https://www.scmp.com/rss/521806/feed The latest news and top stories on Johns Hopkins University. A prominent Baltimore, Maryland-based private research university, Johns Hopkins is dedicated to integrating teaching and research, fostering independent discovery, and bringing benefits to the world. Established in 1876 as the first US research university, its main areas of focus include medicine, public health, engineering, and international studies. The institution is recognised for pioneering medical advancements like the "blue... en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Israel said the war against Iran was entering its “decisive phase” on Saturday, as explosions rocked cities across the Middle East, with strikes on the US embassy in Baghdad and a major Emirati energy facility. Washington’s embassy in Iraq was hit by a drone, security sources said, the second time it had been targeted since February 28, when the United States and Israel attacked Iran and plunged the Gulf into a conflict that has sent shock waves through the global economy. Millions have been... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3346626/iran-war-entering-decisive-phase-israel-says-attacks-continue?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3346626/iran-war-entering-decisive-phase-israel-says-attacks-continue?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Mar 2026 15:51:05 +0000 Alyssa Chen Alyssa Chen Nearly five decades ago, in 1978, a dozen or so professors from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) were on a mission to visit their American counterparts as well as research institutes and factories across the United States. The visit, said to be personally approved by then Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, was designed to forge academic ties and led to sister-school agreements with four prestigious US universities, including the University of Michigan (UM). It was a pivotal moment in academic... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3345807/us-universities-retreat-china-partnerships-who-filling-academic-void?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3345807/us-universities-retreat-china-partnerships-who-filling-academic-void?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 Mar 2026 22:00:11 +0000 Shi Huang Shi Huang Twenty years ago, technologies developed by Liang Jie at Microsoft were incorporated into products like the Windows Media Video Player and Blu-ray discs used by millions worldwide. A decade on, while a professor in Canada, Liang ventured into entrepreneurship, developing an intelligent sensor system for elderly care to address global population ageing. Today, he brings his top-tier expertise in image and video compression back to China. According to the Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3341662/north-americas-top-computer-vision-scientist-liang-jie-returns-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3341662/north-americas-top-computer-vision-scientist-liang-jie-returns-china?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Feb 2026 02:00:11 +0000 Lawrence Chung Lawrence Chung The US “decapitation-style” operation against Venezuela’s leadership has heightened concerns in Taiwan that Beijing could one day attempt a similar strike against the island, even though Taipei has played down such a possibility. The anxiety has been amplified by the People’s Liberation Army’s two-day drills around Taiwan last week, parts of which simulated joint operations aimed at paralysing political and military command structures – a scenario analysts say echoes elements of leadership... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3338812/us-decapitation-strike-venezuela-sparks-pla-copycat-fears-taiwan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3338812/us-decapitation-strike-venezuela-sparks-pla-copycat-fears-taiwan?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Jan 2026 13:03:24 +0000 Anthea Rowan Anthea Rowan The holiday season is upon us with its late nights, parties and almost always too much to eat and drink. While we might wait until the New Year to worry about the weight that is piling on, a more immediate concern after consuming so much rich food and alcohol is bloating and its inevitable relief: passing wind. Overeating overloads your gut, trapping gas from food breakdown and swallowed air; alcohol slows digestion further. Big meals stretch the stomach, which slows down the speed at which it... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3337058/need-pass-gas-after-eating-how-taking-short-walk-boosts-digestion?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3337058/need-pass-gas-after-eating-how-taking-short-walk-boosts-digestion?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Dec 2025 23:15:12 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press The warm spices in gingerbread, the woodsy aroma of pine and fir trees, and the fruity tang of mulled wine are smells synonymous with the holiday season. Many people enjoy lighting candles, incense and fireplaces in their homes to evoke the moods associated with these festive fragrances. Burning scented products may create a cosy ambience – and in the case of fireplaces, provide light and heat – but some experts want people to consider how doing so contributes to the quality of the air indoors.... