Vanderbilt University

Quantum dots brighten the future of lighting

(Phys.org) -- With the age of the incandescent light bulb fading rapidly, the holy grail of the lighting industry is to develop a highly efficient form of solid-state lighting that produces high quality white ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created May 08, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (8) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Barrier to faster graphene devices identified and suppressed

These days graphene is the rock star of materials science, but it has an Achilles heel: It is exceptionally sensitive to its electrical environment.

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Mar 13, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (19) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

New method for enhancing thermal conductivity could cool computer chips, lasers and other devices

The surprising discovery of a new way to tune and enhance thermal conductivity – a basic property generally considered to be fixed for a given material – gives engineers a new tool for managing thermal ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Dec 14, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (11) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

New type of insect repellant may be thousands of times stronger than DEET

(PhysOrg.com) -- Imagine an insect repellant that not only is thousands of times more effective than DEET – the active ingredient in most commercial mosquito repellants – but also works against all types of insects, ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created May 09, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (23) | comments 22 | with audio podcast

Large Hadron Collider could be world's first time machine

(PhysOrg.com) -- If the latest theory of Tom Weiler and Chui Man Ho is right, the Large Hadron Collider – the world's largest atom smasher that started regular operation last year – could be the ...

Physics / General Physics

created Mar 15, 2011 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (38) | comments 72 | with audio podcast

Tuning graphene film so it sheds water

Windshields that shed water so effectively that they don't need wipers. Ship hulls so slippery that they glide through the water more efficiently than ordinary hulls.

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Feb 01, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 21 | with audio podcast

Babies' biological clocks dramatically affected by birth light cycle

The season in which babies are born can have a dramatic and persistent effect on how their biological clocks function.

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Dec 05, 2010 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (20) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Fingers detect typos even when conscious brain doesn't

Expert typists are able to zoom across the keyboard without ever thinking about which fingers are pressing the keys. New research from Vanderbilt University reveals that this skill is managed by an autopilot, ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Oct 28, 2010 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (5) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Psychopaths' brains wired to seek rewards, no matter the consequences

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 ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Mar 14, 2010 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (27) | comments 18 | with audio podcast

Why surprises temporarily blind us

Reading this story requires you to willfully pay attention to the sentences and to tune out nearby conversations, the radio and other distractions. But if a fire alarm sounded, your attention would be involuntarily ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Mar 11, 2010 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (15) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

A new type of genetic variation could strengthen natural selection

(PhysOrg.com) -- 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 ...

Biology / Evolution

created Feb 17, 2010 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (11) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

New study confirms exotic electric properties of graphene

(PhysOrg.com) -- First, it was the soccer-ball-shaped molecules dubbed buckyballs. Then it was the cylindrically shaped nanotubes. Now, the hottest new material in physics and nanotechnology is graphene: ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Nov 17, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (23) | comments 1

Naming may be key to brain's ability to recognize faces

(PhysOrg.com) -- 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 ...

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Jun 25, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 2

A water snake that predicts which way fish will turn when it attacks

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 ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jun 18, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 2

The day the universe froze: New dark energy model includes cosmological phase transition

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.

Physics / General Physics

created May 08, 2009 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (23) | comments 16