Though scientists know children with strong spatial thinking skills have an edge in science, technology, engineering and math, and that those skills are teachable, no one has formally infused them into a working elementary curriculum. With a $1.4 million federal grant, Johns Hopkins University researchers will co-develop and test such a program for third-grade science classes.
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.
It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s – a Key Discovery About Human Memory
As Superman flies over the city, people on the ground famously suppose they see a bird, then a plane, and then finally realize it’s a superhero. But they haven’t just spotted the Man of Steel – they’ve experienced the ideal conditions to create a very strong memory of him.
Johns Hopkins University cognitive psychologists are the first to link human’s long-term visual memory with how things move. The key, they found, lies in whether we can visually track an object. When people see Superman, they don’t think they’re seeing a bird, a plane and a superhero. They know it’s just one thing – even though the distance, lighting and angle change how he looks.
The Surprising Thing Blind People Doing Math Reveals About the Brain
Human babies and even animals have a basic number sense that many believe evolves from seeing the world and trying to quantify all the sights. But vision has nothing to do with it – Johns Hopkins University neuroscientists have found that the brain network behind numerical reasoning is identical in blind and sighted people.
Kill Them With Cuteness: The Adorable Thing Bats Do to Catch Prey
Bats’ use of echolocation to detect, track and catch prey is well documented. But this Johns Hopkins team is the first to show how the relatively mysterious head and ear movements factor into the hunt.
Researchers Find Brain’s ‘Physics Engine’
Whether or not they aced it in high school, human beings are physics masters when it comes to understanding and predicting how objects in the world will behave. A Johns Hopkins University cognitive scientist has found the source of that intuition, the brain’s “physics engine.”
The Brain’s Super-Sensitivity to Curbs
Humans rely on boundaries like walls and curbs for navigation, and Johns Hopkins University researchers have pinpointed the areas of the brain most sensitive to even the tiniest borders.
What Free Will Looks Like in the Brain
Johns Hopkins University researchers are the first to glimpse the human brain making a purely voluntary decision to act.
A Simple Numbers Game Seems to Make Kids Better at Math
Although math skills are considered notoriously hard to improve, Johns Hopkins University researchers boosted kindergarteners’ arithmetic performance simply by exercising their intuitive number sense with a quick computer game.
Researchers Find What Could Be Brain’s Trigger for Binge Behavior
Rats that responded to cues for sugar with the speed and excitement of binge-eaters were less motivated for the treat when certain neurons were suppressed, researchers discovered.
Scientists Find Brain Cells That Know Which End Is Up
People are intuitive physicists — knowing from birth how objects under the influence of gravity are likely to fall, topple or roll. In a new study, scientists have found the brain cells apparently responsible for this innate wisdom.
What You Know Can Affect How You See
Objects — everything from cars, birds and faces to letters of the alphabet — look significantly different to people familiar with them, scientists have found.
Scientists Find Mastering the Art of Ignoring Makes People More Efficient
People searching for something can find it faster if they know what to look for. But new research suggests knowing what not to look for can be just as helpful.
What Bats Reveal About How Humans Focus Attention
You’re at a crowded party, noisy with multiple conversations, music and clinking glasses. But when someone behind you says your name, you hear it and quickly turn in that direction. The same sort of thing happens with bats and Johns Hopkins University researchers have discovered how a bat’s brain determines what’s worth paying attention to. The findings, which have implications across animal systems, were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
How Your Brain Might be Secretly Thwarting Your New Year’s Resolutions
The human brain is wired to pay attention to previously pleasing things — a finding that could help explain why it’s hard to break bad habits or stick to New Year’s resolutions.
Johns Hopkins Solves a Longtime Puzzle of How We Learn
More than a century ago Pavlov figured out that dogs fed after hearing a bell eventually began to salivate when they heard the ring. A Johns Hopkins University-led research team has now figured out a key aspect of why.
When the Color We See Isn’t the Color We Remember
Though people can distinguish between millions of colors, we have trouble remembering specific shades because our brains tend to store what we’ve seen as one of just a few basic hues, a Johns Hopkins University-led team discovered.
Say What? How the Brain Separates Our Ability to Talk and Write
Although the human ability to write evolved from our ability to speak, in the brain, writing and talking are now such independent systems that someone who can’t write a grammatically correct sentence may be able say it aloud flawlessly, discovered a team led by Johns Hopkins University cognitive scientist Brenda Rapp.
Media Advisory for Science Writers: Neuroscience will be Focus of Johns Hopkins Institute for NanoBioTechnology Symposium
On Friday, May 1, the Johns Hopkins Institute for NanoBioTechnology (INBT) hosts its ninth annual multidisciplinary symposium, featuring six faculty speakers and 100 multidisciplinary research posters. Neuro X is the title and theme for the symposium, which will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Owens Auditorium on the Johns Hopkins medical campus.
Element of Surprise Helps Babies Learn
Infants have innate knowledge about the world and when their expectations are defied, they learn best, researchers at Johns Hopkins University found.
Science News Tips from Johns Hopkins
Science news tips for reporters, including a story suggestion from Johns Hopkins Magazine on JHU and ET and another on mistletoe and cancer.