GHLC at JHU: Dr. Thomas C. Quinn

Dr. Thomas C. Quinnn, MD, MSc, is the Director of Global Health at JHU and Associate Director for International Research at NIAID.

My Journey into the World of Global Health

- First mentor, George B. Craig, Jr. got him into malaria

- Second mentor, King K Holmes

- Mentor relationship is important - forms a lifelong bond

- Went out to Africa to investigate AIDS

    It was originally thought to only be in homosexual men but quickly spread to the rest of the population

- Met lots of people - relationships are really important!

- HIV becomes a huge problem in developing countries

- Term global health becomes prevalent as HIV/AIDS starts spreading

- Health is now an important foreign policy issue

- Social inequality/demographics are important

- Climate change causes natural disasters - harms health

National Geographic: There’s a new ocean now—can you name all 5?

By Sarah Gibbens

    On World Oceans Day, National Geographic cartographers officially acknowledged the Southern Ocean, the world's fifth ocean. There has long been a debate over whether the region around Antarctica has enough unique features to warrant its own name. The ocean is rimmed by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) at around 60 degrees south latitude and encircles the Antarctic continent while touching three others.

    The ACC first formed when Antarctica separated from South America 34 million years ago and the current facilitates the movement of water around the southern end of the Earth. The waters there are colder and less salty than the more northern areas. It extends from the ocean floor to the surface, allowing it to transport the most water out of any current, and because its cold, dense waters bury carbon in the ocean, it has important environmental impacts as well. Warming of the current in recent years has also led to faster melting of the Antarctic shelf.

    The ocean holds a variety of unique creatures and ecosystems like whales, krill, seabirds, and fish. Industrial fishing has had a major impact on many of these animals, increasing the importance of recognizing the Southern Ocean and making sure more people are educated.

TedEd: How tsunamis work

By Alex Gendler

Tsunamis are often called "tidal waves", but this is a misnomer. They are not caused by the pull of the moon, but rather by energy moving through the water, just like with regular waves. The reason they are bigger is that the source and strength of energy are different. Rather than being moved by wind, which can only produce so much power, tsunamis are caused by massive tremors underground, such as earthquakes and volcanos. When this force makes its way to the surface, it causes a massive spike in the water which then crashes down and sends energy in all directions. The waves seem normal in open oceans, but when they get to shallow water, the energy is compressed and this brings the tsunami up high over the water. Even with innovations like flood walls and channels, tsunamis can cause damage up to a mile inland and destroy everything in their path. The best thing to do in case of a tsunami is to get out of its way (i.e. high up or out of range).

The New Yorker: An Ode to the No-Hitter

By Paul Ellie

    Over the past 150 years of Major League Baseball, the no-hitter has been a rarity, a pinnacle of achievement for a pitcher, second only to a perfect game. However, no-hitters have become much more common in recent years, especially this season. There are a number of reasons for this, starting with statistics. Pitchers now know everything about their batters from analysis of thousands of swings, the defense can shift more accurately, and hitters are aiming more and more for home runs, which also means more strikeouts due to bigger swings. Also, the league itself deadened the ball to keep the ball inside the park more and produce more plays.

    This has many people concerned that the sport will lose fans because, by definition, a no-hitter is a lack of action. No one reaches a base off a hit. The only way runners get on is via walks and errors.

    But there is also an element of suspense. As a pitcher gets into the final innings of a no-hitter, it gets harder to switch to a different channel or station. Will a hitter get a single through the gap? Will a fielder make a mistake that is recorded as a hit? And of course, a good outing makes managers rethink how they play. Baseball has become so statistically oriented that pitchers are throwing fewer and fewer innings to save their arms, to throw off batters, to adjust for left-handed players. But when a pitcher is throwing a no-hitter, it's hard to justify taking them out of the game. So a no-hitter forces players and coaches to look away from the analytics and go back to the traditional ways of play.