earth and environmental science
International collaboration draws new conclusions about ‘convergent evolution’ of saber-tooth cats
Jun. 26, 2020—International collaboration shows that marsupial saber-tooth cats were more closely related to possums than fearsome predators.
Unexpected mammal provides insight into the lives of ancient hominins
Jun. 11, 2020—Paleontologist and associate professor of biological sciences Larisa DeSantis finds answers about early hominin diets are with an unrelated group of mammals—tapirs.
Students have front-row seat for international climate change negotiations
Feb. 10, 2020—As part of its continuing commitment to understanding and combating climate change issues through education and action, Vanderbilt University is now an accredited, official observer of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change.
Dolphin ancestor’s hearing was more like hoofed mammals than today’s sea creatures
May. 15, 2019—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.
Student pushing boundaries to impact the Earth, and people in it
Jan. 30, 2019—What is more daring—camping in a remote part of Antarctica for a month doing field research, or directing and performing in a musical revue about the environment? For Earth and Environmental Sciences major Andrew Grant, pushing boundaries to positively impact the Earth, and the people who call it home, are equally thrilling.
Climate change the likely killer of Australian marsupial lion
Oct. 19, 2018—The extinction of one of Australia’s top predators, the marsupial lion, was likely a result of changing weather patterns and loss of habitat rather than human impacts, a study led by Vanderbilt University paleontologist Larisa DeSantis has found.
Volcano researcher learns how Earth builds supereruption-feeding magma systems
Oct. 11, 2018—After studying layers of pumice, measuring the amount of crystals in the samples and using thermodynamic models, the team determined magma moved closer to the surface with each successive eruption.
Koala teeth provide insights into diet
Aug. 22, 2018—Paleontologist Larisa DeSantis' latest research confirms that the shape of tooth wear best indicates the kind of food koalas and kangaroos ate, not whether it was covered in dust and dirt.
Political leaning influences city water policies as strongly as climate
Jun. 18, 2018—Vanderbilt environmental researchers developed an index of city water policies and gathered data on the climate, water sources, population, economy and political leanings.
Prehistoric people also likely disrupted by environmental change
May. 24, 2018—A prehistoric community in the Mississippi Delta may have abandoned a large ceremonial site after the bayou it sits on began to dry up.
Mississippi River Delta will lose more land than can be reclaimed
Apr. 11, 2018—Before the Industrial Age, the Mississippi Delta grew at a rate of two to three square miles per year, suggesting that, even with current reclamation efforts, it is unlikely that it will be possible to offset the current rate of loss--15 to 20 square miles per year
Professor and student travel to the bottom of the earth, searching for climate clues
Apr. 4, 2018—Vanderbilt geologist Dan Morgan and undergraduate Andrew Grant took immersion to an extreme, trekking all the way to Antarctica to hunt for the oldest ice ever found.