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.
Cash Me Outside: Transfers to the Poor Linked to Eco-Benefits
In a new study, researchers recently discovered that Indonesia’s national anti-poverty program reduced deforestation by about 30%.
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.
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.
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.
Researchers Run ‘Philosophy Experiment’ in a Lab to Test Objectivity of Vision
Johns Hopkins University researchers who study the mind and brain used methods from cognitive science to test a long-standing philosophical question: Can people see the world objectively?
Johns Hopkins Releases Comprehensive Report on Digital Contact Tracing to Aid COVID-19 Response
Johns Hopkins University today released a comprehensive report to help government, technology developers, businesses, institutional leaders and the public make responsible decisions around use of digital contact tracing technology (DCTT), including smartphone apps and other tools, to fight COVID-19.
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.
JHU: What We Can’t See Can Help Us Find Things
Anyone who’s ever tried to find something in a hurry knows how helpful it is to think about the lost item’s color, size and shape. But surprisingly, traits of an object that you can’t see also come into play during a search, Johns Hopkins University researchers found.
Life on the Rocks Helps Scientists Understand How to Survive in Extreme Environments
By studying how the tiniest organisms in the Atacama Desert of Chile, one of the driest places on Earth, extract water from rocks, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University, University of California, Irvine, and U.C. Riverside revealed how, against all odds, life can exist in extreme environments.
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.
Researchers Find ‘Major Transformation’ In Global Climate Policy Ideas
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.
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.
Sulfur ‘Spices’ Alien Atmospheres
They say variety is the spice of life, and now new discoveries from Johns Hopkins researchers suggest that a certain elemental ‘variety’—sulfur—is indeed a ‘spice’ that can perhaps point to signs of life.