NSF

Minor differences in language can have a large effect on how children think about learning materials, including the objects that make up a pattern. Read More

Pietro Valdastri, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and electrical engineering, and postdoctoral scholar Ekawahyu Susilo will begin Valdastri’s second run as principal investigator in the NSF I-Corps program as they explore the commercial potential of modular open-source architecture for building capsule robots. Read More

Picking a needle out of a haystack might seem like the stuff of fairytales, but our brains can be electrically “tuned” to enable us to do a much better job of finding what we’re looking for. Read More

The most detailed aerodynamic simulation of hummingbird flight conducted to date demonstrates that it achieves its aerobatic abilities through a unique set of aerodynamic forces. Read More

A family of single-celled organisms that thrive in environments too extreme for most other species to survive may be an untapped source of new antibacterial drugs. Read More

A team of biomedical engineers has developed a new "tumor-in-a-dish" technology that promises to improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Read More

Private Property and Government Inaction | Probiotic Could Prevent Obesity | Freedom from Power Cords | Pickiness Doesn’t Always Pay Read More

The fungicide amphotericin B may be a useful treatment for a frog fungus that is killing amphibians worldwide. Read More

A new type of supercapacitor brings us a step closer to a day when everything from cell phones to electric vehicles will no longer need separate batteries. Read More

Vanderbilt psychologists show it is possible to selectively manipulate our ability to learn through the application of a mild electrical current to the brain, and that this effect can be enhanced or depressed depending on the direction of the current. Read More

An ultra-fast and ultra-small optical switch has been invented that could advance the day when photons replace electrons in the innards of consumer products ranging from cell phones to automobiles. Read More

Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Jason Valentine has received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development grant. Read More

The mechanical forces generated by the rhythmic expansion and contraction of cardiac muscle cells play an active role in the initial stage of heart valve formation. 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

A new computational model of the interactions between vocal folds and the air around them could aid in designing new treatments for voice disorders. 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

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

Providing surgical robots with a new kind of machine intelligence that significantly extends their capabilities and makes them much easier and more intuitive for surgeons to operate is the goal of a major new grant announced as part of the National Robotics Initiative. Read More

A $200,000 grant from the National Science Foundation will enable a team of U.S. and Chinese researchers to identify instructional supports that lead to higher levels of mathematics achievement. Read More

A team of engineers and doctors have developed a new wireless capsule that can give surgeons back their sense of touch when performing minimally invasive surgery. Read More