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/leisure/article/3337004/lighting-those-scented-candles-christmas-read-first?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/leisure/article/3337004/lighting-those-scented-candles-christmas-read-first?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 20 Dec 2025 04:00:10 +0000 Finbarr Bermingham Finbarr Bermingham Three days after the US government codified its contempt for EU institutions in a startling new national security policy, the bloc’s leaders finally broke their silence on Monday, with European Council President Antonio Costa lambasting Washington’s “threat to interfere in Europe’s political life”. “The United States no longer believes in multilateralism, nor even in a rules-based international order. They speak of the so-called rules-based international order, and they say climate change is a... https://www.scmp.com/news/us/article/3335665/eu-reels-explosive-us-security-strategy-paints-bloc-rival?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/us/article/3335665/eu-reels-explosive-us-security-strategy-paints-bloc-rival?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Dec 2025 07:02:18 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Zohran Mamdani may not solve all of the beleaguered US Democrats’ problems, but the surprise front-runner in the race for New York mayor does offer hints on how to win back voters and power. The Democrats – shut out of power in the White House and both chambers of Congress – were seen negatively by 63 per cent of US voters, according to a July poll in The Wall Street Journal, the party’s lowest approval rating in 30 years. John Kane, a professor of political science at New York University, said... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3330588/new-yorks-zohran-mamdani-future-struggling-us-democratic-party?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3330588/new-yorks-zohran-mamdani-future-struggling-us-democratic-party?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Oct 2025 06:29:02 +0000 Shi Huang Shi Huang The recent return to China of cancer researcher and professor Wang Qianben marks the reunion of a family of high-achieving Chinese scientists and the culmination of a decades-long journey for Wang Qi, a renowned traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) researcher in Beijing. In the 1970s, Wang Qi bestowed upon his newborn sons names laden with ambition – Wang Qianfei (“to fly forward”) and Wang Qianben (“to run forward”). Now, both have returned home from the United States as distinguished scientists... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3329898/return-china-cancer-researcher-wang-qianben-reunites-esteemed-scientific-family?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3329898/return-china-cancer-researcher-wang-qianben-reunites-esteemed-scientific-family?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Oct 2025 07:00:21 +0000 Biman Mukherji Biman Mukherji India and Brazil are doubling down on economic and climate cooperation in a bid to strengthen Brics and bolster the Global South’s negotiating power as both nations face rising trade tensions with the United States. Analysts say the push – announced during Brazilian Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin’s visit to New Delhi last week – is not just about shielding their economies from punitive US tariffs, but also about asserting influence on multilateral issues ranging from energy security to global... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3329689/india-brazil-forge-stronger-ties-global-south-influence-amid-us-tariff-tensions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3329689/india-brazil-forge-stronger-ties-global-south-influence-amid-us-tariff-tensions?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Oct 2025 00:00:20 +0000 Bochen Han Bochen Han For Krislyn Massey, it all began with late nights watching Japanese anime as a child. That sparked a discovery of Chinese novels and a deep interest in studying Asia – an unlikely path for someone who grew up in a conservative family in Houston, Texas. She began learning Japanese and getting involved in student-run educational exchanges. One of those, Bridge Culture Exchange Academy, led her to attend a virtual conference in 2023 with students in China, strangers who soon became friends she... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3329509/texas-student-trip-china-becomes-political-act?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3329509/texas-student-trip-china-becomes-political-act?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Oct 2025 14:00:19 +0000 Xiaofei Xu Xiaofei Xu As China drafts its 15th five-year plan – the next entry in a line of expansive blueprints that have set the tone for the country’s development over more than seven decades – we examine how these documents inform and reflect high-level policy priorities, what to expect in the coming iteration and how foreign investors are likely to be affected. For more stories in this ongoing series, click here. To view SCMP Plus Factsheets on the 15th five-year-plan and more premium content, click here. Sun... