Connecting Research and Experts with Journalists

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Scientists have known for years that to perceive figures against a busy background, human vision ues color, brightness and direction of motion. But startling new findings by a Vanderbilt researcher indicate that the human brain can also use the precise timing of subtle visual changes to group elemnents into objects -- like when some band members on a football field suddently turn and march in a different direction than the rest, spelling out a school's letters.

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An automobile engine with 30 percent greater fuel efficiency than current models but that also meets U.S. emission standards is the goal of a Vanderbilt University engineer who is using advanced laser technology to help develop the next generation of automobile engines.

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Gender is clearly no longer a liability for women considering a run for Congress, according to a Vanderbilt doctoral student who is researching the competitiveness of women candidates in the House of Representatives.

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With Oscar nominations for the film "Shakespeare in Love" and upcoming remakes of other Shakespearean works - "Hamlet," "Love's Labours Lost" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream," to name a few - William Shakespeare seems to be more popular than ever. Why?

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Vanderbilt University's award-winning Little Planet Literacy Series combines CD-ROM technology with old-fashioned storytelling to help at-risk children learn to read.

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New research shows that too many carbohydrates in a diet suppresses the body's ability to burn fat, according to Vanderbilt University researchers.

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Magnet schools, developed in the 1970s as an alternative to mandatory busing, have achieved much of what they were designed to do but have also contributed to segregation by social class and a dimishment of communities, Vanderbilt researchers say.

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A sweeping proposal now before the American Bar Association (ABA) that would allow lawyers to form partnerships and share fees with non-lawyers is dangerous and risky in its present form.

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People who routinely injure themselves may do so in order to stimulate a release of feel-good chemicals in the brain, and most of those sufferers can now be helped with an innovative combination of two therapies, according to a Vanderbilt researcher.

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A young girl's relationship with her family, especially with her father, may influence at what age she enters puberty, according to researchers. Girls with close, supportive relationships with their parents tend to develop later, while girls with cold or distant relationships with their parents develop at an earlier age.