Earth And Environmental Sciences

Over the past decade, Larisa DeSantis, paleontologist and associate professor of biological sciences, has worked with a team of former Vanderbilt undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and experts from across the globe to show how species can be both generalized at the species level and specialized individually—a probable key to their success. Read More

Fourteen undergraduates and two graduate students represented Vanderbilt University in Glasgow, Scotland, as official delegates to the United Nations international climate change negotiations—dubbed COP26. Read More

Looking at prehistoric organisms allows Simon Darroch and his students to describe how, when and why complex life evolved on this planet. Their work is a piece of the puzzle in understanding how likely it is that we’ll find complex life beyond Earth. Read More

Vanderbilt University, which already has taken significant steps in its commitment to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, has joined the Race to Zero—Universities and Colleges coalition. At the same time, Assistant Professor Leah Dundon and 14 students are participating in international climate change negotiations. Read More

Vanderbilt faculty Jonathan Gilligan and Janey Camp will work with researchers from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and involved entities to propose a large-scale research network with the goal of improving interrelated electric, transportation and communications services in areas with infrastructure served by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Read More

Simulating controversial responses to climate change, researchers illustrate how a small group of nations may influence climate change in the decades to come. Est. reading time: 2 mins. Read More

Elizabeth Chamberlain, a U.S. National Science Foundation postdoctoral research fellow in earth and environmental sciences, has been awarded the 2021 Dr. Richard Faas Research Prize by the International Association of Sedimentologists. Read More

Chemical signatures and microscopic wear patterns in dental fossils show that the diet of sabertooth cats included mammoths. Read More

Dental analysis from Larisa DeSantis shows that polar bears may not be able to compete for food sources as their environment melts away. Read More

Vanderbilt paleoclimatologists deploy first calcium isotope analysis of North American stalagmite to show how past weather extremes may predict events in California. Read More

Isotope analysis of ancient Peruvian teeth gives anthropologists a clearer image of how cooperating societies function. Read More

Interdisciplinary Earth scientists explore how little-understood underwater volcanoes affect the atmosphere. Read More

Kids and lifelong learners can hear directly from paleontologists about bizarre creatures of the past during a free virtual National Fossil Day event on Saturday, Oct. 10, at 10 a.m. CT. Registration is required. Read More

Comparing risk of shipping along the Arctic and the Suez Canal through 2100 scientists weigh factors including climate change in their calculations. Read More

Paleoclimatologist Jessica Oster uses geological clues from stalagmites to explore implications for future climate change. Read More

International collaboration shows that marsupial saber-tooth cats were more closely related to possums than fearsome predators. Read More

Paleontologist and associate professor of biological sciences Larisa DeSantis finds answers about early hominin diets are with an unrelated group of mammals—tapirs. Read More

When COVID-19 threw a wrench in their plans for meeting up in person, graduate students in Earth and Environmental Sciences decided to take their weekly hangout online.  Read More

With a population of roughly 150 million people, the delta country of Bangladesh holds about half the population of the entire United States in an area the size of Louisiana, and exists under a near-constant risk of sea level rise and other dynamic climate changes. Read More

The quokka, a small marsupial native to Australia, is an example of a species vulnerable to extinction in the country’s harsh surroundings. In a new study, researchers at Vanderbilt University demonstrate evidence for the dramatic decline of quokkas over the past century. Read More