Science & Technology

Wrap up: the latest in technology...

By WILLIAM XIE
April 25, 2018

Nest Labs Provides Low-Income Families with Thermostats Nest Labs, a producer of sensor-driven thermostats, smoke detectors and security systems, recently announced that it will donate up to one million thermostats to low-income families. The company ...

Yoga in schools offers mental health benefits

By TRISHA PARAYIL | April 25, 2018

Breathe in, stretch your arms to the sky in tree pose, breathe out. Many practice yoga to relax and help them with their mental health. Yoga practices were first recorded in the Rig-Veda, an ancient religious Hindu text. 

PUBLIC DOMAIN Students who practice yoga seem to have better performance at school.

Staying up later correlated with shorter life span

By RACHEL HUANG | April 25, 2018

In a study published in Chronobiology International, researchers at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University and the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom have discovered a correlation between chronotypes (the time a person prefers to sleep) and mortality.

PUBLIC DOMAIN Research done on both genders shows that night owls might have a ten percent increased chance to die earlier.
PUBLIC DOMAIN   Mice in Manhattan are found to carry various antibiotic-resistant strains.

Manhattan mice carry disease-causing bacteria

By SABRINA CHEN | April 25, 2018

It’s not uncommon to see huge mice running around the streets of New York City at night. Recent research done at Columbia University shows that these mice are more than just disgusting — they also carry novel disease-causing bacteria and antibiotic-resistant viruses. These bacteria include the bacteria responsible for life-threatening gastroenteritis in people.

Alcohol consumption has grave health risks

By JAEMIE BENNETT | April 25, 2018

The jury has been out for a long time on the health effects of drinking alcohol. Is it good for your heart or bad? Previous studies have come to both conclusions, but researchers at the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England, conducted a long-term study on nearly 600,000 participants from 19 high-income countries to fully analyze the health effects of alcohol consumption.

COURTESY OF KATHY HU Medhacks volunteers worked with Baltimore high schoolers at the event.

Teens participate in Mini-Medhacks event

By ALLISON CHEN | April 18, 2018

On Saturday, April 7, MedHacks hosted its first Mini-MedHacks event, involving 30 high school seniors from schools around Baltimore. MedHacks hosts an annual medical hackathon at Hopkins, and Mini-MedHacks 2018 was intended to provide younger students with a similar experience.

Self-driving trucks may be good for the industry

By TERESA NG | April 18, 2018

Does automation help or harm low-skilled workers? The answer is perhaps that it depends on industry context and social trends. The trucking industry gives us intriguing insight into the way automation might be good for both an industry and its workers -- with minimal need for re-training that workers may be unable or unwilling to undergo. 

PUBLIC DOMAIN Self-driving vehicles could replace more than 300,000 jobs each year.
PUBLIC DOMAIN In California, a new regulation to add cancer warning labels to coffee might soon take place.

Coffee might soon have cancer warning labels

By CINDY JIANG | April 18, 2018

How many of us are guilty of beginning the day with a nice, hot cup of joe? For countless Americans, the day doesn’t start without some caffeine to remedy the pain that comes with waking up to go to work or school. However, the quest to obtain a drink of coffee continues to be riddled with scrutiny from various sources.

EPA leader must be fired for denying basic science

By JONATHAN PATTERSON | April 18, 2018

With the recent resignation of now former Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert, the list of newly unemployed, former high-level White House and federal officials grows. To date, over 20 top-level officials within the Trump administration, including a secretary of state, a White House chief of staff and two national security advisors, have either resigned or been fired. 

Scientists show that adult brains do grow neurons

By RACHEL HUANG | April 18, 2018

The brain is one of the most complex organs in the body. Not only does this three-pound organ control all the movements, thoughts, emotions and sensory perceptions that occur in our day-to-day lives, it is also constantly changing. In fact, the structure of your brain now is different than it was five seconds ago because of all the new stimuli feeding through the nervous system. 

COURTESY OF KIMBERLY WONG  Researchers in the Cognitive Neuroscience Lab tested participants in identifying the correct loop tailed letter “g”.

Hopkins student finds we can’t recognize “g”s

By JAEMIE BENNETT | April 19, 2018

Kimberly Wong, a junior at Hopkins who is studying cognitive neuroscience, is the first author on a published paper titled, “The Devil’s in the g-tails: Deficient letter-shape knowledge and awareness despite massive visual experience.”

Antarctica’s ice sheet is significantly retreating

By CINDY JIANG | April 18, 2018

Global warming has been a key term in conversations about the environment throughout the past few decades. It is the term attributed to the annual increase in rising temperatures on Earth, influenced by factors such as the burning of fossil fuels and other human activities. These endeavors contribute a considerable amount of greenhouse, or heat-trapping gases, to the atmosphere and consequently raise the surface temperature. 

PUBLIC DOMAIN   Only a small number of depressed adolescents are treated by doctors.

Adolescents face difficulty getting depression treatment

By ANNA CHEN | April 11, 2018

In February of this year, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) announced its intentions to initiate change by calling for every child to receive an annual screening for depression beginning at the age of 12. This is a big step forward, but is it enough?

Endangered frog species may be on rebound

By JESSICA KASAMOTO | April 11, 2018

The decline of many different forms of endangered species continues to be an issue worldwide. The Panamanian golden frog is native to the rainforests of Central America. While this species could easily be found in the rain forests of Panama as recent as 20 years ago, scientists noticed a sharp decline in the species’ population in recent years.

  PUBLIC DOMAIN Panamanian golden frogs may be developing a resistance to the BD skin fungus. 
PUBLIC DOMAIN The study showed the importance of schedules that align to your body clock.

New study links poor grades to class times

By JONATHAN PATTERSON | April 14, 2018

In what is thought to be the largest ever study of its kind, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and Northeastern Illinois University have reached an interesting conclusion concerning the battle between body clock and class schedule.