Maryland State Of Mind; 502

Funding for Maryland state of mind is provided by the 13 institutions of the university system of Maryland. Coming up next on Maryland state of mind Beacham young filmmakers were not only making movies that are making the movie still need to break into Hollywood and put on your body armor and pull guard duty with American soldiers. On the Korean border. Study the enemy by day and astronomy by night. Attention. What UMTS 101 is ready for takeoff. We board a program that lets college students soar high in the aviation industry as they can. And don't miss the Friendly. Yes. Friendly computers that make this robot respond to your emotions and your kids. It's all coming up next on Maryland state of mind. Of all the gin joints in all the towns and all the world she

walks into mine. Play it Sam. Good evening and welcome to Maryland state of mind. I'm your host Scott Simon. Hollywood has created some wonderful dreams for us to savor over and over. And it's the power of that dream factory that lures so many souls to the land of glitter and glamour. Some aspiring filmmakers at Towson University have been bitten by the bug and they're combining raw talent with creative confidence to make the movies of tomorrow because they are. Hungry for Hollywood. In 1886 a real estate dealer named Harvey Wilcox and his wife settled down on their new Coalinga valley ranch just outside of Los Angeles. Mrs. Wilcox was in search of the perfect name for their new home and soon she found it and the rest you could say is history.

Hollywood as a Christian the land went on to become the entertainment capital of the world. Departing Beebe's for Southern California's around sunny skies. The fledgling film business grew and with six billion dollar industry. Today the holiday Tinsel Town still beckons as thousands of filmmakers chase their dreams of expression. Fame and fortune. Take. Action. I've always always been addicted to film. I think. When I was three years old my parents got a Super 8 quarter. And so they showed me how to hold this thing and hit the red button and make it work. And I went outside cast all my little friends and. Built a cardboard shark out of a refrigerator box and we used that for our shark and we shot a five minute remake of jobs. It's just a bunch of little kids screaming and going. Done done done done. But it's

really fun. And from that day on it that's pretty much all I do. Training people to fulfill those dreams is Towson University. The film program that house and is part of a department of mass communication mass communications the largest department on campus. In fact it's one of the largest mass communication departments in the United States. It offers courses in film production and Super 8 to 16 millimeter. It offers courses hybrid courses in video and films such as documentary editing. We have a number of production courses we offer courses in producing directing and writing. Most feature films this is still the case. Most feature films probably aren't going to rehearse as much as you guys will end up rehearsing with your actors. I very much try to get the students to think in terms of how a real production in the real world would be divided as far as tasks go. So for instance when a real film shoot there would be a producer.

There would be a director there would be a director of photography or cinematographer there would be an assistant camera person there would be a sound person and probably an assistant sound person or a boom operator and so forth. Normally what happens is when you try to do something like this half the group wants to direct. Everybody wants to direct it. It's always the old joke in Hollywood. Well you know I'm an actor but what I really want to do is I want to direct. But in this during this semester at the beginning of the semester I was really pleasantly surprised because a number of the people in these groups were saying things like why. Actually I'd like to work in the art department. Or actually I'd like to do audio or actually I'd like to edit. It'll take you a little while to get used to this guys into it. You're going to go backwards and forwards backwards and forwards. The most important thing that I try to instill in them and the one thing that I hope they come away with by the end of the semester is an appreciation for

how difficult it is technologically speaking to make a decent film. What seems to be occurring now among both the film and television students is that there is a student great fight and that line is the kids talking to each other and committing that they are going to the west coast they are going to either hook up with someone out there who they know or they often go out with a friend or more than one friend. And they decide to survive and no. Action. I always thought I wanted to be involved in film and working in film but I didn't really know that it was something that was attainable.

