Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896
November 2, 2025 November 2, 2025 | Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896

Science & Technology

COURTESY OF JASON FISCHER Jason Fischer and Sarah Cormiea studied the relationship between the scent of pumpkin spice and memory.

The science behind the appeal of pumpkin spice

By MEGHANA RAVI | October 11, 2021

Fall bears a distinct signature flavor: pumpkin spice. Pumpkin spice is a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and sometimes allspice, ingredients traditionally used to flavor pumpkin pie. Come autumn, its scent permeates coffee shops, cafés and bakeries. The comfort felt by many people while drinking or eating pumpkin-spice-flavored things derives from a complicated network of senses, emotion and memory that make up our perception. 

COURTESY OF LAURA TINGEY Respecting the Circle of Life is a sexual education program specifically tailored to Native youths.

Hopkins Center for American Indian Health launches sex education program for Native teens

By ACE VAN ATTA | October 4, 2021

Native American teens have the highest birth rate across all races and ethnicities in the U.S. at 29.2 teen births per 1,000 girls. After a Native American tribe in Arizona approached the Hopkins Center for American Indian Health (CAIH) seeking an intervention program for Native youth, researchers developed a comprehensive sex education program tailored to Native communities. 

NASA/CC BY-SA 2.0 Hurricane Ida pictured as a Category 2 storm from the International Space Station as it orbited 263 miles above the Gulf of Mexico.

Hopkins scientist uses risk modeling to study Hurricane Ida

By EUGENE KIM | October 2, 2021

Hurricane relief has been a pressing topic ever since Hurricane Katrina blew through the city of New Orleans toward the end of August 2005. Since then, the extent of hurricane damage has grown milder, but the effects of Hurricane Ida this past August devastated the country again. 

COURTESY OF WILLIAM BLAIR National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins discussed the current state of the pandemic, along with booster shots, COVID-19 variants and vaccine hesitancy.

NIH director offers advice amid COVID-19 crisis

By RAHUL JAKATI | September 29, 2021

As part of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ efforts concerning public health awareness and the fight against the COVID-19 crisis, Dr. Kelly Henning, the current head of Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Health,  interviewed Dr. Francis Collins, the current director of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. and a global leader on gene discourse and discovery.

COURTESY OF QUEST2LEARN The Quest2Learn team stands in front of the Undergraduate Teaching Labs.   

Hopkins funds undergraduate-led team to improve online lab courses

By XINYUE GU | September 27, 2021

Quest2Learn is the only undergraduate-led group to win the Hopkins Digital Education and Learning Technology (DELTA) Award, an acceleration grant program for teams who are creatively implementing technologies that enhance the University’s teaching and learning enterprise. 

COURTESY OF ANDREW FOLKMANN Liquid protein condensates (red) are stabilized by Pickering agents (green) that adsorb to the condensate surface.

Hopkins researchers discover protein clusters on biomolecular condensates

By ALICE ZHAO | September 25, 2021

Geraldine Seydoux, the Huntington Sheldon professor in medical discovery at the School of Medicine, and her lab discovered protein clusters that adsorb to the biomolecular condensates in the gelatinous interior of a cell. These protein clusters, MEG-3 and MEG-4, mimic the function of lipid-bilayer membranes that encapsulate organelles. 

FOX_KIYO / CC BY-SA 2.0 Researchers Casten Prasse and Paul Ferraro have proposed a new way to ensure safe drinking water systems.

Hopkins researchers propose radical shift in water protection

By ZACHARY BAHAR | September 15, 2021

Despite being essential, our water sources are filled to the brim with contaminants. From cancer-causing chemicals to endocrine disruptors, our drinking water is becoming more and more unsafe as myriad chemicals find their way into our infrastructure and treatment centers. Solving this problem has been Carsten Prasse’s life work.

COURTESY OF CAITLIN CAMPBELL PETA protesters appeared in front of the University sign to protest barn owl experiments in the lab of Shreesh Mysore.

PETA stages protest against Hopkins owl lab at Orientation

By WILLIAM BLAIR and ELLIE ROSE MATTOON | August 27, 2021

New students attending Orientation Week watched as supporters representing People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) held a protest on Thursday, August 26. The protesters gathered in front of the Beach at 12 p.m. in opposition to research conducted by Shreesh Mysore, an assistant professor affiliated with the Department of Neuroscience and the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences.

COURTESY OF TASGOLA BRUN PETA protesters, including an owl mascot, lined the entrance to the University’s commencement celebration on Thursday evening.

PETA protests Hopkins owl lab at commencement

By WILLIAM BLAIR and ELLIE ROSE MATTOON | June 1, 2021

Guests at the 2021 Commencement ceremony were greeted by several protesters representing the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) on Thursday, May 27. The protesters gathered outside Homewood Field at 6:30 p.m. in opposition to research conducted by Professor Shreesh Mysore.

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