Biology

We live in fascinating times. On the one hand, it is OK to detail the most intimate aspects of a woman's reproductive health in congressional testimony and to demand "free" birth control pills from employers and/or the government. It is also OK to label those who object to such public displays of personal choice and state-sponsored free love as leading a "war on women. " On the other hand, it is also OK for those who hew to the same ideology as that above to condemn a woman who chooses to raise her children for a living as someone who "never worked a day in her life.

Howard H. Seliger, a retired Johns Hopkins University biology professor who fulfilled a childhood fascination with fireflies by later investigating the science behind their light-making properties, died of coronary artery disease Dec. 20 at his Mount Washington home. He was 88. Family members said that he was an expert on bioluminescence. He helped to show that fireflies and microorganisms found in bioluminescent bodies of water have enzymes that trigger a chemical reaction that make them light up. Dr. Seliger was also principal scientist at the Chesapeake Bay Institute from 1972 to 1989.

Johns Hopkins University adjunct biology professor Donald Brown has won the 2012 Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science for his work in genetics, as well as mentoring young scientists. He is the sixth Hopkins faculty member to win the prestigious award for basic and clinical research. Brown, who also is director emeritus of the Carnegie Institution for Science Department of Embryology, was recognized for work he and others did in gene amplification, one process that is responsible for runaway growth of chemotherapy-resistant cancer cells.

It has been a fallow interval at the blog because of some hectic days at the paragraph factory, domestic exigencies, and the like, but I am back today to advocate, in my small way, sanity. Immediately after the late election, the outbreaks of looniness came thick and fast. A gentleman wrote to The Baltimore Sun to say that he was halting all charitable donations and putting his resources into bottled water and ammo, presumably against the collapse of civil order that President Obama's re-election made inevitable.

Roselyn Elizabeth Hammond, a retired Morgan State University biology professor who often entertained at the piano, died of cancer Sept. 3 at Gilchrist Hospice Care. The Ashburton resident was 72. Born Roselyn Elizabeth Brown in Grambling, La., she was the daughter of Bienville Parish educators. Known as Rose, she excelled in science. She earned a biology degree at Grambling College and won a scholarship to Ohio State University, where she earned a master's degree in science education.

Not all addictions live up to their advance press. In the past decade, it's become common to casually and humorously describe a favorite activity in the parlance of chemical dependency. People speak of being "addicted" to chocolate or high-fat foods, playing video games, buying expensive designer shoes, watching weekly episodes of "American Idol" to sleeping on high-thread-count sheets. But according to "The Compass of Pleasure," a new book by Johns Hopkins neuroscientist David Linden that is being released today by The Viking Press, just two of those pursuits -- eating fatty foods and shopping -- can become genuine addictions for some people.

Richard Leavitt Hilton Jr., who taught biology for 30 years at Towson University, died of a heart attack Sunday at St. Joseph Medical Center. He was 69 and lived in Towson. Dr. Hilton was born in Fall River, Mass., and raised in Manchester, Conn., and Providence, R.I. He earned his bachelor's degree in 1958 and a master's degree in botany in 1960 from the University of Connecticut at Storrs. In 1968, he earned his doctorate in phycology from the University of Arizona. Dr. Hilton joined the faculty of what was then Towson State College in 1972, and remained as a professor of biology until his death.

H. Elizabeth Cully, a retired biology lab assistant for Baltimore County public schools, died of a stroke Sept. 16 at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The Towson resident was 86. Born in Baltimore and raised on St. Paul Street, H. Elizabeth Herrlich was a 1934 graduate of Eastern High School and earned her bachelor's degree from Goucher College. She became a social worker with the city's former Department of Public Welfare, and worked for the post office during World War II. In 1962, she became a biology lab assistant -- first at Western High School in the city and later at Ridgely Junior High and Dulaney High School in the county.

Dr. Carl S. Weber, who had been a founding faculty member at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and taught biological sciences there for nearly four decades, died of lymphoma Sept. 20 at his Odenton home. He was 70. Dr. Weber was born in Hartford, Conn., the son of German immigrants, and raised in Milford, Conn., and Dallas. A musical prodigy, he was sent at age 13 to study at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. He earned a bachelor's degree in music from Southern Methodist University in 1957.

This isn't the way Nathan Amoth expected to approach biology. "It's one of the only classes that I have that actually makes you think instead of going, sitting, listening, maybe doing some busywork and going home," said the 14-year-old freshman at Broadneck High School in Annapolis. "It's like my hardest class in the whole day." On a recent morning, Amoth and his classmates were studying the salinity of the Chesapeake Bay, which varies with time of year and proximity to the ocean. Teacher Randy Stevens asked them to predict salty water's effect on various organisms: rockfish, oysters, bay grasses.

