Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896
May 29, 2023

Science & Technology







LAKSHAY SOOD/GRAPHICS EDITOR
Researchers found that nurses with seasonal allergies benefited the most from wearing masks.

Masks may ward off seasonal allergies

A new study could provide relief for seasonal allergy sufferers. The paper, published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, suggests that wearing masks may relieve some symptoms of allergic rhinitis, also known as hay fever.




COURTESY OF BAYLEIGH MURRAY
Researchers identified cell moving mechanisms, including what occurs when two cells are about to collide. 

New techniques help explain how cells interact in 3D environments

Whether it’s a lab technician staring at a petri dish from above or a Hopkins student taking notes from a PowerPoint, biology is often only studied from a two-dimensional perspective. A team of scientists at Hopkins and Virginia Tech has begun to shift this perspective with a recent paper exploring cell motility, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).


FILE PHOTO 
Latrobe Hall is home to the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Engineer things that move with the MechE major

“The satisfaction of seeing something on paper and in my head become a reality, and especially when it does something — for example if it moves, or makes sounds... even if it’s something small... that is what I find most rewarding about mechanical engineering.”


MOHAMED HASSAN/PIXABAY
Kasamoto reflects on her experiences as a freshman and offers advice for overcoming impostor syndrome. 

Tips for overcoming impostor syndrome

With the second round of midterms in swing, I hope everyone on campus is officially somewhat oriented with the semi-in-person college experience and has made at least made one midnight trip to UniMini for chicken nuggets and mozzarella sticks. 


The Johns Hopkins Capacity Command Center rises to the challenge

The Johns Hopkins Capacity Command Center, which was originally launched in 2016, is the first of its kind within the health-care system. The command center’s visual dashboards allow for workers to analyze real-time information, such as occupancies, operating room schedules and emergency department capacitance across the entire hospital. Real-time analytics process data as soon as it comes into the database, helping users make decisions without delay.


NEHA SANGANA/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
SON Assistant Professor Michelle Patch noted that not everyone can access mass vaccination sites.

Panelists highlight racial inequities in vaccine access and distribution

The School of Nursing (SON) held an event titled “COVID Vaccine Equity: Reaching Underserved Communities Locally and Globally” on April 7. The discussion was co-moderated by Angie Chang, manager of the Center for Global Initiatives (CGI), and CGI Director Nancy Reynolds, also co-director of the Collaborating Centre for Nursing Information and Knowledge Management at the World Health Organization (WHO).



LAKSHAY SOOD/LAYOUT EDITOR
The team is testing out different messaging styles to see what resonates with people hesitant to be vaccinated. 

Only half of American adults report they will be vaccinated ASAP, study finds

According to a study published in Vaccine at the end of March, only half of adults in the U.S. claim they will accept the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible. Since the herd immunity threshold for COVID-19 requires that around 90% of adults be vaccinated or immunized through infection, public health experts still must convince a large segment of the population of the vaccines’ effectiveness. 


ROSIE JANG/CARTOON EDITOR
Researchers found that from March to June 2020, Republican-led states had lower COVID-19 incidence rates than Democrat-led states. But that trend flipped from June to December 2020.

Researchers calculate association between governors' political ideology and COVID-19 incidence

If you look at a graphic that maps the geographic distribution of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. you will immediately see that the burden of the pandemic differs across state lines. A team of researchers from Hopkins and the Medical University of South Carolina recently investigated these interstate discrepancies and published their findings in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 


COURTESY OF JOHN D’CRUZ
Unlike other models which calculate geothermal flux, the model developed by Harihar Rajaram and other researchers accounts for topography.

Model can help improve predictions of melting rate of ice sheets

The ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica comprise more than 90% of Earth’s freshwater ice. When it comes to glaciology, global warming is often touted as the most important issue. But according to some scientists, there is another issue that is just as important: geothermal heat flux (GHF). 


COURTESY OF TRISHA PARAYIL
The archive consists of documents which were already publicly accessible, as well as some which previously required payments to view. 

Researchers create digital repository of documents pertaining to the opioid epidemic

Experts at Hopkins and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) recently launched the Opioid Industry Documents Archive. The archive consists of a digital repository of publicly disclosed documents from recent judgments, settlements and ongoing lawsuits regarding the opioid crisis. Within the archive, there are 3,300 documents — about 131,000 pages — contained in six collections.