Skip to main content
Vanderbilt Background Photo

Research

The physicist who wants to build a telescope bigger than Earth

Jul. 16, 2024—Vanderbilt professor Alex Lupsasca plans to extend Earth's largest telescope network beyond the atmosphere with a space-based dish. It could spot part of a black hole we've never seen before – and perhaps discover new physics.

Read more


New study points to cause of Fetal Fentanyl Syndrome

Jul. 12, 2024—Adapted from an article written by John Keenan, University of Nebraska Medical Center Researchers at Vanderbilt, in partnership with the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Nemours Children’s Hospital, have suggested an explanation, and possible pathway to prevention, for Fetal Fentanyl Syndrome. FFS causes distinctive physical birth defects, including cleft palate, distinctive facial features, and...

Read more


Heard that Bird: Creanza Lab develops free curriculum to teach birdsong identification

Jul. 1, 2024—The Creanza Lab, along with alumnus Matt Wilkins, BA’06, created a birdsong identification lesson plan for middle and high school students. The game show lets participants identify which birds they can hear in various pop culture media, such as movies,...

Read more


Heard that Bird: Creanza Lab develops free curriculum to teach birdsong identification

Jun. 28, 2024—Since 2020, a question has nagged at Nicole Creanza: What type of bird is singing in the background of Taylor Swift and Bon Iver’s song “Exile”? Creanza, associate professor of biological sciences, is an expert in the evolution of human language and bird songs, but she also enjoys trying to identify popular music by ear....

Read more


Vanderbilt names spring 2024 Seeding Success Grant awards

Jun. 24, 2024—Thirteen innovative projects across seven colleges and schools have been selected for the spring 2024 round of Seeding Success internal grants. The Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Innovation announced the recipient list on May 31.

Read more


Gilligan awarded spot in American Geophysical Union’s Voices for Science program

Jun. 21, 2024—When Jonathan Gilligan, professor of earth and environmental sciences, thinks about climate change, they think about people. Gilligan says that climate change causes a variety of weather patterns to undergo persistent changes, and those affect every aspect of peoples’ lives, as well as the workings of our society and economy more broadly. In March, Gilligan...

Read more


Gilligan awarded spot in American Geophysical Union’s Voices for Science program

Jun. 20, 2024—Jonathan Gilligan was awarded admittance to the American Geophysical Union’s 2024-2025 Voices for Science program to hone their communication and advocacy skills to increase understanding and support of science. The program trains scientists to communi...

Read more


‘Woven Wind’: Stitching together history and healing through art

May. 22, 2024—“Woven Wind,” led by Vanderbilt art professor Vesna Pavlović, is a collaborative project that honors untold stories of enslaved people through art, archival research and community engagement. Funded by significant grants including a $40,000 NEA grant a...

Read more


Vanderbilt Poll: Majority of Tennessee voters now pro-choice, gender gap developing on key issues

May. 21, 2024—The semiannual, statewide Vanderbilt Poll showed in its most recent survey that slightly more than half of the state’s voters support a woman’s right to an abortion, that there is significant bipartisan support of IVF procedures as well as modest gun c...

Read more


Vanderbilt scientists develop an algae time machine, advancing biomedicine

May. 13, 2024—Carl H. Johnson, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Biological Sciences, along with a team of Vanderbilt scientists, have succeeded in adjusting the daily biological clock of cyanobacteria, making the blue-green algae a more prolific producer of renewable fuels, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals, like insulin. The ultimate solar-powered machines, cyanobacteria are like tiny workshops churning out everything from...

Read more