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No Fishing Allowed
You can’t bring a rod and reel in, so why does Vanderbilt have a newly renovated fishery in the Stevenson Center? The fishery is a special genetics facility that is home to the zebra fish, a small...
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Fear and Loathing
If you want someone’s attention fast, look afraid. Vanderbilt researchers confirmed that the brain registers fearful faces more quickly than those showing other emotions. Randolph Blake, Centennial...
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Mystery of the Brown Dwarf
Pity the brown dwarf. It’s too large to be a planet, but too small to be a star. Brown dwarfs are smaller and dimmer than true stars. Only in recent years have improvements in telescope technology...
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A Little Matter of Light
A group of Vanderbilt chemists didn’t set out to make traditional light bulbs obsolete and cut carbon emissions, but that may be what they have done. Then-chemistry graduate student Michael Bowers,...
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Cockroaches Don’t Do Mornings
It’s not just night owls who have trouble being alert in early morning hours. According to new research by Professor Terry L. Page, then-student Susan Decker BS’07, and student Shannon McConnaughey,...
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Unexpected Discovery Bubbles Up
When kids blow bubbles, it’s usually for fun. But neuroscientist Kenneth Catania discovered that the star-nosed moles he studies blow bubbles as they swim to smell underwater objects. “This came as a...
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Infections’ Days Are Numbered
He’s not a medical doctor and he doesn’t play one on TV, but Glenn Webb, professor of mathematics, has a prescription for reducing the transmission of drug-resistant infections among hospital patients....
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The Walls Can Talk
Internal political struggles are not new to China. Tracy Miller, associate professor of history of art, researched the architecture and art of the Jin Shrines complex (Jinci) of the Northern Song...
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Just Your Imagination…Or Is It?
Tong and Pearson New research published in the online journal Current Biology has found that mental imagery—what we see with the “mind’s eye”—directly affects our visual perception. “We found that...
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They May Be Small, But They Deliver
Harth The biggest small thing in transportation is Assistant Professor of Chemistry Eva Harth’s creation of a new drug delivery system using nanoparticles. Teeny, tiny nanoparticles—molecules so small...
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Moving Always Takes Longer Than Expected
How long did it take for the Americas to be populated with people? The theory has been that ancient settlers would have moved quickly down the west coast from Siberia, drawing resources from the ocean....
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When War Comes Home
Republican incumbents whose home districts saw heavy casualties in the Iraq War faced a harder re-election in the 2006 U.S. House elections than Democrats. According to a study by Bruce Oppenheimer,...
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Islamic Traditions Rise From Death
To find the origins of many Muslim traditions, look to Islamic death and funeral rituals. That’s what Associate Professor of History Leor Halevi says in his recent book, Muhammad’s Grave: Death Rites...
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Up Teeny, Tiny Periscope
From left, Janetopoulos, Wikswo, Seale and Wright. Who developed the world’s smallest periscope and why? It wasn’t Q for James Bond—a team of Vanderbilt scientists developed tiny mirrored,...
View ArticleNow You’re Talking
They say that talk is good for the soul. Turns out that it may be the best long-term solution for many cases of depression, as well. Ongoing research by Steve Hollon, professor of psychology, and...
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Rogues Exposed
Holley Bockelmann Research by Assistant Professor of Astronomy Kelly Holley-Bockelmann indicates that there may be hundreds of nearly impossible-to-spot black holes careening around the galaxy....
View ArticleShot Free?
Tiny carbon tubes are helping researchers find a way to free Type 1 diabetics from insulin shots. Using nanotechnology, Vanderbilt researchers have been able to continuously monitor the amount of...
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Holy Ancient Comic Strip, Batman!
Telling stories in comic book or graphic novels isn’t new—ancient Romans had their own version in the Tabulae Iliacae—but what scholar David Petrain learns from them is. Petrain, assistant professor of...
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Corporate Music Gets Bad Rap
Only starving artists and songwriters can produce great music, right? Not so, say Jennifer Lena, assistant professor of sociology, and Richard “Pete” Peterson, professor of sociology, emeritus. The...
