A pioneering magazine turns 50
An experiment at Johns Hopkins turns 50 years old next month, and the people who've conducted it, past and present, will honor the occasion with a special celebration.
   In April of 1950, Hopkins graduate Corbin Gwaltney pulled the last $100 out of his savings to bet on a new idea. He had a crazy concept for a different approach to alumni magazines, an idea that he was convinced could work for his alma mater and make the resulting publication a more genuinely interesting and stimulating experience for its readers.
   Gwaltney's idea, according to current Johns Hopkins Magazine editor Sue De Pasquale, was to expand the magazine's focus beyond the alumni statistics and alumni news items dominant at the time in alumni magazines. Full story...

Building the right barrier stops spread of deadly pollutants
Underground water, tainted with toxic chemicals, is on the move. How do you stop the contaminants from polluting nearby wells? One new method is to throw a barrier of iron filings in front of the deadly flow. In theory, as the water passes through this wall, the pollutants will react chemically with the iron, leaving only harmless compounds in the water.
   This permeable reactive barrier technology, in use for less than a decade, promises to be a highly effective pollution control tool. But environmental engineers at Johns Hopkins have found that cleanup crews may be making crucial miscalculations in designing these pollution neutralizing walls. To correct this problem, researchers William A. Arnold and A. Lynn Roberts have prepared a new mathematical model that should lead to safer and more cost-effective barriers. They presented their findings March 26 at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society, in San Francisco. Full story...

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