Taming bubbles in zero gravity
Through experiments aboard a jet that simulates weightlessness, a Johns Hopkins engineer has shown that an electric field can kick loose the bubbles that stubbornly refuse to move in outer space. The research, sponsored by NASA, is important because managing bubbles is crucial to the safe and efficient cooling of power generators, propulsion units and life support systems in space.
    Cila Herman, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, had earlier shown that electric fields could move bubbles in an earthbound lab. In mid-October, Herman and two of her graduate students tested the theory in a weightless environment. "To the best of our knowledge," Herman says, "we were the first to use electric fields to detach and move bubbles in microgravity." Full story...

ABC News turns lens on JHMI
The microscope has turned on the researcher. The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions will be the subject of a six-part documentary set to air this spring on the ABC television network. The series is intended to provide a comprehensive portrait of an academic medical institution and to offer an intimate glimpse inside Hopkins' own world of teaching, clinical care and research, according to series producers.
   A team of eight ABC production crews armed with digital cameras has been granted almost unlimited access to each facility on the East Baltimore campus for a three-month period that began Sept. 29. In addition to filming at the schools of Medicine and Nursing and at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Bayview Medical Center, production crews will follow Hopkins caregivers and students at work in the field. Full story...

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