Science/Medicine Archives
Hearing loss in U.S. adolescents more prevalent
Aug. 17, 2010—Hearing loss is now affecting nearly 20 percent of U.S. adolescents age 12-19, a rise of 5 percent over the last 15 years, according to a new Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) study co-led by Ron Eavey, director of the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center and the Guy M. Maness Professor in Otolaryngology. Eavey,...
Vanderbilt No. 12 on 2010 list of best places for life scientists to work
Jun. 30, 2010—Vanderbilt University was named one of the best places for life scientists to work in academia by The Scientist magazine. It was the seventh time in the eight years of the survey that Vanderbilt was ranked and a substantial improvement from its 2009 ranking. Vanderbilt was ranked No. 12 in a list headed by Princeton...
Nanosponge drug delivery system more effective than direct injection
Jun. 1, 2010—When loaded with an anticancer drug, a delivery system based on a novel material called nanosponge is three to five times more effective at reducing tumor growth than direct injection.
Vanderbilt medical researchers, engineers play major role in new national center established to secure the privacy of electronic health information
May. 28, 2010—Slowly but steadily the U.S. health care community is moving into the digital age: shifting their medical records from paper to electronic information systems. This movement raises serious concerns about security and privacy of patients’ medical information.
How cancer cells lose their (circadian) rhythm
May. 10, 2010— Immortality and uncontrolled cell division are the fundamental differences between cancer cells and normal cells.
Watch: VUCast: Life lessons for medical students, and they can juggle what?
Apr. 16, 2010— The "real world" for medical students; a presidential appointment; discovering a new element; and they juggled what? It’s VUCast time for April 16.
Psychopaths’ brains wired to seek rewards, no matter the consequences
Mar. 16, 2010—The brains of psychopaths appear to be wired to keep seeking a reward at any cost, new research from Vanderbilt University finds. The research uncovers the role of the brain's reward system in psychopathy and opens a new area of study for understanding what drives these individuals.
Vanderbilt professor offers key factors in recruiting minorities, women to critical science, engineering careers
Mar. 16, 2010—Identification of students with unrealized potential, continuous tracking of individual performance and intensive, one-on-one mentoring are key factors in successfully recruiting underrepresented minorities and women into the critical professions of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Human cells exhibit foraging behavior like amoebae and bacteria
Mar. 11, 2010—When cells move about in the body, they follow a complex pattern similar to that which amoebae and bacteria use when searching for food, a team of Vanderbilt researchers have found.
New university research news channel, Futurity, goes global
Mar. 9, 2010—Futurity.org, an online university news channel targeted to members of the public interested in basic research, has expanded beyond its North American base to include science news from leading British universities.
A new type of genetic variation could strengthen natural selection
Feb. 18, 2010—The unexpected discovery of a new type of genetic variation suggests that natural selection – the force that drives evolution – is both more powerful and more complex than scientists have thought.
TIPSHEET: The future of Pluto and Ceres
Dec. 21, 2009—Three years ago, when the International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto to dwarf planet status, the unpopular decision was based on personal opinions and professional politics, not on rigorous scientific criteria that can clearly differentiate planets from lesser bodies, points out Vanderbilt astronomer David Weintraub. In the next decade, however, the amount of knowledge that we have about Pluto and another dwarf planet, Ceres, will change dramatically and this new information may affect our views of these objects and their status in the solar system as asteroids, dwarf planets or planets.