Arts And Science

Congress is taking up the debate over comprehensive immigration reform yet again. Vanderbilt has a diverse array of experts researching various aspects of the immigration debate. Read More

The reason dark matter, which makes up 85 percent of all the matter in the universe, is invisible could be because it possesses a rare, donut-shaped type of electromagnetism instead of the more exotic forces that have been proposed, according to an analysis of a pair of Vanderbilt theoretical physicists. Read More

A scientific team led by University of Louisville doctoral student Karen Collins has discovered a hot Saturn-like planet in another solar system 700 light years away. The discovery was made using inexpensive ground-based telescopes, including one specially designed to detect exoplanets and jointly operated by astronomers at Ohio State University and Vanderbilt University. Read More

A team of researchers, headed by Vanderbilt astronomer C. Robert O’Dell, has combined images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope with images from ground-based telescopes to reconstruct the three-dimensional shape of the iconic nebula with unprecedented precision. In the process, they determined that it is considerably different than previously thought. Read More

Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider, the world's most powerful particle accelerator, may have created the smallest drops of liquid made in the lab. Read More

What exactly pushed Christopher Columbus to embark on a voyage across the Atlantic, or Edward Jenner to test his theory for an early smallpox vaccine on a child, or Henry Ford to bet that automobiles could replace horses? David Zald, professor of psychology, studies risk-taking and is quoted. Read More

Vanderbilt phylogeneticists examined the reasons why large-scale tree-of-life studies are producing contradictory results and have proposed a suite of novel techniques to resolve the contradictions. Read More

See how a student is saving young women from violence one download at a time. Music therapy hits the big time. Hear stars sing young patients’ songs. How hard does the football… Read More

Vanderbilt researcher David Lewis says that anything that can be done to corral the use of patronage for political appointments would help the federal government to operate more efficiently. Read More

If the Tennessee Valley Authority goes private, utility customers could benefit if risks and incentives are better aligned than under the current approach, according to a Vanderbilt law professor. The prospect of selling off the public utility has been raised by the Obama administration in a call for a strategic review. Read More

The Obama administration launched a “modest shot across the bow” with a call for a strategic review that includes consideration of a possible sale of the Tennessee Valley Authority, according to Bruce Oppenheimer, professor of public policy and education at Vanderbilt University. Read More

Arts and science student Branden Sanders had a vision when he came to Vanderbilt—to make recording great music more accessible and affordable. Now this Curb Scholar is making that dream a sweet-sounding reality. [vucastblurb]… Read More

When Vanderbilt senior Dallas Jessup was just 14-years old…she launched a video crusade to teach girls how to protect themselves from sexual assault. Now this overachiever is ready to change the world even more. [vucastblurb]… Read More

Rising tensions in the Korean peninsula have Japan, South Korea and the United States on full alert for a possible missile launch from North Korea. James Auer “A major worry now is North Korea’s young leader, who may not understand the constraints of reality that his grandfather and father… Read More

Helena Simonett, associate director of the Center for Latin American Studies and adjunct assistant professor at the Blair School of Music, both at Vanderbilt University, believes that the saga of the “the little man’s piano” can tell us something aboutAmerica, especially in terms of class. Read More

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is either leading his country’s military or being led by that military into a rhetorical battle with the United States, South Korea and Japan that he and his generals cannot win, according to James Auer, director of Vanderbilt’s Center for U.S.-Japan Studies and Cooperation. Read More

Losing experienced employees from federal service jobs can have serious consequences, and there's a good way to lessen the chances of that happening, a new study shows. Read More

W. James Booth, professor of political science and philosophy, examines our obligations toward the dead. Read More

There is good reason to think that long-term solitary confinement has debilitating psychological effects which render people unable to engage socially, says Lisa Guenther, associate professor of philosophy. Read More

The collapse of the party system and high levels of crime and corruption in Venezuela have not dimmed public support for democracy in that country, according to a survey by the Latin American Public Opinion Project at Vanderbilt. Read More