Well, here we are at the end of another semester.

The hippocampal neurons are working overtime, vomiting their loads of neurotransmitters into the memory centers of our brains as we cram for finals and stimulating a battery of odd drinking, eating and sleeping behaviors.

Researchers tell us repetition is the key to learning. They are probably right, but it’s a little late for that now.

The behaviorist B.F. Skinner would understand. We’ve learned to wait until the last possible moment to punish our eyes and brains.

There is no great reward for planning ahead. Why should you be miserable any more than you have to? Rats won’t push the bar 10 times if once is all they need to get the tasty morsel.

What does “B. F.” stand for anyway? And is it any coincidence that the Library of Congress codes for most of the psychology journals in Parks Library start with BF? I think not. Just a witty bureaucrat pushing his own pleasure bar, I’d wager.

Then there’s Pavlov. Remember him? He showed that an annoying bell really isn’t so annoying, if you are a starving dog.

Just like we all know that finals are just an annoying obstacle before the Bachanalian holiday festivities begin.

We’re almost free. Free to get on a jet plane and trust the laws of physics to carry us away from Ames to some tropical resort. That’s what the holidays are really all about. Freedom.

But “Have an unbridled Christmas and a New Year full of liberty” doesn’t flow off the tongue very well, so instead we go with the emotions that freedom produces.

Remember how good it feels to be free as you trip over the tide pools of sniveling children ubiquitous in the mall’s of America at this time of year, and force a cheery smile to hide a derisive sneer.

We will all return to school in the spring fat, destitute and somehow pleased to be starting the cycle of books and study all over again.

Something tells us that if we keep pushing this big academic lever, a jolly, candy-like reward is going to fall down from the sky like a bountiful Mars rock someday. Is that a bell I hear?

Anyway, to the point. This semester has been an exciting time in the world of science, both at ISU and around the world.

The technological tools to probe nature are becoming ever more powerful.

If we can measure gravity waves and answer questions about life on Mars by the end of the century, it is a job well done.

Take advantage of this episodic freedom. It will become more and more infrequent as time goes on, so party to the maximum extent allowed by law.

Science rules!