Shelly Strong is a 1991 Towson University graduate she found work after school in Baltimore on the motion picture. He said she said and David Mamet's film homicide encouraged she decided to make the move west. I realize if I stayed in Baltimore that the ceiling was so low that I would probably be a production assistant for five years. So I just packed my truck and I moved out here. So when I got to Los Angeles you know I knew a few people and basically called everyone I knew. And I got a job as a P.A. on a really small film making like $25 a day and the first day of principal photography day fired the production coordinator and they hired me and I'd never done that job so it was like a baptism by fire and I started production managing and then that kind of led me into wine producing and producing. Well today I'm working on a short film called Bingo and basically a first time director Ethan Maida needed a producer or someone who could bring in the crew and get the equipment and kind of pull it all together for him. It's a story of

basically a group of people planning a surprise party and a dog named bingo bingo is actually Max and Max was in the film the mask with Jim Carrey. So he's our biggest star. Well you're dealing with stress 18 hours a day when you're making a movie. Communication is just so important to me you have to be able to communicate to all levels of the crew because you're dealing with people who are technicians people who are artists. They're constantly having to sweat your hat. Yeah it's a bittersweet experience. I work as a freelance producer so I don't really have a lot of job security. I have to make my own job and that's great because I can take three months off I need to. And it's bad because I can have three or four months off if I don't want to. But ultimately it's great because it's always different you're always doing different things you're dealing with all kinds of people that you know people that are technicians people that are really creative. You know ultimately it's really rewarding for those who are. In school right now basically where training. It's kind of like boot camp your film makers.

Probably a day or two after graduation I'm throwing a knapsack over my shoulder and heading out to the coast something that really makes me feel good quite quite honestly is not necessarily the ones that go out to Los Angeles right after graduation but the ones who continue to make films on their own it makes me feel wonderful makes me feel great because it shows me that they are taking what I've taught them and what other people at this university have taught them and they've they've taken it and they're taking it to a new level. But the one main thread throughout all of their experiences would be that they feel compelled to do it and if they didn't do it they would not be enjoying their lives as much as they are. That's what it really comes down to. God. Can computers be made easier. Easy enough even for children. Find out later on Maryland state of mind. For the past half century Korea has been one of the potential flashpoints on the world's

geopolitical maps. Nearly a million soldiers are dug in around the border that separates North and South. For the soldiers stationed there. It's tedious and often tense work for some soldiers though. Korea also means college because the University of Maryland University College is there providing higher education while they are on duty. For in today's technological army soldiers are often addressed by name rank and GPA. Korea an ancient mysterious land filled with contrasts. Of sunken rice paddies. And rugged mountains. Of ancient dynasties. And modern conglomerates. Of Buddhist monks contemplating peace. And ancient warriors contemplating conquest. It's a

society torn between the ancient. And the new. Between the familiar. And the foreign. It is nearly a half century since war ravaged these mountains. When thousands of men and women. Korean American Chinese lost their lives fighting for an ideal a conflicting ideal that resulted in an armistice still unresolved. Life bustles in the Korean capital of Seoul. This city of 12 million homes along yet it is always conscious of the fact that it is barely 40 miles from the most fortified military border in the world. North and South High each other warily and with nearly a million troops dug in within a few miles of each other there is a palpable tension in the air mixing oddly with the blaring propaganda and music that streams regularly from the North

Korea side. War is practiced routinely here a constant reminder that conflict is just an incident away. And indeed incidents occur with alarming regularity. Even as politicians from both sides make conciliatory gestures to the contrary. Our soldiers experience a mixture of stress and tedium. And sometimes feel like strangers in a Strange Land. Escape sometimes comes in the pages of a book. Conjuring up another time in history. Began that making of iron irons a very powerfully important technological accomplishment when Columbus meets those islanders on the on that day in October. Two different cultures now or in a galaxy far far away.

There are many stars and galaxies are grains of sand at the beach. There are galaxies in the universe as there are grains of sand. The University of Maryland University College is on duty here in Korea as it is in nearly 100 other military bases throughout the world. The University College Asia Division has provided higher education for America's troops maintaining the peace for several decades. It's far flung in Korea that's for sure. We offer classes from the DMZ all the way down here to Pusan. That's the whole country the whole Republic of Korea. We have about 20 sites maybe 21 sites in a given term missions or pretty serious missions at the DMZ. Infantry armor Air Cavalry. Students work 12 hours a day hard to take classes. Troops here only for a year. They don't have a lot of time to study. But it's I think it's part of the quality of life that we can provide for them.

