Life, Earth And Space

A team of STEM researchers, including Vanderbilt astrophysicist Kelly Holley-Bockelmann, have published a new collaborative study on Ph.D. bridge programs as a mechanism to empower students, foster diversity and spur a more holistic approach to graduate education.  Read More

A discovery from a team of physicists and other researchers is breaking new ground in the study of ferroelectricity, a characteristic of certain dielectric materials that are used in high-technology applications. Read More

New research led by Vanderbilt astrophysicist Karan Jani presents a compelling roadmap for capturing intermediate-mass black hole activity. Read More

A National Academies committee, featuring Vanderbilt astrophysicist Keivan Stassun, published a report and resource guide on effective mentorship in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine. Read More

Steven Townsend, whose research into human milk could one day help all babies get their best start in life, is also a committed mentor devoted to helping young scholars get the best start on their careers. Read More

An astrophysicist at Vanderbilt is part of the committee behind a review of NASA’s updated Science Plan, a five-year strategic roadmap for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. Read More

A new Vanderbilt study funded by a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency seeks to construct a new platform and reliable approach for future studies into organophosphate compounds, such as pesticides, insecticides and similar nerve agents. Read More

When it comes to our differences from Neanderthals, most of what we know comes from comparing fossils. But fossils can only tell us about bones and not whole living organisms. That’s changing thanks to a new paper from a team of genomics researchers at Vanderbilt, who… Read More

Picky females force male songbirds to become better singers. Read More

A groundbreaking study, using data from NASA and a technique pioneered by a Vanderbilt professor, is giving humankind a glimpse at a distant exoplanet with a size similar to Earth and a surface which may resemble Mercury or Earth’s Moon. Located nearly 49 light-years from Earth, the planet known… Read More

The Vanderbilt Evolutionary Studies Initiative seeks to position the university as a global leader in evolutionary studies by engaging a large group of scholars who share this research interest. Read More

Spreading the gospel of veggie-only diets may not be the most effective way to help reduce overall, food-related greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new model based on behavioral science. In new commentary published Aug. 9 in Nature Sustainability, Jonathan Gilligan, associate professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, examines… Read More

The most detailed study to date of ancient predators trapped in the La Brea Tar Pits is helping Americans understand why today we’re dealing with coyotes dumping over garbage cans and not saber-toothed cats ripping our arms off. Read More

Chemistry major Puxin Xuanyuan put her creativity to work this summer while splitting time between an immersion experience at a medical biotech startup in Toronto and conducting cancer-fighting research on the Vanderbilt campus. Read More

A computer model of forces exerted by cells during development of a fertilized egg into a fruit fly larvae holds promise to help scientists understand the morphogenesis of organisms that are much more complicated. Shane Hutson, professor of physics and biological sciences and chair of the Department of… Read More

“They are behaving like animals, and that’s a link between them and what we recognize as animals," says paleontologist Simon A.F. Darroch. Read More

Vanderbilt University astrophysicist Keivan Stassun, Stevenson Professor of Physics and Astronomy, was named Tuesday to the National Academies’ Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Astro2020) Steering Committee. Read More

A group of budding yeasts in the genus Hanseniaspora, which is closely related to the baker’s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, has lost large numbers of genes related to cell cycle and DNA repair processes. Read More

Louise Rollins-Smith and colleagues have discovered a new way that a deadly fungus evades frogs' immune systems. Read More

The team, one of the first in the world to examine the ability’s origins, used a small CT scanner to look inside a 30-million-year-old ear bone fossil from a specimen resembling Olympicetus avitus. Read More