Arts And Science

Some scholars still believe that romantic love was invented by European troubadours in the Middle Ages, and that people outside of the western tradition don’t really experience it. Ted Fischer, professor of anthropology, decided to test that theory. The verdict? Everybody loves. Read More

A former Vanderbilt student dreamed of using business and economics to help the poorest people in the world help themselves. That student was micro-loan pioneer and nobel-prize winner Muhammad Yunus. Now another Vandy student is following this dream, as Amy Wolf reports. [vucastblurb]… Read More

The UK audio science fiction magazine Starship Sofa has published a podcast of "Descartes' Stepchildren," a short story by Robert Scherrer, professor and chair of the Vanderbilt's department of physics and astronomy. Read More

When an Aztec child was born, soothsayers would consult the birth almanacs contained in codices to determine the most auspicious date to initiate the child into the Aztec community. Read More

Vanderbilt biologists have discovered that mosquito sperm have a “sense of smell” and that some of same chemicals that the mosquito can smell cause the sperm to swim harder. Read More

A study has found that the time it takes neural networks in the brain to make decisions is remarkably stable regardless of size: a finding that could make it easier to achieve the goal of the President's BRAIN Initiative established last spring. Read More

In the latest VUCast: One Vanderbilt student plans to help the world's poor; take a tour inside the new Recreation and Wellness Center; and learn how Vanderbilt experts are reaching millions. All this and more in the latest VUCast, Vanderbilt's online newscast. Watch now. Read More

A Vanderbilt economist turned his expertise back onto his own discipline and has published a 15-year analysis of graduate economics education in the United States. Read More

Support for political tolerance remains strong in many Latin American and Caribbean nations, but in others a move in the opposite direction “represents alarming news,” concludes a study by Vanderbilt University’s Latin American Public Opinion Project. Read More

Todd Jackson, BA’96, EMBA’08, is the recipient of the Vanderbilt Alumni Association Board of Director’s new Alumni Volunteer Award. As founders and co-chairs of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Young Ambassadors, Jackson and his wife, EB, have helped raise $250,000 and award seven Discovery Grants to innovative cancer… Read More

The popular science magazine Science News has chosen a story featuring research by Vanderbilt's Seth Bordenstein and Robert Brucker as its top science story for the year. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers studied 1,307 appointments made by the Obama administration in its first six months, seeking data about the appointees’ education, work history and political involvement. Read More

Two Vanderbilt astronomers are among an international team that has discovered a surprising new class of “hypervelocity stars” – solitary stars moving fast enough to escape the gravitational grasp of the Milky Way galaxy. Read More

In this week’s VUcast: Why your fingers sometimes know more than your brain; Vanderbilt athletes participate in a life-changing trip; and see the top five most-watched Vanderbilt videos. Watch now. Read More

With their intricate, translucent shapes and elaborate bioluminescent displays, comb jellies add beauty and mystery to the ocean depths. They also have an important story to tell about the origin of animals. Read More

A NASA astrophysicist and Vanderbilt graduate student Lisa Upton have confirmed the existence of giant convection cells flowing slowly on the sun, lending further insight into the transport of heat from its core and the origin of cycles of sunspot activity that affect essential satellite-based communications such as cell phones and TV broadcasting. Read More

Nelson Mandela, who became the symbol of freedom in a country torn by segregation, died Dec. 5 at 95. Meet an Arts and Science student from South Africa, and watch as she remembers this human rights leader. [vucastblurb]… Read More

A new study has found that skilled typists can’t identify the positions of many of the keys on the QWERTY keyboard and that novice typists don’t appear to learn key locations in the first place. Read More

High-quality preschool is an effective way to reduce social problems associated with poverty because it teaches children the psychological skills they need to succeed as adults, according to a Vanderbilt professor who studies the economics of human development. Read More

Tricking algae’s biological clock to remain in its daytime setting can dramatically boost the amount of commercially valuable compounds that these simple marine plants can produce when they are grown in constant light. Read More