Science

Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy Keivan G. Stassun has been awarded a $50,000 fellowship from the Fletcher Foundation to support his efforts to increase the number of underrepresented minorities pursuing scientific careers. Read More

Training increases brain processing speed and improves our ability to multitask, new research from Vanderbilt University published in the June 15 issue of Neuron indicates. Read More

A Vanderbilt chemist and a biomedical engineer have teamed up to develop a respiratory virus detector that is sensitive enough to detect an infection at an early stage, takes only a few minutes to return a result and is simple enough to be performed in a pediatrician's office. Read More

New research from Vanderbilt University indicates the way our brain handles how we move through space—including being able to imagine literally stepping into someone else's shoes—may be related to how and why we experience empathy toward others. Read More

Forget the old folk tales about snakes hypnotizing their prey. The tentacled snake from South East Asia has developed a more effective technique. The small water snake has found a way to startle its prey so that the fish turn toward the snake's head to flee instead of turning away. In addition, the fish's reaction is so predictable that the snake actually aims its strike at the position where the fish's head will be instead of tracking its movement. Read More

Our tendency to see people and faces as individuals may explain why we are such experts at recognizing them, new research indicates. This approach can be learned and applied to other objects as well. Read More

Jason Martin, a fellow in allergy, pulmonary and critical care medicine, is part of an interdisciplinary team at Vanderbilt University that has come up with a high-tech approach to combat this deadly illness, which is one of the top 10 causes of death in the United States and kills more than half a million people worldwide every year. Read More

Nanoparticle films are no longer a delicate matter: Vanderbilt physicists have found a way to make them strong enough so they don't disintegrate at the slightest touch. Read More

The Nazca Lines are an enigma. The strange geometric shapes and animals carved into the land were first spotted in the Peruvian desert south of Lima in the 1930s when commercial airlines began flying over them. Read More

Imagine a time when the entire universe froze. According to a new model for dark energy, that is essentially what happened about 11.5 billion years ago, when the universe was a quarter of the size it is today. Read More

A team of Vanderbilt engineers will play a key role in a new federal effort to significantly improve our understanding of how gases and liquids interact with solid surfaces – basic studies that have potential applications ranging from better batteries to more efficient methods for converting solar and electrical energy into fuel, improved fuel cells and enhancing the corrosion resistance of materials. Read More

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