Science

Microscopic pacemakers--also known as circadian clocks--are found in everything from pond scum to human beings and appear to help organize a dizzying array of biochemical processes. A study performed by researchers at Vanderbilt University and published in the Aug. 24 issue of the journal Current Biology sheds new light on this issue. Read More

A new genetic model for a motor disorder that confines an estimated 10,000 people in the United States to walkers and wheelchairs indicates that instability in the microscopic scaffolding within a key set of nerve cells is the cause of this devastating disability. Read More

A team of biologists has discovered the structure and genetic sequence of the hormone that makes insects develop their hard outer shells and allows them to spread their wings. The findings answer more than 40 years of questions about insect development. Read More

In the last few decades, scientists have discovered that there is a lot more to the universe than meets the eye: The cosmos appears to be filled with not just one, but two invisible constituents-dark matter and dark energy-whose existence has been proposed based solely on their gravitational effects on ordinary matter and energ Read More

Tennessee teachers and students will work with astronauts, astronomers and other leading space explorers at an interactive summer institute hosted by Dyer Observatory the week of June 21. Read More

For nearly two decades, Vanderbilt University archaeologist Arthur Demarest has explored the rainforests of Guatemala for clues to the ancient Mayas. Along the way, he has formed an alliance with the descendants of that once-powerful civilization to not only uncover but also preserve their proud heritage. That partnership paid off earlier this month with the conviction and sentencing of a gang of looters. Read More

Seeing is believing, even when what we see is ambiguous or misleading. New Vanderbilt research has found that the brain continues to accept ambiguous visual information about an object in motion even when it conflicts with more reliable information that we can touch. Read More

Vanderbilt University is seeking participants for the first phase of a study to learn more about brain activity in children with math or reading disabilities. The ultimate goal of the study, "Remediating Students' Mathematics Disabilities," is to overcome math disability and to examine how brain functioning changes with remediation. Read More

In the morning hours of June 8, visitors to Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory will witness an astronomical event that no living person has ever seen. Venus-the Earth's sister planet-will move directly between the Earth and the sun. The public is invited to view this rare event during a live broadcast at the observatory. Read More

Discoveries by Vanderbilt archaeologist Francisco Estrada-Belli will be the focus of a new National Geographic special, Dawn of the Maya, scheduled to air Wednesday, May 12, at 8 p.m. ET on PBS. Read More

Researchers, using a new combination of techniques, have discovered that dopamine levels in our brains vary the most in situations where we are unsure if we are going to be rewarded, such as when we are gambling or playing the lottery. Read More

According to business gurus, the smart money is on "smart" systems-those computer enhancements that pop up in everything from musical greeting cards to "smart dust" defense intelligence systems. However, much is lost in the translation when computers move out of the box into the physical world to form "smart" embedded systems. Read More

Important new stone monuments covered with historical texts dating from a period just before the collapse of the classic Maya civilization have been unearthed by archaeologists from Vanderbilt University and the Guatemalan Ministry of Culture who are excavating a thousand-year-old ball court with support from the National Geographic Society. Read More

Scientists have discovered the region of the brain responsible for the old adage, "out of sight, out of mind." Read More

Vanderbilt Professor of Political Science John Geer will become editor of The Journal of Politics, consistently ranked as one of the nation's most influential political science journals, in January 2005. The scholarly journal, which is published quarterly by the Southern Political Science Association, will be housed within the Vanderbilt Department of Political Science for four years. Read More

The 2004 Tennessee Statewide Brain Bee Award will be presented to Jingyuan Wu of Oak Ridge High School at Vanderbilt University at noon on Thursday, March 11. Read More

Vanderbilt University will host researchers from several countries to review and discuss the latest research in blindness and its impact on the brain in a workshop March 12-14. The main lectures of the invitational workshop, "Blindness, Brain Plasticity and Spatial Function," are free and open to the community. Read More

Last year, the amount of external funding that Vanderbilt researchers received from peer-reviewed contracts and grants increased by 19 percent to reach an all-time high of $339.4 million. Read More

The Vanderbilt Learning Sciences Institute will host the first installment of its new guest lecturer series Thursday, Feb. 26, at 4 p.m. with University of California-Berkeley professor of education and geology Jean Lave. Lave will speak on how people learn during their everyday lives, a theory referred to as "learning-in-practice." Read More

As world reserves of oil and natural gas dwindle over the coming decades-a prospect predicted by many energy experts-the rate at which the people in most societies around the world have babies is likely to drop precipitously as well. Read More