Life, Earth And Space
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World’s largest atom smashers create world’s smallest droplets
Recent experiments at the world's largest atom smashers are producing liquid drops so small that they raise the question of how small a droplet can be and still remain a liquid. Read MoreOct 2, 2015
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Holley-Bockelmann named director of Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program
Kelly Holley-Bockelmann, associate professor of physics and astronomy, has been named director of the Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program, College of Arts and Science Dean Lauren Benton announced. Read MoreSep 14, 2015
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A VU Inside: Professor explores caves for clues to climate change
Jessica Oster is a member of a small group of earth scientists pioneering the use of mineral cave deposits in stalagmites, collectively known as speleothems, as proxies for the prehistoric climate. Read MoreSep 3, 2015
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Evidence that Earth’s first mass extinction was caused by critters, not catastrophe
The Earth's first mass extinction event 540 million years ago was caused not by a meteorite impact or volcanic super-eruption, but by the rise of early animals that dramatically changed to prehistoric environment. Read MoreSep 2, 2015
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The pronoun ‘I’ is becoming obsolete
Recent microbiological research has shown that plants and animals, including humans, are not autonomous individuals but are holobionts: biomolecular networks that consist of visible hosts plus millions of invisible microbes. Read MoreAug 19, 2015
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Milky Way filled with wandering stars
A new map of the Milky Way has discovered that 30 percent of the galaxy's stars are wanderers, making major shifts in their orbits during their lifetimes. Vanderbilt post-doc Jonathan Bird played a major role in the study. Read MoreJul 31, 2015
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Vanderbilt astronomer jazzed by Pluto flyby
Astronomer David Weintraub, who is an expert on Pluto, reacts to the new images of the distant world and its twin, Charon, coming back from the New Horizons spacecraft. Read MoreJul 17, 2015
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New model of cosmic stickiness favors “Big Rip” demise of universe
A Vanderbilt team of scientists have developed a new formulation for cosmic viscosity which strongly favors the "Big Rip" end of the universe. Read MoreJun 30, 2015
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Hillyer receives parasitology medal
Vanderbilt biologist Julián Hillyer is this year's recipient of the H.B. Ward Medal given by the American Society of Parasitologists. Read MoreJun 29, 2015
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Creating bacterial ‘fight clubs’ to discover new drugs
Chemists Brian Bachmann and John McLean have shown that creating bacterial "fight clubs" is an effective way to discover natural biomolecules with the properties required for new drugs. Read MoreJun 29, 2015
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Vanderbilt receives Gates Foundation grant to develop wristband mosquito repellent device
Vanderbilt biologist Laurence Zwiebel has received a Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Exploration grant to create a wrist-band device that devises a personal "no-fly zone" offering protection from mosquitoes. Read MoreJun 8, 2015
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Vanderbilt physicists appear on BBC News website
Three Vanderbilt physicists who are members of a scientific team at the Large Hadron Collider appeared in a BBC News photo taken when the giant particle smasher was restarted. Read MoreJun 4, 2015
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World’s smallest spirals could guard against identity theft
Vanderbilt researchers have made the world’s smallest spirals and found they have unique optical properties that are nearly impossible to counterfeit. Read MoreJun 2, 2015
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Deciphering clues to prehistoric climate changes locked in cave deposits
Jessica Oster and her colleagues have shown that the analysis of a stalagmite from a cave in north east India can detect the link between El Nino conditions in the Pacific Ocean and the Indian monsoon. Read MoreMay 22, 2015
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Locating the brain’s SAD center
Vanderbilt biologists have localized the seasonal light cycle effects that drive seasonal affective disorder to a small region of the brain called the dorsal raphe nucleus. Read MoreMay 7, 2015
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The Conversation: Robert Scherrer on dark energy
Explainer: the mysterious dark energy that speeds the universe’s rate of expansion Read MoreApr 24, 2015
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Scherrer’s new blog explores the science in science fiction
In his new blog “Cosmic Yarns,” Robert Scherrer, who is both chair of the Astronomy and Physics Department and a published science fiction author, explores the intersection between science and science fiction. Read MoreApr 24, 2015
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New insight into how brain makes memories
Vanderbilt researchers have identified the role that a key protein associated with autism and the co-occurrence of alcohol dependency and depression plays in forming the spines that create new connections in the brain. Read MoreApr 23, 2015
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The Conversation: Hubble Space Telescope’s chief scientist on what it took to get the project off the ground
Bob O'Dell reflects on the challenges of building the Hubble Space Telescope, launched 25 years ago. Read MoreApr 22, 2015
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Evolutionary history of whales, dolphins and sea turtles
The evolutionary history of whales, sea turtles and other land animals that have returned to the sea details the radical changes to their life style, body shape, physiology that they made to survive in an aquatic environment. Read MoreApr 17, 2015