Extremely Warped Spacetime: To Find Giant Black Holes, Start With Jupiter
The revolution in our understanding of the night sky and our place in the universe began when we transitioned from using the naked eye to…
Vanderbilt University
Multinational Consortium Reports “Encouraging News” for Some Cancer Patients With COVID-19
People with cancer sickened by COVID-19 have a crude death rate of 13%, according to the largest series of data released thus far from a…
Leveraging Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, Astrophysicists Calculate How Many Stars Will Eventually Collide as Black Holes
Since the breakthrough in gravitational wave astronomy back in 2015, scientists have been able to detect more than a dozen pairs of closely located black…
Friend or Foe? Specific Mechanism Discovered for Unlocking Aggression in Ants [Video]
For most social animals, even humans, the ability to distinguish friend versus foe can be a challenge that often can lead to knee-jerk aggression. But…
Using Gravitational Wave Astronomy to Observe a ‘Black Hole Symphony’ [Video]
Shrouded in mystery since their discovery, the phenomenon of black holes continues to be one of the most mind-boggling enigmas in our universe. In recent…
A Probiotic Treatment for Obesity?
Alterations in the gut microbiota — the microorganisms residing in the gastrointestinal tract — have been implicated in the development of obesity and other chronic…
Interdisciplinary Approach to Human Evolution Yields New Insights
The evolution of human biology should be considered part and parcel with the evolution of humanity itself, proposes Nicole Creanza, assistant professor of biological sciences….
Neurologists Map Brain Lesions for Clues to Criminal Behavior
New research examining brain lesions in individuals with a history of criminal behavior found a common link to a network involved in moral decision-making. The…
A New and Improved Method for Measuring the Masses of Solitary Stars
Astronomers have come up with a new and improved method for measuring the masses of millions of solitary stars, especially those with planetary systems. Getting…
Ancient Fossil Reveals New Details About How Brittle Stars Functioned
Biologists from Yale University have found an ancient fossil relative of sea urchins and starfish that displays a markedly different water vascular system — used…
New Study Shows Dogs Possess Significantly More Neurons Than Cats
The first study to actually count the number of cortical neurons in the brains of a number of carnivores, including cats and dogs, has found…
Newly Discovered Exoplanet KELT-9b is Hotter than Most Stars
An international team of astronomers has discovered a planet like Jupiter zipping around its host star every day, boiling at temperatures hotter than most stars…
Researchers Find Antibody That ‘Neutralizes’ Zika Virus
A team of researchers has isolated a human monoclonal antibody that in a mouse model “markedly reduced” infection by the Zika virus. The antibody, called…
Bird Brains Have Significantly More Neurons Than Primate Brains Of The Same Mass
A new study systematically measures the number of neurons in the brains of birds, revealing that they have significantly more neurons packed into their small…
Astronomers Explain Mystery Star’s Unusual Behavior
New research clarifies the mystery of the unusual fluctuations in light coming from distant star KIC 8462852. Sorry, E.T. lovers, but the results of a…
Astronomers Discover Binary Star System That Produces the Longest Lasting Known Eclipse
Astronomers have discovered a binary star system where, every 69 years, the sun disappears in a near-total eclipse that lasts for three and a half…
New Cosmic Model Favors “Big Rip” Demise of Universe
A fundamentally new mathematical formulation from Vanderbilt University has some significant implications for the ultimate fate of the universe. The universe can be a very…
Astronomers Identify the Chemical Signature of Planet-Eating Stars
Researchers at Vanderbilt University have developed a new model that shows the chemical signature of a star element by element and reveals how that signature…