As the army has downsized like much of corporate America. The need for more education has never been more pronounced. Promotions are linked with education. And in today's technological army there's no room for mistakes especially with the air force. They know that. They really push education. We really want you to think and be educated to the level that you can make decisions on your own without having to be told you know know your options. Be educated and get out there and know what's what's happening. Others see education as preparation for another time in their lives. Well I know that the military will not last forever be in the military forever. And looking for more important future to prepare yourself for the outside world. And I know to have the experience as well as the degree. I'm praying that this will benefit me in the future for a much better job.

Classes and exams occur on a somewhat different schedule in a war zone than on a tree lined campus in the States. Soldiers are sometimes ordered to training maneuvers for weeks at a time because we are over here in Korea and because of the threat you know what we're training you know fairly frequently to make sure we're ready for that for the threat. You know and we during the exercises we worked 12 hour shifts and you know really just a lot of you on the move a lot. And whenever we have the exercises we kind of have to shut down school for a while and then we'll pick right back up to get into it. But you can just kind of those you off because you're off schedule just a little bit. Well you have to be more flexible than you would at home. I think I feel more flexible when they can't make it there have to be at a different base for the day at home when you're teaching in a traditional college. They're usually in their room asleep when they're upset. So you make allowances and you're more flexible when they go out to the field. I mean they are they're out in the field day. They're out there without showers. They're out

there and in mud and rice fields and. They're exposed to the elements especially the light infantry. Like I said here at Camp grebes the tanks and the Bradley unit. You know they have a mobile shelter with them and they've got a big base to ride around in to. They don't have to walk. So when they go out to the field that they have it a little more comfortable but normally they'll deploy to the field for a lot longer period of time. For many in the military returning to school after years away is often an unnerving even frightening experience. I was I was scared at first. You wonder how how can you fit it into your time with the demands of the job demands of a family. You wonder do you have what it takes. I've been out of. I've been out of school for 12 years. I didn't know what I remember. What would my study be like. Where would I study. How would I study would I be able to retain it.

Well the education has already helped me because as soon as I started taking college courses I got promoted to chief petty officer and so it was an immediate payoff for me. So it was like why didn't I do this sooner. I I can't believe the amount of time that I didn't do it. As America continues to put its men's and women's lives on the line for ideals we hold important around the world. It is reassuring to know that they are getting something back something that benefits them as it benefits us. The old adage knowledge is power is true. Then these people are the living proof. Soar to new heights in a program that gives students a chance to win their wings. Coming up later on Maryland state of mind. Have you ever wondered why computers are so darn frustrating to use. Why can't they be just more like us. Researchers at University of Maryland in College Park have been asking that

question for years. They've come up with some interesting solutions. They invented hypertext those wonderful highlighted words that take us to related material. Now they've turned the toughest customer of all kids. If you want to make it easier. Computer try it out on a kid. Better yet build it together with a kid. Now they designed this computer driven robot that interacts with stories and even shows emotions when your home. Computers may never be as cuddly as puppies. But these folks are definitely making softer software. In the early days Human Computer Interaction consisted of feeding tape or punch cards into the machine. Then came the keyboard.

And recently the mouse. Today researchers at the Human Computer Interaction Lab. University of Maryland College Park we are busy developing new ways to help us make better use of our computers. The lab's current projects include designing a patient medical history interface for doctors as well as a study on how children interact with technology. Ben Schneiderman heads the lab one of the early projects starting about 1983 was to develop an electronic encyclopedia. In those days of the green screens and of typed commands Everybody thought about the way you would travel through an encyclopedia was to see some numbered items which you would type the number of that menu. And so I asked Dan Ostrov who was the student program at

the time if he could highlight the words in the text and allow users to click on them with a mouse. A year later we produced the world's first electronic book. This was the title page online. You could look at examples like a travel guide. This one was to San Diego. And you could look at features of for example the San Diego Zoo. So this rapid way of exploring was an important step forward that Tim Berners-Lee had incorporated in his proposal for the World Wide Web. And he called these hot links. And here we are 15 years later and the work of the Human Computer Interaction Lab is available online with highlighted links including some of our early projects such as the visible human.