Johns Hopkins University adjunct biology professor Donald Brown has won the 2012 Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science for his work in genetics, as well as mentoring young scientists. He is the sixth Hopkins faculty member to win the prestigious award for basic and clinical research. Brown, who also is director emeritus of the Carnegie Institution for Science Department of Embryology, was recognized for work he and others did in gene amplification, one process that is responsible for runaway growth of chemotherapy-resistant cancer cells.

The space sure looked like a science lab, with beakers full of brightly-hued potions and a dry-erase board covered in graphs and mathematical scrawl. But at the heart of the operation sits a hunk of metal with a hand crank on the side. "It's a pasta maker," said Barry Margulies, a biology professor who presides over the Towson University lab. No joke. When it occurred to Margulies' graduate researcher that Williams Sonoma might have the answer to their prayers, it was a major breakthrough for the lab's efforts to treat one of America's most prevalent sexually transmitted diseases.

Ann M. Klingaman, a retired Baltimore County public school educator whose career spanned more than three decades, died Sunday of complications from a broken hip at Gilchrist Hospice in Columbia. The former longtime Catonsville resident was 88. The daughter of a West Baltimore pharmacist and a homemaker, Ann Rebecca Meeth was born in Baltimore and raised in Catonsville. She was a 1940 graduate of Catonsville High School and earned a bachelor's degree in 1944 from what was then Western Maryland College.

Jeanette Elizabeth Aska, a Baltimore City high school biology and physics teacher, died of lung cancer July 3 at Seasons Hospice at Northwest Hospital. The Owings Mills resident was 60. Born on St. John's, Antigua, she was a 1970 graduate of Charlotte Amalie High School at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. She studied at Blackburn College in Illinois and in 1976 she earned a bachelor's degree from Morgan State University. She also had a master's degree in education from Goucher College.

The All-Star Game brings more than just a midseason shot of excitement to Major League Baseball. It provides much-needed rest for the players, a four-day respite in a 162-game season that often produces fatigue and injury. The players who most need rest are the starting pitchers, who, paradoxically, get the most rest during the season, playing only every fifth day. Yet, midseason pitching swoons, like the Oriole starters have recently experienced, are not uncommon. Perhaps the best-known case of pitching fatigue to occur around the All-Star break was that of Bob Feller, the Cleveland fireballer who at age 17 struck out 17 batters in his fifth major-league start.

Electrical engineers from the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) helped 125 fifth-graders at Homestead Wakefield Elementary School translate science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education into real-world engineering projects May 17. Focused on making Engineering is Elementary's storybook A Reminder for Emily come alive for students, ECBC Electrical Engineer Mark Colgan – supported by his colleagues ECBC Electrical Engineer Jerry Huen and Computer Scientist Azra Malik – led a STEM lesson that was out of the ordinary.

Pamela Furness Engel, an Anne Arundel County biology teacher and teaching adviser, died of pancreatic cancer May 16 at Baltimore-Washington Medical Center. She was 58 and lived in Linthicum. Born Pamela Furness in Baltimore and raised in Catonsville and Columbia, she was a 1971 Atholton High School graduate. She earned a degree in biology at what is now McDaniel College and had a second degree in education at the Notre Dame of Maryland University, as well as a master's degree in biology from Towson University.

Maryland's high school seniors are having more difficulty passing their biology and English exams than tests in the other two subjects, according to data released recently by the Maryland State Department of Education. Statewide statistics released at the state board meeting last week showed that, overall, 83 percent of students in the Class of 2009 had passed all the High School Assessments required to receive a high school diploma. Special education students and those who are learning English as a second language were struggling the most.

Pamela Furness Engel, an Anne Arundel County biology teacher and teaching adviser, died of pancreatic cancer May 16 at Baltimore-Washington Medical Center. She was 58 and lived in Linthicum. Born Pamela Furness in Baltimore and raised in Catonsville and Columbia, she was a 1971 Atholton High School graduate. She earned a degree in biology at what is now McDaniel College and had a second degree in education at the Notre Dame of Maryland University, as well as a master's degree in biology from Towson University.

We live in fascinating times. On the one hand, it is OK to detail the most intimate aspects of a woman's reproductive health in congressional testimony and to demand "free" birth control pills from employers and/or the government. It is also OK to label those who object to such public displays of personal choice and state-sponsored free love as leading a "war on women. " On the other hand, it is also OK for those who hew to the same ideology as that above to condemn a woman who chooses to raise her children for a living as someone who "never worked a day in her life.