Residents in all 25 of the U.S. counties hardest hit by COVID-19 began to limit their public movements six to 29 days before states implemented stay-at-home orders, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers.
Recent news from The Johns Hopkins University
This section contains regularly updated highlights of the news from around The Johns Hopkins University. Links to the complete news reports from the nine schools, the Applied Physics Laboratory and other centers and institutes are to the left, as are links to help news media contact the Johns Hopkins communications offices.
Juicy Genomics
When Pulitzer Prize and Grammy award winner Kendrick Lamar rapped “I got millions, I got riches buildin’ in my DNA,” he almost certainly wasn’t talking about the humble tomato. But a new study unveiling more than 230,000 DNA differences across 100 tomato varieties which will allow breeders and scientists to engineer larger, juicier, more profitable plants, proves that tomatoes indeed have riches buildin’ in their DNA, too.
Jitterbug: Roaches and Robots Shake It To Transition Between Movements In Tricky Terrain
By chasing cockroaches through an obstacle course and studying their movements, the Johns Hopkins engineers that brought you the cockroach robot and the snake robot discovered that animals’ movement transitions corresponded to overcoming potential energy barriers and that they can jitter around to traverse obstacles in complex terrain.
Johns Hopkins Aids National Effort To Build A Secure Smart Home
Smart homes of today – with lights, refrigerators and Alexa all talking to each other – aren’t nearly as smart as they need to be to thwart virtual burglars from breaking in. To address the massive security threat to interconnected devices known as the Internet of Things (IoT), Johns Hopkins University and six other institutions are embarking on an effort to fortify vulnerable points of entry against hackers.
Johns Hopkins Joins Project To Build New Tools To Model Pandemic Spread
The Johns Hopkins University professor behind the popular COVID-19 tracking map is joining scientists at two other institutions to develop new methods for understanding how and why the current coronavirus and future pandemics spread.
Johns Hopkins Researchers to Use Machine Learning to Predict Heart Damage in COVID-19 Victims
Johns Hopkins researchers recently received a $195,000 Rapid Response Research grant from the National Science Foundation to, using machine learning, identify which COVID-19 patients are at risk of adverse cardiac events such as heart failure, sustained abnormal heartbeats, heart attacks, cardiogenic shock and death.
Johns Hopkins Expands Research Into Eliminating Stockpiles of Weapons of Mass Destruction
The U.S. Department of Defense has selected Johns Hopkins University to lead an alliance of major research institutions to understand, predict, and control the behavior of materials in extreme conditions caused by weapons of mass destruction.
ADVISORY: Expert Available to Discuss Minor League Baseball Realignment Plan
A computer scientist at Johns Hopkins University is available to discuss the study that he and his students have completed that analyzes Major League Baseball’s plan to realign Minor League Baseball by eliminating several small-town teams across the United States and re-shuffling remaining squads into new leagues.
Under Pressure: New Bioinspired Material Can ‘Shapeshift’ to External Forces
Inspired by how human bone and colorful coral reefs adjust mineral deposits in response to their surrounding environments, Johns Hopkins researchers have created a self-adapting material that can change its stiffness in response to the applied force. This advancement can someday open the doors for materials that can self-reinforce to prepare for increased force or stop further damage.
Johns Hopkins Engineers Developing 3D-printed Ventilator Splitter
In response to a pressing need for more ventilators to treat critically ill COVID-19 patients, a team led by Johns Hopkins University engineers is developing and prototyping a 3D-printed splitter that will allow a single ventilator to treat multiple patients. Though medical professionals have expressed concerns about the safety and effectiveness of sharing ventilators, the team has designed this tool to address those concerns.
MEDIA ADVISORY: Johns Hopkins Hosts Virtual Design Challenge to Address COVID-19
More than 2,000 people from 34 countries will compete in a five-day virtual design challenge to find innovative solutions to challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Teams will try to engineer solutions for problems ranging from how to protect front-line healthcare workers and their families to minimizing transmission of the virus to addressing shortages of critical healthcare and medical equipment to ensuring that people have accurate information to help them make informed decisions.
ADVISORY: Johns Hopkins Expert Available to Discuss Use of Robots to Combat COVID-19
In a new Science Robotics editorial published today, experts discuss the potential use of robots to combat COVID-19 by decreasing risks posed to humans, safely resuming halted manufacturing and making teleoperations more efficient. Much of the work required in combatting COVID-19 requires “dull, dirty, and extremely dangerous tasks for human workers but suitable to robots,” the editorial authors say, and they point to potential uses such as disinfecting operating rooms, taking temperatures at ports of entry, delivering medications and more.
Russell (Russ) Taylor, Director of the Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics at The Johns Hopkins University, and an author on the editorial, is available to talk about the future of robotics and COVID-19.
ADVISORY: Johns Hopkins University Upgrades COVID-19 Tracking Map With Local U.S. Data
The Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 tracking map, which has become a vital worldwide resource, is launching an updated dashboard to report coronavirus cases for every city and county in the United States.
Little Tissue, Big Mission: Beating Heart Tissues to Ride Aboard The ISS
Launching no earlier than March 6 at 11:50 PM EST, the Johns Hopkins University will send heart muscle tissues, contained in a specially-designed tissue chip the size of a small cellphone, up to the microgravity environment of the International Space Station (ISS) for one month of observation.
Slithering Snakes on a 2-D Plane
Snakes live in diverse environments ranging from unbearably hot deserts to lush tropical forests, where they slither up trees, rocks and shrubbery every day. By studying how these serpents move, Johns Hopkins engineers have created a snake robot that can nimbly and stably climb large steps.
What’s in Your Water?
Mixing drinking water with chlorine, the United States’ most common method of disinfecting drinking water, creates previously unidentified toxic byproducts, says Carsten Prasse from Johns Hopkins University and his collaborators from the University of California, Berkeley and Switzerland.
MEDIA ADVISORY: 500 Baltimore City Public Schools Students to Compete in Robotics Contest at JHU
More than 500 elementary, middle, and high school Baltimore City Public Schools students will compete in the Hopkins Robotics Cup, the Baltimore City VEX and VEX IQ Robotics League championship event.
ADVISORY: Expert Available to Discuss Tracking of Coronavirus
A co-director of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering is available to discuss the center’s website, launched today to track the international spread of coronavirus in real time. The data visualizations are all available for download.
New Ultra-Miniaturized Scope Less Invasive, Produces Higher Quality Images
Johns Hopkins engineers have created a new lens-free ultra-miniaturized endoscope, the size of a few human hairs in width, that is less bulky and can produce higher quality images.
Sounds of Mosquito Mating Rituals Could Lead to Quieter Drones, Nontoxic Pest Control
Mosquitoes flap their wings not just to stay aloft but for two other critical purposes: to generate sound and to point that buzz in the direction of a potential mate, researchers at Johns Hopkins University have discovered. Their findings about the aerodynamics of mosquito wings could have implications for building quieter drones and for devising nontoxic methods to trap and exterminate the pests.
Don’t Miss a Beat: Computer Simulations May Treat Most Common Heart Rhythm Disorder
Scientists at Johns Hopkins have successfully created personalized digital replicas of the upper chambers of the heart and used them to guide the precise treatment of patients suffering from persistent irregular heartbeats. These simulations accurately identified where clinicians need to destroy tissue to restore the heart’s normal rhythm.
Cancer Tissue-Freezing Approach May Help More Breast Cancer Patients in Lower Income Countries
A new reusable device created by the Johns Hopkins University can help women with breast cancer in lower income countries by using carbon dioxide, a widely available and affordable gas, to power a cancer tissue-freezing probe instead of industry-standard argon.