Visible Human is a project of Library of Medicine where they've collected these remarkable images of the human body by slicing a cadaver and photographing it. And our role has been to create the interface to allow people to explore all that data. And so here we see the whole body as an overview and on the right side we see the detail view of one aspect here the brain and the eyes clearly displayed. If I go back to the overview and pull on the slider the detail view follows along and I can see the chest and the heart lungs and then down to the stomach and the intestines. And then as I pull further we go down through the thighs. Suppose you want an image of the brain you just move the slider to the spot you want. You see the thumb now and then you select to retrieve the detail view.

In the growing world of graphical user interfaces. We're enabling more people to be more creative more of the time. And no longer afraid of a lot of information. These tools give us remarkable capabilities to find what we want when we want. One of the secrets of inventing successful technology is to work closely with the real users. And that same principle works wonderfully if you're trying to design technology for children. Have you tried all you like computers. This is a lab where we think about how we make new technologies for kids. So many

of the robots that are made today for kids tell kids what to do. Sing a song with me play with me. The kids wanted to tell this robot what to do and so on. The idea is that with this robot you can tell a story the robot has some very primitive ideas about what to do for instance or turn them on. And the robot knows how to how to sing songs it knows how to move its arms. It can turn. And if you touch its limbs they'll react by looking at the limb. The mouth moves and plays songs and there's some very simple light sensors and moves towards or away from it depending on how you want the robot to behave and so on top of that. The children will write a story using a software in this story it will have key words that are emotions and when the robot

encounters an emotion and understands where it says happy you actually act out the motion flap real fast or real slow and turn around and make different noises. And when I was thinking just I always wonder if it might be nice to as you're writing your story you know that you have so many pictures to make. The main task of the software group was really to design the interface. We knew how the kids wanted to interact with the robot but we needed to sort of have the robot into this computer. So we needed to make decisions on how many screens we wanted. What kinds of buttons do we want. The most important but is the story but that's where the majority of the activity happens at this point. So when we click on the story button we have a place here for us to write our story. We have story starters and the kids wrote stories of things they thought would help other people

start writing better. So let's take out stories. The capitalized words are the emotions and. Currently these are the emotions that we have as part of the software and they will trigger the robot to perform that particular action. Children learn. How to make technology that's not just black magic and just that it is a tool in process and it's a difficult process. And kids learn that they can make a difference. These kids are publishing papers with me and producing videos and doing demos and they're doing everything. My graduate students are doing the developmental research at the lab ensures that the future of human computer interaction will be more productive and more enjoyable for all users. They are the majestic masters of Marylands for us. But can we save these

towering tikus later on Maryland's state of mind. Ever since Seacrest got too close to the song Man is green slime to take the controls of an aircraft and soar over the earth is an incredible thrill. And responsibility. But how does one enter the aviation industry short of signing up for the earphones. Seven students at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore have found out and are learning the aviation industry from the ground up. They're preparing to soar in an unusual program where the sky's the limit. In this small quiet town of princes Sandy the news is out. Students are talking at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and one by one. The word is spreading. There's a new major on campus. Group. Taking students above and beyond. And the best way to find out. Is to look to the sky.

If. You. Could. In it. And yes is one of the kind. There's no other four year aviation science degree in the state of Maryland. Climbing above the clouds has for years been the passion of Dr. Mark Wilson chairman of the Aviation and Engineering Sciences Program at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Having classes that literally fly has great appeal to many of his new students. The program is growing rapidly a year and a half ago we only had three students and a professional pilot concentration and now we have 25 students. He has five concentrations or options under aviation science professional pilot aviation management aviation electronics aviation software engineering and also aeronautics aviation science

degree as a means of getting students into the aviation industry. Their favorite job. There's a lot of the students want when they answer is to be a professional pilot. Like that here I wasn't very sure what I want to do. I had a interest in space sciences. I have a scholarship here in aviation sciences. The chairman was very pleased with the accomplishments I made in high school. He got down here and checked the the cabin for me please. He made interest to me. Do you have any ambitions and why do I like aircraft. I agreed to that. My father was an Air Force pilot many many years. And what really got me flying was the actual hands on experience.

