We have produced special issues: on Biotechnology, the Environment, Behavior and Ecology, Systematics, Developmental Biology, Molecular Biology, and Health.

In 1989, we changed the magazine's name from OSU Synergy to Ohio State Synergy-to better affirm our identity. Periodically, we "tweak" our design to keep the cover and inside pages looking fresh, appealing and, we hope, more readable. Whatever our format, we remain committed to maintain that "creative dialogue" begun by Dean Dugan in 1980.

We have talked about acid rain, global warming, genetic engineering, antibiotic resistance, methanogens, fermentation technology, pheromones in insects.

We have asked hard questions, like "What makes a tick tick?" "Where have all the flowers gone?" and "How Do You Spell Relief?"

We have exclaimed loudly: "The Beetles are Coming! The Beetles are Coming!" and gone into space-or as close as we can get-with stories on the shuttle experiments of our space biologists. We've looked at the past, digging for clues at the ends of the earth; stalked the wild sunflower, and looked at "Life in the Ice."

Always, we have tried to explain the importance of basic biological research and convey some of its excitement. In 1991, Dean Gary Floyd wrote, "Fortunately, the new face of science is very akin to the old face of science. Many of the tools are different, but the motivating force remains the same: the driving curiosity, the vital spark of imagination, the desire to know, the sheer joy of it."

We can attest to that! We spent an afternoon letting bees swarm around us for the 1988 cover story "On the Wing: Bee Research Takes Off."

For the prurient, we have looked at "Safe Sex for Plants," "Super Males," "The Mating Game," and "Sex, genes and Polytoma."

We have listened to the sounds of science, tinkered with enzymes, searched for a malaria vaccine, switched genes on and off, peered at corroded water pipes, caught magic bullets, explained evolutionary paradoxes, watched microbes wage war, applauded the well-bred gorilla, looked at plant-predator interactions, been given pause by diapause, glimpsed the secret life of the macrophage, marveled at DNA fingerprinting techniques, grew to understand the complexities of biological processes, and learned about cancer drugs, designer genes and monoclonal antibodies.

We've explored more esoteric topics too: danced in and out with introns, went to extremes with the archaebacteria, and watched microtubules in motion. We learned that Drosophila was no fly- by-night organism and that Arabidopsis is the fruit fly of the plant world.

Along the way, we've learned to spell-and pronounce-words like Bacillus thuringiensis, lost our Arachnophobia by discovering the wonder of walking-sticks and hissing cockroaches, and gained an incredible appreciation for mitochondria.

Environmentally conscious, we've learned from the birds, took the acid test to find solutions for ecological questions, looked at low-input agriculture, grew fond of earthworms and respectful of healthy soil. We were fascinated by grooming behavior, because every little movement really does have a meaning all its own. We learned to love and appreciate bats from our own "Batman." We discovered that there is a science to nest-building and that the world's great architects are wasps.

We went under the microscope and eye to eye with amoebas, spent a day at the pollen tube races and by keeping an ear to the ground, we found out how amphibians hear.

We learned how to unboil an egg.

We gingerly picked our way into the heartbeat of the Bio Sci building, taking the associate deans to be photographed on the roof.

We've waded in the Olentangy River with the Young Scholars and picnicked at sunset with legislators and Stone Lab researchers on Gibraltar Island.

In 1993, we spent a week with a researcher-teacher for the cover story, "A Day in the Life," getting the inside scoop on what those researchers at Ohio State REALLY do. And boy, did we find out-we've still not caught our breath!

And through it all, we remain completely unbiased. As Dean Alan Goodridge so succinctly put it in 1998, "It may seem that plant biologists are taking over the world, but we assure you that researchers in all of our departments are equally successful and productive. In other words, biologists are taking over the world!"

And, it's about time, we say!