Category: Research
Researchers can predict hurricane-related outages
October 19, 2009
Using data from Hurricane Katrina and four other destructive storms, researchers from Johns Hopkins and elsewhere say they have found a way to accurately predict power outages in advance of a hurricane. Their approach provides estimates of how many outages will occur across a region as a hurricane is approaching.
Studying welfare’s treatment of single vs. married mothers
October 19, 2009
Robert Moffitt, a Krieger-Eisenhower Professor in the School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Economics, and his research partner will use a one-year $48,339 grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue to study whether the U.S. welfare system’s assistance based on marital status factors into single mothers’ decisions to stay single, cohabit or marry.
New Cassini images help redraw shape of solar system
October 19, 2009
In a paper published Oct. 15 in Science, researchers from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory present a new view of the region of the sun’s influence, or heliosphere, and the forces that shape it. Images from one of the Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument’s sensors, the Ion and Neutral Camera, known as MIMI/INCA, on NASA’s Cassini spacecraft suggest that the heliosphere may not have the cometlike shape predicted by existing models.
Bedside eye exam outperforms MRI for diagnosing stroke
October 19, 2009
In a small “proof of principle” study, stroke researchers at Johns Hopkins and the University of Illinois have found that a simple one-minute eye movement exam performed at the bedside worked better than an MRI to distinguish new strokes from other less serious disorders in patients complaining of dizziness, nausea and spinning sensations.
What parents of fetuses with congenital defects want from docs
October 19, 2009
Before and after delivery, the mothers of unborn babies prenatally diagnosed with severe birth defects want doctors to walk a fine line between giving them realistic information—no matter how grim the prognosis—and giving them hope for the best possible outcome.
SPH researchers identify workings of L-form bacteria
October 19, 2009
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have for the first time identified the genetic mechanisms involved in the formation and survival of L-form bacteria. Their findings are described in a study published Oct. 6 in the journal PLoS ONE.
Roux-en-Y weight-loss surgery raises kidney stone risk
October 19, 2009
The most popular type of gastric bypass surgery appears to nearly double the chance that a patient will develop kidney stones, despite earlier assumptions that it would not, Johns Hopkins doctors report in a new study. The overall risk, however, remains fairly small at about 8 percent.
Our newest Nobelist: Carol Greider
October 12, 2009
Carol Greider honored for her groundbreaking work on telomeres
JHU brings virtual learning to Baltimore County schools
October 12, 2009
Software engineers at Johns Hopkins’ Applied Physics Laboratory, in collaboration with JHU’s Center for Technology in Education, have developed a prototype Virtual Learning Environment to provide Baltimore County students with a gaminglike experience to augment existing math and science curricula.
Autism: Genomewide hunt reveals new genetic links
October 12, 2009
About 90 percent of autism spectrum disorders have suspected genetic causes, but few genes have been identified so far. Now, leading an international team, Johns Hopkins researchers have identified several genetic links to autism, chief among them a variant of semaphorin 5A, whose protein product controls nerve connections in the brain.