(From the Spring 2011 Oregon Stater)

ILLUSTRATION BY SANTIAGO UCEDA, UNIVERSITY RELATIONS AND MARKETING

Kevin Ahern, ’86, senior instructor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, spends much of his time teaching upper division courses to students who are headed for careers in the health sciences, and he frequently resorts to song, verse and rhyme to help make his points. He agreed to give Pop Quiz readers a sampling. Answers are upside down at bottom.

Photosynthesis leaves us aghast
As the photons are all whizzing past.
Every one gets received
Deep inside of the leaves
By the structures they call ______. (1)

Excuse me for feeling superia
To the life forms we know as ____ (2)
‘Cause in each tiny cell
There is no organelle
To be found in their tiny interia.

It would surely not get any tougher
Than exceeding your blood’s major ____. (3)
All the excess H-plusses
Would create a big ruckus
As the falling pH made you suffer.

A student really ought to know
The rules by which electrons flow.
Should catabolic times arise
Removal makes things ______. (4)
When anabolic bliss ensues
Reversal happens. They ______. (5)

I’m glad I’ve no deficiencies
In moving blood through _______. (6)
Emerging quickly from the ______, (7)
It feeds the muscles, makes me smart.
For what it carries, say‚ ‘Amen,’
The molecules of _______. (8)