Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896
May 4, 2025
May 4, 2025 | Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896

Science & Technology



 Rinsinger/CC-By-4.0
Dwarf planet 2014 UZ224 takes 1,100 Earth years to orbit the sun.

New dwarf planet found in Kuiper Belt

Ever since the International Astronomical Union (IAU) demoted Pluto from a planet to a dwarf planet in 2006, people have begun to pay significantly more attention and draw more definitive lines to the concept of a “dwarf planet.”



Immunotherapy drug approved by U.S. FDA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded approval on Oct. 24 for breakthrough drug pembrolizumab, a first-line treatment for certain patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).


 Evan/CC-BY-SA-3.0
The smaller the index-to-ring finger ratio the greater the amount of testosterone present.

Index-to-ring-finger ratio can indicate prenatal testosterone

Neuroscientists at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have long been studying how the male and female brains differ. Researchers have, for example, consistently found significant performance differences on certain cognitive tasks between males and females.


 PEDRO RIBEIRO Simoes/ CC-by-2.0
Dementia risk may increase with ADT

Low testosterone levels increase dementia risk

In a retrospective study of medical records, researchers from Stanford University and the University of Pennsylvania concluded that lowering testosterone levels in men with prostate cancer could be associated with an increased risk of developing dementia. These findings, if confirmed by future clinical trials, could alter the way doctors treat prostate cancer in the near future.



JOHN A BEAL/CC-BY-2.5
Human cortical folding is universal.

Brain cortex folds universally for all humans

A recent study done at the Newcastle University in collaboration with the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrated that human brains fold universally.


 NASA/Public Domain
Hubble Telescope pictures were used to estimate number of galaxies.

Universe may hold 1.8 trillion more galaxies

Recent research conducted by an international team led by Christopher Conselice, an astrophysics professor at the University of Nottingham, found that the universe has about 2 trillion galaxies, which is 10 times more than previous estimates.


 COURTESY OF PRESTON GE
Ge presents a poster about his research on misfolded Alzheimer protein for the PURA poster session.

Senior helps discover misfolded Parkinson’s protein

Preston Ge, a senior Neuroscience major, worked with the Ted and Valina Dawson lab to publish his research on Parkinson’s Disease in Science magazine. His findings, he says, will not only provide a novel therapy for patients with Parkinson’s disease but also help establish how research for neurodegenerative disease is conducted in the future.


 Adam Baker/CC-BY-SA-2.0
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was given to researchers working on molecular machines.

Molecular researchers win Chemistry Nobel

Winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry were announced on Oct. 5. The annual Nobel Prizes in Chemistry are traditionally given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The three recipients for the award this year are Jean-Pierre Sauvage of France, British-American Sir J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L. Feringa of the Netherlands.



 COURTESY OF SARAH LEE
Kubanda members will be attending the Collegiate Inventors Competition in November.

BME team named Collegiate Inventors finalist

Hopkins is no stranger to the Collegiate Inventors Competition, a national competition that awards undergraduate students for cutting-edge and creative inventions. In the past three years, four different Hopkins student projects have placed in the competition.



 Karen Beate Nøsterud/CC-BY-2.5-DK
The average maximum human lifespan, according to researchers, is around 115 years.

Scientists calculate maximum human lifespan

Scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine have recently published evidence that suggests that the human lifespan may not be lengthened beyond the ages on record. The paper, titled “Evidence for a Limit to Human Lifespan,” was published in Nature and the researchers stated that the “upward arc for maximum lifespan has a ceiling — and we’ve already touched it.”


 Transisto/CC BY-SA 3.0
Transistors come in different sizes.

Researchers reduce transistor gate length

The semiconductor industry has long regarded five nanometers as the limit for transistor gate length. Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) claim to have successfully shrunk the transistor gate to one nanometer.


 Ravzman/CC-BY-SA 2.0
2.5 million Note 7 phones were recalled due to reported explosions.

Samsung ends Galaxy Note 7 production

Samsung has officially ended its production of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phone. The announcement occurred after multiple reports of the Note 7 phones exploding. After various inspections and investigations on the phone, the battery was the perceived reason for the phones catching fire.


Rollercoasters can help pass kidney stones

There may finally be an excuse to make amusement park trips a priority yearly. Researchers at Michigan State University (MSU) discovered that riding certain types of roller coasters can help patients pass kidney stones with an approximated 70 percent success rate. They suggest trying to ride roller coasters once a year as maintenance to reduce the chance of developing any stones.



 NICHD/cc-by-2.0
Mitochondria (shown in red) are typically inherited from the mother.

Babies with three parents: mitochondrial donation

The term “mitochondrial donation” might be a foreign concept even to professionals who are at the forefront of the biological fields. It is a newly developed medical technique used to repair the genetically defective mitochondria in a mother’s egg before it can be fertilized with a father’s sperm in a lab setting.


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