News Releases

Scientist Christopher Lavelle of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, together with a team of researchers from the University of Maryland and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, has successfully shown that boron-coated vitreous carbon foam can be used in the detection of neutrons emitted by radioactive materials — of critical importance to homeland security.

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) will host Girl Power, a free introductory event for middle and high school girls about careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) on Sunday, March 8, 2015, from 2 to 5 p.m. on APL’s Laurel, Maryland, campus.

Shunts are the most common form of treatment for hydrocephalus, the excess fluid buildup in the ventricles of the brain. A team of scientists at APL and physicians at Johns Hopkins Medicine is working on a device that will help physicians quickly determine if a shunt is failing, without radiation or invasive procedures.

Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh could only dream of a spacecraft flying past the small planet he spotted on the edges of the solar system in 1930. Yet the newest views of Pluto from NASA’s approaching New Horizons probe — released today, on the late American astronomer’s birthday — hint at just how close that dream is to coming true.

Six staff members of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, have been awarded Black Engineer of the Year Awards.

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has begun its long-awaited, historic encounter with Pluto, entering the first of several approach phases that will culminate with the first close-up flyby of the Pluto system six months from now.

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory announced today that James N. Miller, former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, has joined the Lab as a Senior Fellow.

The MESSENGER spacecraft will soon run literally on fumes. After more than 10 years traveling in space, nearly four of those orbiting Mercury, the spacecraft has expended most of its propellant and was on course to impact the planet’s surface at the end of March 2015. But engineers on the team have devised a way to use the pressurization gas in the spacecraft’s propulsion system to propel MESSENGER for as long as another month, allowing scientists to collect even more data about the planet closest to the Sun.