Hopkins has been transformed into a miniature campus, a blend of sandstone-and-tile buildings and wooden marine warehouses in the style of the historic Monterey Boat Works ­ now a high-tech lecture hall. The renovations include advanced laboratories equipped for studies ranging from molecular and cell biology to simulated wave and wind action. There is a one-of-a-kind study center for live tuna, a library with windows for viewing otters and whales, plus terminals linking Hopkins scholars by high-speed fiber-optic cable to the university’s knowledge bases.

Gilly and squid
in new lab

The result is not a conventional oceanographic station, Powers emphasized: “We use marine organisms to study basic scientific questions, from biomechanics to neurobiology to transgenic fish to ecology,” he says. Hopkins scientists study organisms ranging from algae to whales, at the level of genes, cells, whole animals and ecosystems.

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