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Media Advisory
Dec 8, 2020
Exploration to the Extremes: Johns Hopkins APL Space Science at the 2020 AGU Fall Meeting
Scientists from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) are discussing new ideas and plans for NASA missions to the Sun, asteroids, ocean worlds and beyond during the American Geophysical Union’s 2020 Fall Meeting, running online until Dec. 17.
![Saturn and Enceladus](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20201208_image1_cover.jpg)
Feature Story
Dec 8, 2020
Surer Signs of Life
If we ever think we’ve found signs of life elsewhere in the solar system, how would we convince ourselves that they’re real? A research team at APL is developing new palm-sized tools to help address that problem, targeting some of the strongest molecular signs of life, and even designing a way to sequence genetic material found on another world.
![John Piorkowski, a chief AI architect at APL, is chair of the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering’s new graduate program in artificial intelligence.](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20201207_image1_lg.jpg)
News
Dec 7, 2020
New Johns Hopkins Graduate Program Boosts Leadership in Artificial Intelligence
The Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering launched a new online graduate program in artificial intelligence for working professionals this summer, and some 70 students are now enrolled, learning from AI engineers and scientists in one of the highest-demand career fields in the nation. The new program was formed in partnership with APL, as the Lab and the university advance their national leadership in the booming sector.
![Prosthetic limb touching a phantom hand](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20201204_image1_cover.jpg)
Press Release
Dec 4, 2020
Enhanced Phantom Limb Perception Improves Prosthesis Function, Study Finds
APL researchers have shown that giving arm amputees sensory stimulation enhances the perception of their phantom hand and leads to more reliable and repeatable muscle movement signals, which are used to better control a prosthetic arm.
![Cybersecurity](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20201203_image1_med.jpg)
Press Release
Dec 3, 2020
New Cyber Defense Feed Protects Government Systems in Live Trial Across Four States
In a live pilot led by Johns Hopkins APL, a new automated data feed that helps defend state and local government computer systems from cyberattacks and rapidly blocks threats across state lines reduced cyber defense time from some three days to less than three minutes in a successful pilot program across four states.
![APL’s Sheri Lewis, speaking at a press conference held by Howard County Government on Dec. 3, said “studies to better understand the potential spread of a disease in a timely fashion are critical tools to slow disease spread and save lives. In that vein, APL is eager to utilize the expertise of the Laboratory in our own community.” Credit: Howard County Government](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20201203b_image1_lg.jpg)
Press Release
Dec 3, 2020
Johns Hopkins APL and Howard County Partner on Community Serology Study
APL is partnering with the Howard County Government to develop a study that will determine SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence in the county population. The APL-led study will leverage the Laboratory’s expertise in health surveillance and data science to help provide Howard County leadership with a clearer picture of the virus’ spread through the county population.
![APL engineer Ryan Carter inspects a collimator segment before (right) and after (left) machining printed blank](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20201130_image1_lg_1.jpg)
News
Nov 30, 2020
Additive Manufacturing Collaboration Yields Custom Collimator for Jupiter Mission
With the process to develop spacecraft instrument parts through additive manufacturing continuing to improve, APL is taking the plunge with its own additively manufactured metal part for an instrument aboard the European Space Agency’s JUpiter ICy moons Explorer mission.
![APL, which manages and is building NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), led the installation of NEXT-C onto the spacecraft on Nov. 10, with team members from Aerojet Rocketdyne on hand to support the process. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20201124b_image1_lg.jpg)
Press Release
Nov 24, 2020
DART Spacecraft Outfitted with Next-Gen Technology Demonstration Propulsion System
The APL-built Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft will be outfitted with several new technologies for its journey toward its asteroid target. One of those systems — NASA’s NEXT-C ion propulsion engine — was installed last week.
![APL intern Jordan Bretzfelder used data from several instruments to discover rocks within the Moon’s Imbrium Basin — the largest of the dark areas visible from Earth, pictured here — that are consistent with the minerals believed to make up the lunar mantle. Credit: "Mare Imbrium" by Stephan Brunker is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20201124_image1_lg.jpg)
News
Nov 24, 2020
Johns Hopkins APL Intern’s Rocky Discovery Could Offer Clues to Moon’s Formation
There aren’t many interns who can say that they made a discovery about the Moon before they finished their undergraduate degree, but that’s not the case for Jordan Bretzfelder, an APL intern. In a recent study, Bretzfelder announced the discovery of rocks within the Moon’s Imbrium Basin — the largest of the dark areas visible to us on Earth — that are consistent with the minerals scientists expect to make up the lunar mantle.
![Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory provide essential data collection, curation and aggregation for the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, which delivers the most accurate information available on the pandemic. Credit: Johns Hopkins](/sites/default/files/2023-01/20201123_image1_lg.jpg)
Press Release
Nov 23, 2020
Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Resource Center Named as a Time Magazine Best Invention of 2020
Time named the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center to its list of 2020 Best Inventions, calling it “2020’s Go-To Data Source.” Researchers at Johns Hopkins APL provide essential data collection, curation and aggregation for the site, which delivers the most accurate information available on the COVID-19 pandemic.