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3328532/what-chinas-next-5-year-plan-means-foreign-investors-quantity-quality?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3328532/what-chinas-next-5-year-plan-means-foreign-investors-quantity-quality?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Oct 2025 22:00:19 +0000 Jevans Nyabiage Jevans Nyabiage Beijing has diversified its export routes amid the tariff war with the US, with high-value shipments to Africa growing by 25 per cent in the first eight months of this year. According to China’s General Administration of Customs, exports to Africa totalled US$140.8 billion (1 trillion yuan) and grew between two and four times as fast as those to other major regions, such as Europe, Asia and Latin America. Meanwhile, shipments to the US fell by 15.5 per cent in the period, as Beijing moved to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3325932/chinas-exports-africa-25-trumps-tariffs-bite-hard?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3325932/chinas-exports-africa-25-trumps-tariffs-bite-hard?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Sep 2025 10:00:11 +0000 Bochen Han Bochen Han Republicans in the US House of Representatives are escalating their targeting of US-China joint institutes and degree programmes, identifying dozens of such partnerships as “high-risk” for the first time in a report released on Friday. In a 39-page report, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce argued that joint degree programmes – particularly those in science and technology – provided China “sustained access to US... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3325410/dozens-us-china-education-programmes-must-end-says-house-republican-report?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3325410/dozens-us-china-education-programmes-must-end-says-house-republican-report?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Sep 2025 23:18:34 +0000 Reuters Reuters The assassination of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk marks a watershed moment in a surge of US political violence, one that some experts fear will inflame an already-fractured country and inspire more unrest. “This event is horrifying, alarming, but not necessarily surprising,” said Mike Jensen, a researcher at the University of Maryland, which has tracked such violence in a terrorism database since 1970. In the first six months of the year, the US experienced about 150 politically-motivated... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3325165/charlie-kirk-killing-watershed-moment-us-political-violence-rises?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3325165/charlie-kirk-killing-watershed-moment-us-political-violence-rises?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Sep 2025 07:44:42 +0000 Holly Chik Holly Chik Artificial intelligence-powered surgical robots are progressing towards becoming a surgeon’s third hand, potentially easing pressure on medical resources, according to a Chinese researcher leading a team that completed the world’s first multitask surgical automation tests on a live animal. The team led by the Chinese University of Hong Kong developed an AI system automating a robotic arm to help surgeons in routine tasks like retracting tissue, picking up gauze and clipping blood vessels. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3324997/can-chinas-ai-powered-surgical-robots-cut-wait-times-operations?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3324997/can-chinas-ai-powered-surgical-robots-cut-wait-times-operations?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Sep 2025 08:00:10 +0000 Alice Li Alice Li Yuen Yuen Ang is the Alfred Chandler Chair Professor of political economy at Johns Hopkins University. She is an influential scholar, writing extensively on China’s political and economic trajectory, its international relations and its adaptive development in a fragmented, unpredictable world. Originally from Singapore, her award-winning work includes the books How China Escaped the Poverty Trap and China’s Gilded Age. This interview first appeared in SCMP Plus. For other interviews in the Open... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3319375/yuen-yuen-ang-how-china-can-turn-polycrisis-polytunity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3319375/yuen-yuen-ang-how-china-can-turn-polycrisis-polytunity?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 27 Jul 2025 22:00:11 +0000 Anthea Rowan Anthea Rowan Cancer doctor and researcher Siddhartha Mukherjee describes how surprised scientists were to discover DNA drifting freely in blood plasma almost 80 years ago. “The finding defied biological orthodoxy,” he writes in his Pulitzer Prize-winning 2010 book, The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. “DNA was thought to remain locked inside the nuclei of cells, and not float around on its own. Stranger still, these weren’t whole genomes but broken pieces – genetic flotsam cast adrift from an... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3317825/how-tests-detect-cancer-dna-fragments-blood-can-kickstart-earlier-treatment?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3317825/how-tests-detect-cancer-dna-fragments-blood-can-kickstart-earlier-treatment?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 Jul 2025 09:15:07 +0000