That first experience an aircraft. In the hall. You know the drill was pump and then go you know command of this complex machine the ability for it to lift but the cloud just a bird. Why it got me excited and I said to myself this this is something I want to do this is this is called. All elements of aviation are covered in the program including airport management. Bob Bryant is an instructor as well as manager of the Salisbury airport. Often when a student chooses to enter the field of aviation they generally have two things on mind. First is they want to be a pilot or they want to become a mechanic. And those are only two of many many careers in aviation. Airport management for example is one that many students when they enter a school such as the University

of Maryland Eastern Shore have never thought about the training that's offered at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore is aviation curriculum is exactly what the aviation industry is looking for when they are hiring new people. I would certainly advise them to keep their options open in terms of the job opportunities within aviation. We do quite a bit of hiring in the area as a pilot dispatcher possessions and mechanics. Most larger airlines have a marketing department of customer service and finance departments. The advantage to someone looking for a job in the aviation industry or specifically with an airline would be the educational background and familiarity with the industry itself. The students here yes have a unique opportunity to use the flight simulator to supplement their actual flight in the simulator.

The student will be doing mental modeling so they can visualize where all the instruments are and visualize what to do in emergencies with the actual visual feedback from the video that they can look at as well as from the instrumentation. So the student can actually feel see and hear what would happen in a particular situation such as an instrument approach such as coming down too hard on the runway. We could simulate all types of events that we wouldn't really want to see in an airplane. The simulator is an exact replication of the instrument panel that you would find in any aircraft. In aviation we're very fortunate to have standardized instrumentation panels so that you will find the attitude gyro the directional gyro the VRR the GP the radios everything is in the same place. When I first started flying on Santals so I can

do it. As I got into the aircraft and went through the checklist for the very first time you know I got the nerves and the drilling is pumping and then after I did that first solo flight. That's what really started to realize actually why I'm here. So. I can I can do this. And that's what really motivated me to continue. There's nothing better than to be a professor. Or a flight instructor and see your student. Just thoroughly enjoy it and understand the knowledge civility and skills they need. To do the tasks. That are. Ahead. Marylands rockfish populations once diminished have rebounded to New vigor and a tiny bone tells the story.

Coming up later in our show. Have you ever wondered what that wilderness known as Marilyn must have been like for in colonial days. Well believe it or not there are some living relics of that long ago period the ancient old growth forests that are still standing and growing. Scientists at Frostburg State University are discovering what secrets these towering trees hold and what trips they face for they are seeing the forest and the trees. Some of these trees had already taken root in 8:44 when Captain John Smith sailed up the Chesapeake Bay. They were here in 1776 when the colonies declared their independence. And still here in the 1860s when the Civil War divided the nation. These trees survived forest fires and they weathered the logging boom that leveled most of Maryland's primeval forests in the early 1900s.

Only a few of these hallowed sites still survive. But the future of these rare undisturbed forest is not assured. Portions of this 400 year old oak forest and Savage River State Forest have not yet been accorded formal protection from logging. Nearby an ancient standa a 300 year old hemlocks faces a different and perhaps more eminent threat. They could be ravaged by a voracious Asian aphid that seems to be on a relentless march to Maryland. Before it's too late. Scientists from Frostburg State University are mounting an all out effort to learn what they can about these extraordinary trees. Some of the last remnants of Maryland's original old growth forests. One hundred seven point two centimeters. There's a monster. With the help of ornithologist Gwen Brewer forest ecologist Durland

