Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896
April 19, 2024

Science & Technology



COURTESY OF COVIDSMS
The COVIDSMS team pose with phones displaying messages from the texting service.

CovidSMS seeks to address the digital divide

A group of Hopkins seniors have teamed up with students across the country to create CovidSMS, a short message service (SMS) platform aimed at eliminating disparities associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Since its inception in March, CovidSMS has received over $10,000 in grants and is currently a finalist for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Challenge. 


 COURTESY OF JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Topics at the Space@Hopkins Virtual Symposium ranged from heliophysics to astrobiology. 

Space@Hopkins Virtual Symposium highlights missions new and old

 The Space@Hopkins Virtual Symposium held on Oct. 22 explored the successes and future goals of space research across divisions of the University. The event featured talks over Zoom with Jason Kalirai, a mission area executive for civil space of the Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL); Captain Reid Wiseman, an astronaut and Hopkins alum; and Hopkins researchers who received 2019 Seed Grant Awards.  




CC 3.0 BY MARTIN FALBISONER

Tanvi Narvekar examines the different plans the presidential candidates have to deal with climate change.

Where do the presidential candidates stand on climate change?

With the election coming up quick, I thought I would give a quick overview of the plans and the positions that each of the candidates take on climate change. Although there are so many important issues that must be considered, as a part of this column, I will look at the positions on climate change. A year ago, I wrote about how the government’s role in regulation for prevention of climate change is important.



CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Tom Hanks was among the first high-profile celebrities to be diagnosed with COVID-19. 

White coats and A-lists: celebrities in the hospital room

Over the past eight months, COVID-19 has spared no one — including the rich and famous.  In early March, actor Tom Hanks was one of the first public figures to test positive. In spring and summer, Amanda Kloots utilized Instagram to document her four-month illness and decline of her husband, the Broadway actor Nick Cordero. 




PUBLIC DOMAIN
The Hopkins team competing in University of Toronto’s ProjectX will examine the relationship between infectious disease and climate change.

Hopkins students participate in ProjectX competition

A team of Hopkins undergraduate students is participating in ProjectX, a machine learning competition hosted by the University of Toronto Undergraduate Artificial Intelligence Group (UofT AI Group). Teams from 23 universities are competing in this three-month research-based competition for a prize of $70,000.


PUBLIC DOMAIN
A research team led by Melissa Walls and Sean Allen are collaborating with two Native American communities to address the impact of the opioid epidemic on indigenous communities.

From hidden hunger to cool roofs: Four projects addressing health equity commence

First launched by the Bloomberg School of Public Health in May 2019, the Support for Creative Integrated Basic and Applied Research (SCIBAR) initiative called professors and researchers to tackle health problems by financially supporting the four winning teams with $1 million each. Two of the awards are funded by the Bloomberg American Health Initiative, and the other two are funded by the office of the dean.  


PUBLIC DOMAIN
Around the world, countries are debating the government’s role in COVID-19 research.

What role should the government play in science communication?

Around the world, Hopkins has become a leader in communicating science to nonscientists during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bloomberg School of Public Health has been applauded for its viral Instagram graphics, and the Whiting School of Engineering’s COVID-19 dashboard continues to receive heavy traffic. In addition, the School of Medicine sponsors an annual “boot camp” to connect science writers with University researchers.


COURTESY OF JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY 
Dr. Shmuel Shoham (pictured) and Dr. David Sullivan are currently recruiting for COVID-19 clinical trials.

Researchers prioritize wide and equitable recruitment for COVID-19 clinical trials

The National COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Project is a group of physicians seeking to understand the potential role of convalescent plasma in the treatment of COVID-19. Dr. Shmuel Shoham, an associate professor of medicine at Hopkins, and Dr. David Sullivan, a professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, are members of the group.


PUBLIC DOMAIN
Freshmen have a lot of Hopkins life to look forward to. 

Online classes aren't the same, but there's so much to look forward to

Dear freshman, I’m sure you’ve already heard a lifetime’s worth of “We-are-so-sorry-we-can’t-be-together-in-person-but-welcome-to-Hopkins-we-are-so-so-so-so-excited-to-have-you!!! HAVE A GREAT FIRST SEMESTER! **INSERT CLOWN EMOJI HERE**” type messages, so I’ll just cut out the formalities and cut to the chase. 


COURTESY OF JOHN D’CRUZ
The definition of pain has been updated to include neurological pain like phantom limb pain or nociplastic pain.

Professor chairs task force to update official definition of pain

We all know the feeling of pain. It may be as small as a scrape or cut or as extreme as a broken bone. But pain is not simply an unpleasant sensation or symptom caused by damage to our bodies. Rather, pain is a complex condition that we do not yet fully understand and that is not simply physical.


MEL MELCON / CC BY 2.0
Firefighters put out a wildfire in Hidden Valley in 2013.

How the California fires led to red-tinted skies in Baltimore

The 2020 fire season on the West Coast has been reported to be the most disastrous of this decade. Wildfires stretching along California, Oregon and Washington have already killed over two dozen people, displaced thousands of individuals along the West Coast and burned over five million acres of land.  




COURTESY OF MIN JAE KIM
The team tested their prototype with a CPR dummy to simulate aerosolization.

Undergraduates develop a memory foam attachment for CPAP machines

As the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues, health-care professionals continue to face new challenges. In a time of need, some health-care professionals have suggested using continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines in lieu of ventilators to treat seriously ill COVID-19 patients. However, one of the biggest concerns with placing an infected patient on this machine is the aerosolization of viral particles, which can infect others.  


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