Science

NASA will be setting off fireworks of a different kind this July 4, when it plans to slam an 820-pound projectile into a 10-mile wide rocky, icy comet. Vanderbilt University‘s Dyer Observatory will provide live streaming images of the impact from the Astronomical League‘s International Space Station Amateur Telescope near Tuscon, Ariz., and will provide live online commentary by Vanderbilt physicist Robert O‘Dell, former chief scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope. Read More

Is there a copy of you reading this announcement? A person who is not only you but who lives on a planet called Earth, with misty mountains, fertile fields and sprawling cities, in a solar system with eight other planets? If the theory of parallel universes is correct, then each of us has dozens of such alter egos. Read More

The complex issues of attachment between children and parents will be the topic of an all-day research conference at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development, Thursday, May 19. Read More

As the science that could lead to designer babies advances, and as machines take on more human-like capabilities, what once was considered science fiction is becoming reality for contemporary scientists and technologists, with more in common than generally assumed. Read More

Research reported April 20 at a meeting of the American Physical Society reveals that the early universe may have behaved like a liquid in the first few microseconds after the Big Bang. Physicists from Vanderbilt University were part of a prestigious international team that made the surprising findings. Read More

Vanderbilt University‘s School of Engineering will play an important role in a major new $19 million National Science Foundation (NSF) multi-institutional center to protect the nation‘s computer infrastructure from cyber attacks while improving its reliability. Read More

Research at Vanderbilt University and the University of Pennsylvania challenges the American Psychiatric Association‘s position that antidepressant medications are the only effective treatment for moderately to severely depressed patients. Read More

T. John Koo, assistant professor of computer engineering, has been recognized with a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation to support his efforts to pioneer a new science that will help engineers do a better job of designing the wide array of "smart devices" which contain microchips and are spreading rapidly throughout modern society. Read More

Nashville kids ages 4 to 18 are invited to enter a new local art contest to help decorate the Learning Sciences Institute at Vanderbilt University. Read More

It‘s nature‘s fastest quick-change artist: In less than the time it takes a beam of light to travel a tenth of a millimeter, vanadium dioxide can switch from a transparent to a reflective, mirror-like state. Read More

Vanderbilt Law School maintained its No. 17 ranking in the nation for the fifth consecutive year, while Peabody College saw seven of its programs ranked in the top 10 by U.S. News & World Report in its annual ranking of the leading graduate and professional schools. Peabody‘s Special Education program was ranked first in the nation for the third straight year. Read More

Vanderbilt University will become the center of an ongoing conversation about the friction and connections between science and religion with the help of a grant from the Metanexus Institute on Religion and Science in Philadelphia. Read More

When you grab a piece of food and put it in your mouth, when you smile in response to the smile of a passerby or squint and grimace in anger, the complex pattern of movements that you make may be hard-wired into your brain, according to Vanderbilt researchers writing this week in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Online Early Edition." Read More

Laws and public policy will often miss their mark until they incorporate an understanding of why, biologically, humans behave as they do, scholars from Vanderbilt and Yale universities argue in the March issue of Columbia Law Review. Read More

A Vanderbilt engineering professor has been selected as one of a handful of high-level experts who advise the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on safe management of nuclear waste. Read More

Bernard Rollin, a philosopher who developed the first university course on veterinary ethics, will speak at Vanderbilt University March 23 about "Animal Rights as a Mainstream Phenomenon." Read More

Journalists are encouraged to apply to attend a media fellowship, "Autism: Rates, Causes and Treatment," hosted by Vanderbilt University in conjunction with the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education April 10-13 in Nashville, Tenn. At this fellowship, journalists will have an opportunity to meet with leading autism researchers and affected families to learn about the latest advances in understanding this complex disorder. Read More

Constant light has long been understood to disrupt our internal clocks, resulting in problems like jet lag and health problems in extended-shift workers. A study led by Vanderbilt researcher Douglas McMahon reveals that although the clocks of individuals exposed to constant light may get out of synch, they keep ticking. The findings offer insight into how to modify constant-light situations to lessen their impact on humans. Read More

Vanderbilt archaeologist Arthur A. Demarest will give a public lecture on his efforts to restore a Maya royal palace in Guatemala and make it into an ecotourism resort run by the modern-day Maya villagers who live nearby for their economic benefit. The story that Demarest, who is the Ingram Professor of Anthropology, tells interweaves modern science, ancient mysteries and modern politics, including snake pits, death threats, looters and sacred midnight rituals. Read More

The star-nosed mole gives a whole new meaning to the term "fast food." A study published this week in the journal Nature reveals that this mysterious mole has moves that can put the best magician to shame: The energetic burrower can detect small prey animals and gulp them down with a speed that is literally too fast for the human eye to follow. Read More