Shumway is studying these trees to learn more about the forces that shaped forests when they are allowed to develop without human interference. The old forests that remain today really is a research laboratory to understand what normally occurs during forest development. One question that intrigues Shumway is how one species comes to dominate a particular forest. Why is it for example that Oaks managed to thrive for hundreds of years on this mountain and savage Rivers State forest rather than say Maple's. Shumway believes the answer lies in okes dependence on of all things fire. One of the that has been around for a long time is that the dominance of oak species is related to frequent fires at the savage mountain we have very very old trees. And so the question immediately arose. Has this forest

burned over. Oh of course there are no written records of forest fires extending back 400 years the same way but trees keep their own internal fire histories in the form of scars imbedded in their trunks. Down here this is part of the same fire. It was probably a very extensive fire in the lab Shimla uses a special microscope attached to a measuring device and computer to examine the fire scars. What we see here and this year at the end of the summer we had a major fire burn up through here and scar this tree right along here. The cells were damaged very badly by analyzing the distinctive patterns of the surrounding tree rings. Shumway is able to pinpoint the exact year in which each of these fires occurred. He has confirmed that fires swept through the oak stand about every 10 years. Over the last four centuries.

He thinks the oaks were saved by their thick Corky bark which is more fire resistant than the bark of competing trees. And what we think has been going on through time is that these fires have had a direct effect on reducing the competition particularly from Red Maple yet old and rare as these trees are. Much of this forest has not yet been officially set off limits to logging and the trees could bring a high price if they were sold for timber. The trees that we value the most in terms of present preserving an old forest than are these very large canopy dominant trees. And those same trees are the most valuable and we start talking about timber. In fact an endangered species the Allegheny wood rat makes its home in this old growth forest to protect the rat a small pocket of the savage mountains old oaks is in the process of being removed from consideration for logging.

But the state is still in the process of determining whether to formally protect several hundred other acres that could potentially be considered old growth or growth forest represents a rich diversity of flora and fauna that has evolved over tens of hundreds of years. I think it's important that we. Take into consideration the permanent protections of these areas before they require any logging does occur. While the oaks future is under debate. A nearby stand of hemlocks may well be doomed. These towering three hundred year old conifers are located in Swallow Falls State Park. They may soon be attacked by a tiny Asian aphid known as the hemlock woolly Adell good. It was accidentally introduced into the US a few decades ago. They have voracious appetites as nymphs and so they like to feed on newly growing needles and then put their little big can. Suck out. The insects have decimated hemlocks and parts of New England. Now they're ravaging a magnificent stand of hemlocks in Pennsylvania less than

100 miles from Maryland's prized trees. The Frostburg scientists have launched an urgent study to chart the progress of the Pennsylvania infestation. Out. There. We. Go. Out there. There's. There's one there that's gone now. How has just been recently killed. Sorry about the last month or two. By the looks of the needles so it looks like we're coming into the center of the infection at this point. The scientists are collecting samples of infected branches in hopes of finding a might or other natural predator that preys on the Adell good. But the insects spread rapidly by wind and birds and the odds are slim of finding a control quickly enough to save Marilyns trees. So in a sense it's a race against time and I fear that we'll lose a significant portion of our old hemlock forests. Shumway says the threat to the hemlocks only strengthens the argument for formally

protecting the old oaks from logging. He believes it's time society recognizes that an ancient forest value transcends its dollar worth. Native Americans. The forests they were sort of a cathedral. They looked at these it all for us there's something very spiritual and special. I think we can gain a lot by taking a page out of the Native American book. Because there's so little of it left and it's certainly these old forest patches and they do diversify the landscapes and some very important ways. We've all had pain but for some people it just won't And later meet some scientists who are searching for the source of this unpleasant sensation. In the 1980s the rockfish population was under a great deal of stress overfishing and disease were taking its toll and it appeared that our precious striped bass might disappear

forever. But a fishing moratorium restored the population. Meanwhile scientists at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science are conducting research to help prevent such a close call from reoccurring the knowledge that they've gained including solving the mystery of this tiny bone that floats inside the fish's ear should help ensure a continuing rockfish resurgence. The rockfish or striped bass has been important to commercial and recreational fishermen along Atlantic coastal communities since colonial times. The population has survived several periods of dangerously low numbers. The most recent threat to the rockfish came in the early 1970s when they suffered another unexplained decline. Talking to the charter boat captains and the fishermen in the water we knew that there were problems although there were a lot of small fish in

