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.
Trillions of cicadas are poised to get their buzz on across much of the United States, with the once-every-17-year emergence of Brood X. Hope you’re hungry!
One person’s infestation is another’s free eco-friendly lunch, according to Johns Hopkins University sustainable food expert Jessica Fanzo, author of the forthcoming Can Fixing Dinner Fix the Planet?
Fanzo, who plans to collect and eat cicadas herself as soon as they hit her own backyard, can explain how the insects have as much protein as red or other factory-farmed meat, but without the harsh environmental effects, including greenhouse gases and biodiversity loss.
May 13, 2021 Tags: alternative protein, cicadas, climate change, eating insects, environment, factory farming, Jessica Fanzo
| Category: Environment, Public Health, Public policy, University-Related
With climate change looming, what must people hear to convince them to change their ways to stop harming the environment? A new Johns Hopkins University study finds stories to be significantly more motivating than scientific facts— at least for some people.
April 26, 2021 Tags: climate action, climate change, environment, Paul Ferraro, pollution, scicoms, science communications, storytelling
| Category: Environment
With a $20 million gift from the estate of trustee emeritus and alumnus Ralph S. O’Connor, the Johns Hopkins University and its Whiting School of Engineering today announced the establishment of the Ralph S. O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute (ROSEI) to serve as the university’s interdisciplinary home for ongoing research and education aimed at creating clean, renewable, and sustainable energy technologies.
April 22, 2021 Tags: clean energy, climate change, environment, Johns Hopkins, Ralph S. O'Connor Sustainable Energy Institute, Ralph S. O’Connor, renewable energy, ROSEI, sustainable energy
| Category: Engineering, Environment, Homewood Campus News, Institutional News, University-Related
The pandemic has made clear the threat that some viruses pose to humans. But viruses can also infect life-sustaining bacteria and a Johns Hopkins University-led team has developed a test to determine if bacteria are sick, similar to the one used to test humans for COVID-19.
February 25, 2021 Tags: bacteria, Chesapeake Bay, ecology, Johns Hopkins University, Sarah Preheim, viruses
| Category: Earth Science, Engineering, Environment
Most consumers of drinking water in the United States know that chemicals are used in the treatment processes to ensure the water is safe to drink. But they might not know that the use of some of these chemicals, such as chlorine, can also lead to the formation of unregulated toxic byproducts.
January 12, 2021 Tags: Carsten Prasse, Department of Environmental Health & Engineering, environmental engineering, water, water quality, water treatment
| Category: Earth Science, Engineering, Environment, Public Health
A team of Johns Hopkins University graduate students that invented a sensor that ignores background noise and could improve everything from telemedicine to Zoom calls has won the Runner-Up Award in the Collegiate Inventors Competition.
October 29, 2020 Tags: Collegiate Inventors Competition, graduate students, Hearo, Johns Hopkins
| Category: Computer Science, Environment, Medicine and Nursing, Student-Related News, Technology
Benjamin Hobbs, a Johns Hopkins University professor of environmental health and engineering, is available to speak to the media about issues related to the California energy grid and a new effort to build more renewable energy into power markets over the next decade.
September 25, 2020 Tags: climate change, electric utilities, green energy, power grid, renewable power, Whiting School of Engineering
| Category: Engineering, Environment
Ben Zaitchik, a professor of Earth and planetary sciences at Johns Hopkins University, is available to speak with the media about the vigorous research still needed to definitively determine if and how climate, environmental and meteorological elements influence the spread of COVID-19.
September 15, 2020 Tags: climate change, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, global climate change, NASA, World Meteorological Organization
| Category: Academic Disciplines, Earth Science, Environment, Public Health
The economic ideas that dominate global climate policy have undergone a “major transformation” over the past three decades from strictly market-based notions to recent diversified approaches featuring more government intervention, according to new research published in Nature Climate Change by a Johns Hopkins University political scientist.
April 22, 2020 Tags: climate change, global climate change, Nature
| Category: Environment, Government and Politics, International Affairs
A silver lining of social distancing and quarantine? Better air quality. As more and more cities across the U.S. clamp down on travel, there have been fewer cars on the road and early reports of improved air quality in cities like Los Angeles, Philadelphia and more. Peter DeCarlo, an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at The Johns Hopkins University, can discuss how and to what extent social distancing and quarantine measures affect air pollution.
March 20, 2020 Tags: air pollution, air quality, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Peter DeCarlo, Public Health, quarantine, social distancing
| Category: Engineering, Environment, Public Health
Think your daily coffee, boutique gym membership and airport lounge access cost a lot? There may be an additional, hidden cost to those luxuries of urban living, says a new Johns Hopkins University study: more flooding.
For every percentage point increase in roads, parking lots and other impervious surfaces that prevent water from flowing into the ground, annual floods increase on average by 3.3%, the researchers found.
