"For a blind evolutionary biologist, shells are nature's portable museums: sculptures you can hold in your hand, sensuous art that embodies life's secrets." So begins an article on Geerat Vermeij in the August 1996 issue of Discover Magazine.

Geerat Vermeij was born with an unusual childhood form of glaucoma. His first four years were spent mostly in hospitals in the Dutch province of Groningen and later in Utrecht, in the Netherlands, as doctors struggled to save his sight. In constant pain and in danger of brain damage, Geerat had both eyes removed in 1950.

He adjusted quickly to blindness. In his autobiography "Privileged Hands," Geerat writes, "My world was not black and hopeless. It sparkled as it did before, but now with sounds, odors, shapes, and textures."

A fourth-grade teacher in Dover, New Jersey, first aroused his scientific curiosity, Geerat says. Mrs. Colberg brought shells she had collected to school and Geerat examined them closely with his hands-and mind.

"Mrs. Colberg's finds (shells from Florida) felt as if they had been crafted by a sculptor with an eye for regularity and intricate detail...My fourth-grade teacher had not only given my hands an unforgettable aesthetic treat, but she aroused in me a lasting curiosity about things unknown...On that day, a wonderful teacher set the course of one man's life." He never lost his scientific interest in shells.

By the fall of 1967, Geerat had earned a bachelor's degree from Princeton University. "The time had come to plan for life after Princeton. I was intent on pursuing doctoral studies in biology and geology." He convinced doubtful administrators at Yale University to allow him, blind as he was, to continue his study of shells. He continues to this day.

"All the world's creatures live and evolve in a context. They are not little worlds unto themselves, isolated from one another and from the forces of wind, water, and earth...Biologists seeking to document and explain patterns of evolution must penetrate and observe the world from the organism's perspective...There simply is no substitute for making one's own observations in the world.

"But is it reasonable to extend this necessity to a blind man?"

"I cannot claim to observe shells better than others do, nor would I pretend to discriminate more easily among species on the basis of shell features. Every observer brings to his or her own science a unique perspective, and I am no exception.

"Shells have always been more to me than just beautiful variations on a theme of spiral architecture. These works of art, and the environments in which they were fashioned, have shown me the way to some of the larger questions in biology, questions about function and evolution and construction.

"Nature will surprise us if we let her."

Social science research also shows that women tend to:

• Listen for details to flesh out the whole picture.
• Use a good deal of eye contact and head nods; engage in more self-disclosure.
• Talk and interrupt less often.
• Ask questions to get more information and to maintain conversation.
• Control conversation by initiating topics and picking up on topics introduced by men.

These differences and others lead to miscommunication, frustration, and negative stereotyping. Both genders need to learn about communication styles of the opposite gender.

1. False - Sexual harassment can occur among any persons in the workplace-co-workers, superior-subordinate, subordinate-superior, etc. Even if the harassment does not threaten the job, it can create a hostile working environment, which also is against the law.
2. False - Both men and women are protected under the law.
3. True - The laws apply only at work and at social and business events sponsored by or required by work.
4. False - Most sexual harassment is a power issue.
5. True - Sexual harassment is more likely in jobs in which one sex is in the minority. Women who hold jobs traditionally held by men are more likely to be harassed.