the long term perspective. At the time there was a decline in reproduction striped bass. The ability of the striped bass to replace itself an annual basis was continuing to decline during that period and at declines at such a low level that there was worry about whether the population could persist. According to scientists from the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science. Knowing that there is a problem and knowing the cause of the problem are two very different things. And there is some indication that perhaps acid rain or contamination in the nursery and the spawning grounds that striped bass could have led to this decline in reproduction. But also there was a lot of evidence that the fishing effort not only commercial but recreational is also increasing during the 70s and into the 80s. This is a real dilemma which is that scientists at the

time feel good you really sort it out. The dilemma for managers and the public doesn't really matter. You can do something about fishing immediate You can't do something about the vines even if the fishermen must take it on the chin for a little while. We would expect population recovery. Severely limit fishing. In 1982. Many states along the coast agreed to regulate fishing to protect young female rockfish born that year limits would allow females to mature to between five and eight years old old enough to spawn a moratorium was adopted by Maryland and Delaware. But the other states opted to go with what we call a sliding size limit which means that the size limit was increased to stay ahead of the growth of the females in that year class. So this meant that by 1990 size limits had to increase from the range of 14 to 18 inches all the way up to 36

inches. The migratory habits of rockfish compelled federal officials to mandate the sliding size limits for all Atlantic coastal states. This level of management initially aimed at rockfish came to benefit several species that share this same waters. Did these efforts work back in the 50s you would catch two three maybe four rockfish that would be 14 15 16 inch size range. Rarely anything any larger than that. Now it's my understanding that it's not uncommon to catch all 10 pound fish maybe even larger in the channel. Could I just get to raw fish please. There has been a tremendous revamp of the population which has been absolutely wonderful but one of the things of course we have to guard against over optimism as far as how much we can harvest and avoid getting back into the same place that we were in the 70s. Restrictions were relaxed in 1990 the rockfish

population has recovered and evidence shows that overfishing was in fact the major reason for the decline. David Secord is building on research started during the moratorium. He's developing fascinating new techniques to learn more about the life history of rockfish and other species. What is the number 2 0 2 0 8 9 fishery science is really based on demographics sensing fish and we need to know things like growth rate survival and reproductive schedules and these kinds of things to manage fisheries. And this really began the turn of the century. And at that time people looked around for ways of aging as. Traditional aging techniques involved counting the rings on scales but a much more reliable and intricate method uses tiny ear Stones called otoliths orderless sit in the fishes had that

kind of sit in their own orbit. They're floating in a liquid and they're loosely attached to some neural tissue and as they move differently this nervous that senses that. So the fish uses those. This is odorless. The sense sound in to sense its own movement or port structures for fish. There's nothing celular about them. And this really means that they can provide reliable data. We are surprised to find out that this fish the best of the large the giant striped bass get up to almost four feet length were really old much older than than we expect and others suspect that on up over 30 years in a ways. Like the rings of a tree. Temporal marks or layers of the otoliths actually serve as a diary of the fish's life. If we can measure. Different. Goals than those temporal marks we actually go back in the fish's life a sign a year and determine where their fish lived in that year sign a season even

a sign that day. So it's a very remarkable new tool that we're developing for striped bass and beginning to develop other species. All species have all of the shapes and sizes. We don't know how well those record environmental information is a major theme in our research and it's like. The secrets these tiny bones have revealed are giving scientists new insight into one of the Chesapeake Bay's greatest treasures. This creative research it seems will continue to benefit the rockfish and its watery cousins for years to come. For more information about the story seen on Maryland's state of mind visit our Web site or call 1 800 4 7 7 8 4 3 7. Mandas dealt with pain. Well ever since the first caveman fumbled a glowing

ember for most of his pain comes and eventually goes with healing. But for many individuals pain is a daily non-stop experience and many types of chronic pain are a mystery to doctors. Now the University of Maryland Baltimore is creating a special center to study the phenomenon known as pain and their research may finally provide an answer for the patient who desperately need something for the pain. That's. The whole. Yes if it's real I call it because I think that they sometimes think why ever. Oh well I've. Had. The debilitating effect of millions of people in the United States each year last lost productivity and quality of life is enormous for the medical profession. It continues to be a difficult

disease to treat when you're dealing with. We deal with two primary types of pain patients. One would be the acute pain patient and the second would be the chronic pain patient with acute pain if that injury is treated and sometimes even just through a normal course of events the pain will resolve the condition or heal. With chronic pain. It is a completely different. Process. When I come down there's a father. Right there up here. A. Little bit. The. Patients have a very difficult time because they're always in pain. Everything is centered around the pain. Their pain control there a life and. We try to get them and other things away from the pain and that's very difficult if you're 24 hours a day seven days a week. The center of your life is how it controls you how it feels. And we do the best we can but we don't have an answer to the pain problem. Pain is a very complex it's very little understood.

