By offering cells a microscopic “tightrope,” Johns Hopkins University and Virginia Tech scientists have discovered a new and surprising form of cellular movement.
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.
Galaxies Have Gotten Hotter As They’ve Gotten Older
Researchers from Johns Hopkins University and other institutions have found that, on average, the temperature of galaxy clusters today is 4 million degrees Fahrenheit. That is 10 times hotter than 10 billion years ago, and four times hotter than the Sun’s outermost atmosphere called the corona. The findings are published in the Astrophysical Journal.
Study: Dying Stars Breathe Life Into Earth
As dying stars take their final few breaths of life, they gently sprinkle their ashes into the cosmos through the magnificent planetary nebulae. These ashes, spread via stellar winds, are enriched with many different chemical elements, including carbon.
Findings from a study published today in Nature Astronomy show that the final breaths of these dying stars, called white dwarfs, shed light on carbon’s origin in the Milky Way.
Looking Up to the Stars Can Reveal What’s Deep Below
Using a new technique originally designed to explore the cosmos, scientists have unveiled structures deep inside the Earth, paving the way towards a new map revealing what Earth’s interior looks like.
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.
New Space Image Reveals Cosmic ‘Candy Cane’
Deep in our Milky Way galaxy’s center, a candy cane emerges as the centerpiece of a new, colorful composite image from a NASA camera, just in time for the holidays.
Johns Hopkins Researchers Discover Superconducting Material That Could Someday Power Quantum Computer
Quantum computers with the ability to perform complex calculations, encrypt data more securely and more quickly predict the spread of viruses, may be within closer reach thanks to a new discovery by Johns Hopkins researchers.
Dark Matter May Be Older Than The Big Bang, Study Suggests
Dark matter, which researchers believe make up about 80% of the universe’s mass, is one of the most elusive mysteries in modern physics. What exactly it is and how it came to be is a mystery, but a new Johns Hopkins University study now suggests that dark matter may have existed before the Big Bang.
New Hubble Measurements Confirm Universe Is Outpacing All Expectations of its Expansion Rate
April 25, 2019 CONTACT: Chanapa Tantibanchachai Office: 443-997-5056 / Cell: 928-458-9656 chanapa@jhu.edu @JHUmediareps New measurements from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope confirm that the Universe is expanding about 9% faster than expected based on its trajectory seen shortly after the big bang, astronomers say. The new measurements, accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal, reduce the chances […]
Breaking Up is Hard to Do: Asteroids are Stronger, Harder to Destroy Than Previously Thought
A popular theme in the movies is that of an incoming asteroid that could extinguish life on the planet, and our heroes are launched into space to blow it up. But incoming asteroids may be harder to break than scientists previously thought, finds a Johns Hopkins study that used a new understanding of rock fracture and a new computer modeling method to simulate asteroid collisions.
JHU Scientists Find New Science Instrument on Mars Curiosity Rover
The Curiosity Rover may have been ambling around the Gale Crater on Mars for nearly seven years but a group at Johns Hopkins University has just found a way to use it for something new: making the first surface gravity measurements on a planet other than Earth.
Alien Imposters: Planets with Oxygen Don’t Necessarily Have Life
In their search for life in solar systems near and far, researchers have often accepted the presence of oxygen in a planet’s atmosphere as the surest sign that life may be present there. A new Johns Hopkins study, however, recommends a reconsideration of that rule of thumb.
Hubble Finds Far-Away Planet Vanishing at Record Speed
The speed and distance at which planets orbit their respective blazing stars can determine each planet’s fate—whether the planet remains a longstanding part of its solar system or evaporates into the universe’s dark graveyard more quickly.
In their quest to learn more about far-away planets beyond our own solar system, astronomers discovered that a medium-sized planet roughly the size of Neptune, GJ 3470b, is evaporating at a rate 100 times faster than a previously discovered planet of similar size, GJ 436b.
Keeping it cool: The Parker Solar Probe’s high-performance heat shield
Media advisory: Background for reporters on the heat shield that will protect NASA’s Parker Solar Probe as it swoops through the solar atmosphere, less than 4 million miles from the surface of the sun.
Where Martian Dust Comes From
The dust that coats much of the surface of Mars originates largely from a single thousand-kilometer-long geological formation near the Red Planet’s equator, scientists have found.
Evidence for New Property of Quantum Matter Revealed
A theorized but never-before detected property of quantum matter has now been spotted in the lab at Johns Hopkins.
Szalay to lead what could become world’s largest scientific data storage network
Johns Hopkins University’s Alex Szalay will lead a two-year national effort to begin building a network allowing scientists to more efficiently store and analyze huge caches of data and share them with other researchers.
Science and Health News Tips from Johns Hopkins
News tips for reporters from stories in the spring 2018 issue of Johns Hopkins Magazine.
Local Girl Scouts to Build Mini Roller Coasters During Contest at Johns Hopkins
Maryland Girl Scouts will learn about the physics involved in how roller coasters work and what it takes to be an engineer. Then, the scout troops will design and build their own mini roller coasters.
JHU Performs First Lab Simulation of Exoplanet Atmospheric Chemistry
Scientists have conducted the first lab experiments on haze formation in simulated exoplanet atmospheres, an important step for understanding upcoming observations of planets outside the solar system with the James Webb Space Telescope.
Johns Hopkins Scientist Proposes New Definition of a Planet
Pluto hogs the spotlight in the continuing scientific debate over what is and what is not a planet, but a less conspicuous argument rages on about the planetary status of massive objects outside our solar system. The dispute is not just about semantics, as it is closely related to how giant planets like Jupiter form. Johns Hopkins University astrophysicist Kevin Schlaufman aims to settle the dispute.