has identified a chemical signal that plays a critical role in forming the heart, which could lead to new strategies to combat congenital heart defects. Read More

An assistant professor of physics at Vanderbilt University has won a $45,000 research fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation aimed at encouraging promising young scholars. Read More

Violent crime, racial oppression, ethnic tensions, mass atrocities and transitioning societies are all volatile situations that could be helped with effective conflict resolution techniques, including apology and forgiveness. But the complex emotional transition necessary for effective conflict resolution becomes even more complicated in the context of group conflicts. A conference being held at Vanderbilt Law School on March 30-31 will provide a unique opportunity to explore trends in conflict resolution. Read More

Nobel laureate Jerome Friedman will describe the long and controversial debate about quarks — the smaller particles that make up protons and neutrons in the atomic nucleus — during the annual Francis G. Slack Lecture on Friday, March 16. Read More

Researchers will present papers on a series of topics including the impact of agro-terrorism; the role of international agreements in achieving food security; what tragedy teaches us about 100-year-old food laws; food-borne infections and the global food supply and regulating food aid in disasters. Read More

Vanderbilt University researchers, in conjunction with colleagues at several other institutions, are working on a project that promises significant improvement in the control of proteins for a number of uses, including the detection of chemical and biological weapons. Read More

A new study by a Vanderbilt University professor of law and economics found legal immigrants in the United States with a lighter skin tone made more money than those with darker skin. Read More

There is a dark side to even the humble raindrop. A single drop is harmless, but when billions of raindrops from a cloudburst fall on bare soil they strike like billions of tiny hammers, dislodging tons of soil per acre which is carried away by surface runoff. Read More