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(Ful)Bright Ideas
Marshall Eakin, professor of history, will use his recently won Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad Fellowship to study the formation of Brazilian national identity in the 20th century. “I am...
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Making Mosquitoes Buzz Off
Wang Next time you’re bothered by mosquitoes, try giving them the cold shoulder—literally. Senior Research Associate Guirong Wang will test his theory that mosquitoes are attracted by humans’...
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Nothing to Sneeze At
It starts with a tickle in your nose. Maybe a little discomfort at the back of the throat. You try to imagine it’s not there. You hold it in as long as you can and then…ACHOO! Yep, you have a cold....
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Don’t Handle With Care
Dickerson and Hasan In a world where some items—SUVs, houses, the size of the national debt—seem to be growing at an alarming pace, Arts and Science physicists have their eyes trained on particles so...
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Dangerous Discourse
Talisse You’re wrong. You’re stupid. And your mother dresses you funny. In his new book, Democracy and Moral Conflict, Robert Talisse, associate professor of philosophy and political science, argues...
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That Alcohol Is Going On Your Permanent Record
In grade school students are often told that acts could “go on their permanent record”—a mythical file that impacts everything from college admissions to job searches. Today, College of Arts and...
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Briefs
Biblical Epic Eight Years In The Making Daniel M. Patte isn’t directing a remake of The Ten Commandments, but his new book, The Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity, is an equally huge undertaking....
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Heaviest in the World
If you haven’t looked at a periodic table of the elements since high school chemistry class, you might be surprised to learn that it has changed quite a bit. The discovery of new superheavy elements in...
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Spare the Rod and Signal Your Politics
Watch the next time you are in Target and a child throws a tantrum nearby. The way the parents respond could tell you if they are conservative or liberal. Research by Professor of Political Science...
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Briefs
Rescuing History Crumbling with age, attacked by insects and at risk from climate and other damage, historic records of Africans in the Americas were at risk of being lost entirely. Professor of...
View ArticleRepairs Better Than Duct Tape
Every human body is, even at conservative estimates, made up of trillions upon trillions of cells. Inside those cells is DNA, which serves as the body’s basic operating system—it keeps our hearts...
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Got Shopping on the Brain? Blame the Dopamine.
You probably know someone who just can’t resist a good deal. Chances are they’re on a first-name basis with their UPS delivery person, have a closet full of unworn clothes, and every gadget under the...
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Briefs
Your New TV is So Yesterday Bryan Ringstrand with liquid crystalsThink it can’t get any better than that 52-inch flat screen plasma television on your wall? Sorry—it may be passé before long, thanks to...
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Briefs
No Tea For GOP Gary Gerstle’s essay, “Minorities, Multiculturalism and the Presidency of George W. Bush,” has attracted international media attention, including the Washington Post and Financial...
View ArticleThat’s Heretical Talk!
As a speaker of English, French, Danish and German (and who reads Swedish, Norwegian, Spanish and Italian), Virginia Scott might be forgiven for thinking it’s easy to become multilingual. On the...
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What the Fungi Know
Antonis Rokas Behind slammed doors, most teenagers fervently wish at least once that they could belong to another family. One that was hipper, permissive, richer—somehow more in line with their needs....
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Dance the Plight Away
In the Middle Ages, people who felt disconnected from their own bodies would probably have been subject to exorcism. Today, modern medicine prescribes pills to banish such sensations from patients’...
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Come Out Swingin’
TepperNothing stirs the ol’ juices like a good fight. Whether it’s the Thrilla in Manila, the ’Dores vs. Kentucky or a heated election, people come together over fights and contests. And that’s good....
View ArticleThe Real Big Bang Theory
Senior Justin Menestrina had more than a grade to worry about when he submitted his senior honors project in physics—he was also submitting his research as a paper to the very prestigious journal,...
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Bigger IS Better
When it comes to researching proteins, the fundamental molecules of biology, anyway. College of Arts and Science researchers have created the largest human-designed protein contain 242 amino acids,...
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