Embarking on science's path
The moment came early on, in the first year of what is now an annual lecture series. Benjamin Carson, the world-renowned neurosurgeon, had just finished telling a packed auditorium the story behind his medical achievements. As David Fitter, then a sophomore, left the auditorium, he overheard someone say, "Wow. Now I remember why I wanted to be a doctor."
   Inspiration. That has been the main goal and result of the first two years of the Voyage and Discovery lecture series, which this month kicks off its third season at Homewood with five more noted Hopkins researchers and physicians agreeing to share the story behind the story. Full story...

New twist in genes-to-proteins connection
DNA's protein-building instructions can combine in an unexpected way, increasing the number of possible proteins that can be generated from a given number of genes, according to a report in the Feb. 22 issue of Nature.
   The new finding may have important implications for scientists puzzled by the mid-February announcement that an initial survey of the human genetic code had found an unexpectedly small number of genes.
   Traditional scientific thinking supposes that instructions for building a protein are encoded on one strand of the double-stranded DNA molecule. Researchers at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences identified a fruit fly protein whose instructions follow one strand of the DNA molecule but also include a segment that follows the opposite strand, which "reads" in the opposite direction. Full story...

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