Putting His Name on the Map

Duke mathematician and physicist Arlie Petters was recently recognized by his hometown of Dangriga, Belize with a street named in his honor.

When he's not applying new math to astronomical questions about gravity, space and time, Petters devotes significant time and resources to improving educational opportunties for children in Belize. "I am truly thankful to the Duke leadership for setting the tone of 'Duke in service to society' in the US and around the globe," Petters said via email. "When we do selfless acts to empower others, the unexpected can happen."

In 2008, Queen Elizabeth of England named Petters to Membership in the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (of which Belize is still a part) for his research and teaching.

No word on whether that honor brought a tear to his eyes, but this most excellent one did.

Noor Medals at Evolution Olympiad

Duke's Mohamed Noor, a self-described "evolutionary geneticist" was honored in London yesterday by the Linnean Society with the prestigious and exceedingly rare Darwin-Wallace Medal for his work on speciation.

Noor, 38, was chosen to speak briefly on behalf of the dozen honorees, which included the late Stephen Jay Gould and the late John Maynard-Smith, Rosemary and Peter Grant of Galapagos finch fame, Lynn Margulis, and Noor's friend and collaborator Allen Orr. The last time they handed these out was 1958.

No video is available, but Mohamed did snap off and send a few cell phone pictures for us. He reports that his talk was well-received, in part because he spoke at half the speed of his usual auctioneer delivery.

Monday at 4:30 in BioSci 111, the Biology Department is hosting "Noorfest" to welcome our hero back to Durham.

From Claire Rawlinson's Facebook Page -

Jo Felsenstein, Robert Maynard Smith, Nick Barton, Mohamed Noor (photos), Linda Partridge, Mark Chase, Rosemary Grant, Peter Grant, Lynn Margulis, Allen Orr, James Mallet, Bryan Clarke, David Cutler

Swinging for the Fences

Imagine a relatively simple hand-held device that physicians can use to determine whether cancer patients undergoing surgery have any tumor cells left behind that might set off another assault.

That’s what David Kirsch (photo) of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center is trying to develop. With such a device, patients might be spared the radiation therapy now commonly used after surgery “just in case” cancer cells remain. Also, patients found to have residual cancer cells might be given more precisely targeted high-dose radiation.

There are skeptics. But Dr. Kirsch recently received a Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award that will let him use the latest in molecular imaging technology to turn his idea into medical reality. Given for the first time this year, the awards, which provide $450,000 over three years, are underwritten by veteran Silicon Valley venture capitalist Andrew Rachleff, who says more funders of cancer research should start placing bigger bets on ideas with a high risk of failure but a stunning potential payoff.

The innovation awards are described here, and Dr. Kirsch outlines his research here.

Some other private funders of biomedical research also have staked out a high-risk, high-reward route for some of their programs. Among them, the locally based Burroughs Wellcome Fund and the larger Howard Hughes Medical Institute have helped lead the way out of the proverbial thought box.

The value of taking the less-traveled path in other areas of science and technology is explored in a recent New York Times article titled “Innovative Minds Don’t Think Alike.” Its spirit is captured by Intel co-founder Andrew Grove, who famously has said: “When everybody knows that something is so, it means that nobody knows nothin’.”