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Dr. Ruth of the Aquarium World

Karen Hollis, chair of the Department of Neuroscience and Behavior and professor of psychology and education, was dubbed "the Dr. Ruth of the aquarium world" in a January article titled "Giving Fish the Red Light" on ABCnews.com's science Web site. The piece describes her Pavlovian experiments with fish. By exposing aggressively territorial blue gouramis (who often frighten away egg-bearing females) to a red light signal before releasing sexually receptive females into their tanks, Hollis and her students demonstrated that the males could be conditioned to be more receptive to females. The happy results: more frequent spawning and more young fish.

Red Light, Green Light

Mount Holyoke College criminologist Richard Moran weighed in on the debate on whether police should engage in high-speed chases for relatively minor offenses in a commentary in the Monday, January 30, Boston Globe. His take: police departments should engage in high-speed chases for fleeing felons only under favorable road conditions. This policy will protect the public from the dangers associated with high-speed chases.

Counterpoint

A recent article in the New York Times asserting that college presidents are wary of tackling big issues prompted letters published in the Saturday, January 29 Times from Joanne Creighton, president of Mount Holyoke, and Patricia McGuire, president of Trinity College in Washington, DC. Their point: College and university presidents are taking the lead on numerous issues, including affirmative action and women's rights.