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Vanderbilt Paleontology Graduate Student Brynn Wooten Brings Hell Pigs to the Forefront
Nov. 18, 2025—By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator Archaeotherium, better known by the irresistibly dramatic nickname “Hell Pigs,” belong to an extinct group of mammals from the Eocene and Oligocene. The animals were neither hellish nor pigs, but their odd mix of features has made them a favorite for researchers. Graduate student Brynn Wooten of the...
Giant Ground Sloth Extinction Led to Loss of Ecological Services
Oct. 22, 2025—By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator Giant ground sloths were more than just Ice Age oddities. They were ecosystem engineers whose disappearance reshaped the landscapes they once roamed. A new study from Vanderbilt University’s DREAM Lab reveals just how diverse these megaherbivores’ diets were, highlighting the ecological roles that vanished when they went extinct....
City Lights Are Rewriting the Calendar: Vanderbilt Researchers Show Artificial Light Extends Urban Growing Seasons
Sep. 23, 2025—By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator City lights are rewriting the calendar. A new global study from Vanderbilt researchers Lin Meng and Huidong Li shows that artificial light at night is more powerful than temperature in extending urban growing seasons — keeping trees greener longer, with consequences for carbon cycling, frost risk, and even...
Partnership with Turkana Community Helps Scientists Discover Genes Involved in Adaptation to Desert Living
Sep. 18, 2025—Originally posted by UC-Berkeley team, edits by Andy Flick Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator Scientists Discover Key Genetic Adaptations in Partnership with Turkana Pastoralists of Northern Kenya Groundbreaking study reveals how thousands of years of natural selection shaped remarkable adaptations to an extreme environment. Through a collaboration between US and Kenyan researchers and Turkana communities of...
Vanderbilt Trainees Bring Evolution Education to Classrooms Across Tennessee
Jun. 6, 2025—By: Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator From rural high schools to elementary classrooms, trainees of the Evolutionary Studies Initiative (ESI) are bringing evolutionary science directly to the next generation. On May 9, a team of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers visited McGavock Elementary School in Nashville to lead a series of hands-on science activities...
Vanderbilt’s Evolutionary Studies Initiative Honored with 2025 Friend of Darwin Award
Jun. 4, 2025—By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) has named Vanderbilt University’s Evolutionary Studies Initiative (ESI) as one of its 2025 recipients of the prestigious Friend of Darwin award. This national honor recognizes ESI’s outstanding contributions to advancing public understanding of evolution through interdisciplinary research, education, and outreach. Directed...
Pilot Grants: Opening Doors to Fellowships and Beyond
May. 12, 2025—By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator Since its launch, the pilot grant program has supported graduate students and postdoctoral researchers across a wide range of disciplines—including biological sciences, anthropology, Earth and environmental sciences, and biomedical research. Trainees have used this support to jumpstart fieldwork, generate pilot data, and explore new research directions. Several have...
A Conservative Defense: Downstream NFLs Resist Evolutionary Blitzes
May. 9, 2025—By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator In football, defense keeps the opposing team in check. A similar strategy is at play inside our cells. Negative feedback loops (NFLs) help regulate how cells respond to signals, for example, dialing down activity when things get too intense. A new study from Vanderbilt University reveals that these...
Trainee Travel Grants Share Vanderbilt Research Worldwide
May. 1, 2025—By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator Since the program began in Fall of 2021, 70 trainee travel grants have been awarded across 13 labs in the departments of Biological Sciences, Earth and Environmental Sciences, and Anthropology. These awards have primarily gone to graduate students (49), though postdoctoral researchers (14) and undergraduates have also benefited...
Big Science, Small Grants: ESI Pilot Funding Powers Research Across Disciplines
Apr. 18, 2025—By: Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator Since launching in 2021, the Evolutionary Studies Initiative’s pilot grant program has helped support more than thirty research teams across the departments of Biological Sciences, Earth and Environmental Science, Anthropology, and Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology. The premise is simple: a little funding, awarded fast, to help researchers try...