Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896
October 22, 2025
October 22, 2025 | Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896

Science & Technology



COURTESY OF IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON
A newly developed USB stick device only needs one drop of blood to test for HIV.

HIV tests can be performed on a USB stick

Scientists at the Imperial College London and DNA Electronics, a U.K. biotech firm, have developed a new device that could change the way doctors and patients monitor HIV levels in the bloodstream.


 PUBLIC DOMAIN
Mental health disorders can lead to physical diseases in teenagers.

Mental disorders tied to specific physical diseases

Scientists have known for a while that mental disorders are often observed in conjunction with physical diseases. Previous studies have primarily focused on how the two are associated in adult populations. Researchers at the University of Basel and Ruhr-University Bochum studied young individuals and are beginning to link specific mental disorders to certain physical ailments in younger populations.





 PUBLIC DOMAIN
An asteroid that hit the Earth 66 million years ago may have liquefied Earth’s surface.

Pre-historic asteroid liquefied Earth’s surface

Around 66 million years ago, an asteroid hit the surface of Earth and drastically changed the Earth’s geological landscape. While this asteroid is widely believed to have wiped out the entire dinosaur population that once roamed the planet, scientists now theorize that the asteroid could also have momentarily liquefied the surface of the Earth.


 JACOPLANE/CC BY-SA 3.0
Calciprotein particles lead to breakdown of connective tissue, which in turn can cause premature births.

Preterm birth linked to calciprotein formation

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 15 million babies are born preterm each year. Nearly a million babies die due to preterm birth complications, making preterm birth a leading cause of child death. On top of that, survivors of preterm births often develop learning, visual or auditory disabilities.




 Craig ONeal/CC-By-2.0
On Monday Nov. 14, the moon was the closest it had been to Earth since the year 1948.

The science behind Monday night’s supermoon

When you looked up into the sky this past Monday, Nov. 14, did you notice anything particularly strange? Perhaps the moon looked a lot bigger than usual? In fact,  scientists predicted that our moon was its largest relative to Earth in almost 69 years. Informally, astronomers and scientists alike have coined the name “beaver moon” for this astronomical wonder that lit up the sky.


Debora Cartagena/ Public Domain
The U.S. was the first country to require health warnings on cigarette packages.

Graphics on cigarette packs reduce smoking

According to the Centers for Disease Control, smoking kills approximately 480,000 Americans each year, including nearly 50,000 deaths from secondhand smoke. On average, smokers die about 10 years earlier than nonsmokers. As such, lawmakers, public health officials and advocacy groups all around the world have been pushing to reduce the rates of smoking. Many nations require that health warnings must be printed on cigarette packs and several countries have mandated that graphic images must be printed on the packs as well.


COURTESY OF UYEN LE
McCloskey works to distinguish differences in mental processes.

McCloskey Lab studies learning disabilities

Michael McCloskey is a Hopkins researcher in the cognitive science department who studies individuals with learning disabilities or other cognitive impairments. He works to identify exactly where an individual’s mental processes differ from the norm.


 PUBLIC DOMAIN
The placebo effect has different implications for each patient.

Placebo effect area identified in brain

The placebo effect, a phenomenon that occurs when a fake treatment results in a significant reduction in pain, is a commonly observed effect in pain treatment trials, especially for those who suffer from chronic pain.


Binocular iPad game used to treat lazy eye

The Journal of the American Medicine Association published a study that linked a binocular iPad game to treatment of amblyopia in children. Amblyopia, commonly known as lazy eye, affects three percent of people in the U.S. and is the primary reason for monocular visual impairment in children.




 BERNSWAELZ/CC0 PUBLIC DOMAIN
In the future, diamond nanotheads could be used to make steel cables even stronger.

Future potential of diamond nanothreads

As the most abundant element on the planet, carbon has consistently demonstrated its incredible diversity and seemingly infinite potential applications. In fact, a recent report by a team of chemists and engineers of Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has described the synthesis of a new, versatile material they call “diamond nanothread” (DNT).


NASA/DOE/PUBLIC DOMAIN
MAGIC telescopes can observe the universe by detecting gamma rays.

Telescope captures strong gamma rays

A recent article published in Astronomy & Astrophysics found the farthest very high energy gamma source detected to date. About seven billion years ago, an explosion occurred at a black hole in the center of a galaxy.


Goldwater awarded to four undergraduates

The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship is national award designed to recognize students with exceptional promise in research in a STEM field. Every undergraduate university in the United States may nominate four undergraduates.


News-Letter Magazine