Science

A team of synthetic chemists at Vanderbilt University report in the March 18 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society that they have created an efficient way to make a naturally occurring alkaloid that could have anti-cancer properties and may combat memory loss from scratch. Read More

Watch video of an April 4 talk by Professor of Astronomy David Weintraub, part of “100 Hours of Astronomy Cornerstone Project.” Read More

On April 18, a group of Vanderbilt engineering students will fire off a 16-foot, 82-pound rocket. If all goes as planned, the vehicle will power its way one mile directly overhead where it will release a remotely piloted aircraft that will collect images and infrared data of the ground below as it is guided back down to earth. Read More

Aliens abound on the movie screens, but in reality we are still trying to find out if we share our universe with other sentient creatures. Read More

The Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory has been added to the National Register of Historic Places, the nation's official list of cultural resources worthy of preservation. Read More

Two students recommended by the faculty and staff of Vanderbilt University have been selected as 2008 Goldwater Scholars. Each will receive a two-year scholarship worth $7,500 a year for educational expenses. Read More

Vanderbilt students will be able to safely see incredible features of the sun in all its naked glory on Sunday, April 5. The Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory will set up its new solar telescope outside The Commons from noon to 2 p.m. Read More

Jesse Peterson, assistant professor of mathematics at Vanderbilt University, has won a $50,000 research fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation aimed at encouraging promising young scholars. Read More

Galileo looked through a telescope for the first time 400 years ago. The global "100 Hours of Astronomy Cornerstone Project" hopes to have as many people as possible look through a telescope as Galileo did from April 2 to 5. Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory will participate in the project by offering people a chance to view the stars on Saturday, April 4. Read More

A team of Vanderbilt scientists have invented the world's smallest version of the periscope and are using it to look at cells and other micro-organisms from several sides at once. Read More

Vanderbilt University plans to calculate the university's carbon footprint this spring through a greenhouse gas emissions inventory. The inventory will determine the amount of the six greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere that comprise the "carbon footprint" from Vanderbilt in an average year, based on 2005-2007 data. Read More

Vanderbilt University researchers have discovered that early visual areas, long believed to play no role in higher cognitive functions such as memory, retain information previously hidden from brain studies. The researchers made the discovery using a new technique for decoding data from functional magnetic resonance imaging or fMRI. The findings are a significant step forward in understanding how we perceive, process and remember visual information. Read More

Academically talented 5th and 6th graders taking part in the Saturday Academy at Vanderbilt for the Young, or SAVY, will have a chance to tour a trailer decked out with cutting-edge, computer-aided gizmos and interactive technology Saturday, Feb. 14, from 10 to 11 a.m. in Lot 111 on the corner of 19th and Edgehill avenues. Read More

Brandt F. Eichman, assistant professor of biological sciences and biochemistry at Vanderbilt University, has received Sigma Xi's Young Investigator Award. Read More

Thomas J. Weiler, professor of physics and astronomy at Vanderbilt University, has received a 2009 Humboldt Research Award. The award is granted by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Bonn, Germany for the purpose of encouraging research collaborations between German scientists and colleagues in other countries. Read More

For risk-takers and impulsive people, New Year's resolutions often include being more careful, spending more frugally and cutting back on dangerous behavior, such as drug use. But new research from Vanderbilt finds that these individuals—labeled as novelty seekers by psychologists—face an uphill battle in keeping their New Year's resolutions due to the way their brains process dopamine. Read More

Four Vanderbilt faculty members – Daniel Liebler, Charles Sanders, Gary Sulikowski and Michael Waterman – have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), an honor bestowed upon them by their peers. Read More

A detailed analysis of the measurements of five different satellites have revealed the existence of the warm plasma cloak, a new region of the magnetosphere, which is the invisible shield of magnetic fields and electrically charged particles that surround and protect Earth from the onslaught of the solar wind. Read More

In a pioneering, interdisciplinary study combining law and neuroscience, researchers at Vanderbilt University peered inside people's minds to watch how the brain thinks about crime and punishment. Read More

Watch video of a Dec. 3 Thinking Out of the (Lunch) Box presentation. Read More