March 5, 2020 Tags: Annalise Blum, flood, Paul Ferraro, urban, urbanization
| Category: Business and Economics, Earth Science, Environment
Jan Dutkiewicz, a political scientist at Johns Hopkins and an expert in the alternative meat industry, can explain:
How the history of the Impossible Burger and other popular alternative meats can be traced to Thanksgiving.
Why despite the current plant-based meat craze, there is not yet a turkey option that’s created as much buzz.
How in the future Thanksgivings, with lab-grown meat soon to be available, people might be able to buy turkey created in a petri dish.
November 11, 2019 Tags: alternative meat, Beyond Burger, Impossible Burger, Jan Dutkiewicz, Johns Hopkins University, lab-grown meat, plant-based meat, Thanksgiving, tofurky
| Category: Business and Economics, Environment, Government and Politics, Public Health, Social Sciences
In the largest commitment to solar energy in Maryland and one of the most significant pledges to greenhouse gas reduction in higher education, Johns Hopkins University has entered into a long-term agreement to supply its campuses with more than 250,000 megawatt hours of solar power per year.
April 22, 2019 Tags: carbon emissions, Constellation, Johns Hopkins University, Ronald J. Daniels, solar, solar energy
| Category: Environment, Homewood Campus News, Institutional News, Uncategorized, University Administration, University-Related
China, already the world’s leading emitter of human-caused greenhouse gases, continues to pump increasing amounts of climate-changing methane into the atmosphere despite tough new regulations on gas releases from its coal mines, a new Johns Hopkins study shows.
January 29, 2019 Tags: climate change, emissions, Engineering, environment, global warming, greenhouse gases, methane, Scot Miller
| Category: Engineering, Environment
Johns Hopkins Hurricane Experts Available.
September 11, 2018 Tags: catastrophic flooding, climate change, first responders, Hurricane experts, Johns Hopkins University, Preparedness, response
| Category: Business and Economics, Earth Science, Engineering, Environment, Government and Politics, International Affairs, Medicine and Nursing, Natural Sciences, Psychology, Public Health, Social Sciences, Technology
Although the popularity of solar energy has surged, the unpredictability of a weather-dependent technology has kept even more people from embracing it. A new Johns Hopkins University-led project hopes to change that by improving our ability to forecast sunshine and backup power needs.
July 23, 2018 Tags: Benjamin F. Hobbs, forecast, Johns Hopkins University, solar energy, weather
| Category: Business and Economics, Computer Science, Earth Science, Engineering, Environment, Natural Sciences, Technology
Some potentially toxic chemicals in water may be created, ironically, during the water treatment process itself.
May 2, 2018 Tags: environment, Environmental Health and Engineering, wastwater treatment, water pollution, water quality, water treatment
| Category: Engineering, Environment
These news tips come from stories in the winter issue of Johns Hopkins Magazine.
March 2, 2018 Tags: asteroid impact, asteroids, Conowingo Dam, CRISPR, environment, environmental engineering, extinction, genetic engineering, phosphorus, silt, water pollution
| Category: Earth Science, Engineering, Environment, Medicine and Nursing
To make modern-day fuel cells less expensive and more powerful, a team led by Johns Hopkins chemical engineers has drawn inspiration from the ancient Egyptian tradition of gilding.
December 19, 2017 Tags: air pollution, chemical engineering, cleaner emissions, fuel cells, green technology, materials science
| Category: Chemistry, Engineering, Environment, Technology
Crowdsourcing has been used to create an online photography archive, finance a British rock band’s tour and search for intelligent life on other planets. Now, Johns Hopkins University biologist Jocelyne DiRuggiero is hoping the approach can help her find rocks.
November 8, 2017 Tags: astrobiology, Atacama, citizen science, crowdsourcing, desert, extraterrestrials, microbes, microorganisms
| Category: biology, Earth Science, Environment, Physics and Astronomy, Uncategorized
Conditions in crowded, urban settlements in Africa make worse the effects of climate change, pushing temperatures to dangerous heights for children and the elderly in those areas, according to a new study led by a Johns Hopkins University scientist.
November 6, 2017 Tags: climate change, informal settlement, Kibera, micro-climates, Nairobi
| Category: Earth Science, Environment, Government and Politics, International Affairs, Public Health, Uncategorized
This is an additional list of experts from the Johns Hopkins University on issues associated with Hurricane Harvey and now Hurricane Irma
September 8, 2017 Tags: Disaster, experts, hurricane, Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma
| Category: Earth Science, Engineering, Environment, Medicine and Nursing, Public Health
This is a third list of experts from the Johns Hopkins University on issues associated with the onslaught and aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.
August 30, 2017 Tags: Disaster, experts, hurricane, Hurricane Harvey
| Category: Business and Economics, Earth Science, Education/K-12, Engineering, Environment, Medicine and Nursing, Public Health
This is a second list of experts from the Johns Hopkins University on issues associated with the onslaught and aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.
August 29, 2017 Tags: Disaster, experts, hurricane, Hurricane Harvey
| Category: Business and Economics, Education/K-12, Engineering, Environment, Medicine and Nursing, Public Health