We're starting to learn more and more about a study and management of chronic pain will get a much needed boost with the opening of the regional center for persistent and chronic pain. The pain center will be headquartered at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry and led by the school's department of oral and cranio facial biological sciences. It's opening in early 1999 will bring to bear the know how of two of Maryland's major health institutions. This center is a merger of the expertise that's here at the University of Maryland as well as the expertise at Johns Hopkins University. And what we're attempting to do is to bring about strong collaboration between scientists and clinicians at both institutions to maximize our ability to find new approaches to treating pain as well as to learn more about the problem. So what we've learned over the last decade is that pain that persists for hours or days leads to long term changes in the nervous system. For example at the side

of injury. We know that after inflammation there are changes in the sceptres channels that are specifically related to tissue damage. And that these changes lead to a barrage of impulses going into the central nervous system it then leads to long term changes of the nerve cells within the central nervous system and that these changes the central nervous system. Is also important in the amplification and the increased duration of the pain. When these mechanisms of chronic pain are present the extent to which we feel and endure pain is a subjective experience that varies from person to person. Why this is is not completely understood to find some answers. Researchers at the center are taking a more quantitative look at pain. When we see patients who have a chronic pain condition. And by that I mean a condition of more or less constant pain that has existed for several months.

We have ways of asking them to relate their pain to some scale. What to do in the laboratory is we attempt to elicit some painful sensations by using different kinds of stimuli. We have a mechanical problem. We have temperature control devices which allows to evoke pain without injuring the person being too strong. But we can compare their perceptions of those stimuli to a frame of reference. We know what those stimuli feel like to a large number of people. When pain occurs. The results are registered in the brain producing an image that can be seen with the use of an MRI or magnetic resonance imaging unit. With It. Dr. Greenspan is able to see exactly what areas of the brain are stimulated. When testing patients for sensory responses. There has been a great piece of equipment for for our use. Not only can we get nice images and we can actually measure its activity. We can get a functional measurement while we're

actually doing things to the person in a Vokey activity in the brain. And one of the ways in which we've done that is using stimulation that can be painful. I'm looking at the areas of the brain that are responsible for giving us her painful perceptions and we have an example of that here from a study we did recently in which I'll just be going sort of section by section through the brain and the color that shows up on here indicating regions of activation associated with a painful stimulus to the foot and the areas that are showing up now are related to that area and the primal cortex we know to respond to noxious stimulation. Here are two relatively large regions active at this point. So this is a very useful tool that we are developing and a number of institutions are developing for different purposes. It's going to be a very promising Advent for our future but not all research focuses on traditional

medicine. The pain center is also exploring alternative or complimentary approaches to treating pain. Traditional medicine doesn't have all the answers. More and more people are seeking care from complementary medicine practitioners even more so than their traditional Western primary care practitioner use of acupuncture massage herbs and other forms of complementary medicine. Seems to have great potential. My hopes for this center are multiple. One major hope I have is that we. Further know the basic mechanisms. Of pain in the nervous system. So that we can. Find new approaches to treating problems particularly those that we don't do a good job of treating today such as. Heparin mandibular joint problems as well as nerve injury types. My other major hope of this is that we can take this information. From the bench. Where we do the lab work to the patients.

And then take that information out to the public. We hope you've enjoyed this short journey across the landscape of learning. We'll bring you another addition from the university system of Maryland in the spring. Until then we wish you the best in the new year for Maryland state of mind. I'm Scott Simon. Good night. Play it again Jimmy. Lose. Funding for Maryland state of mind is provided by the 13 institutions of the

university system of Maryland