Recently, I attended the annual meeting of the BioCommunications Association in Asilomar, Calif. Not surprisingly, the speakers, all professional communicators, were very good and spoke knowledgeably on their various topics. But something else impressed me during the informal times between presentations, and at mealtimes. These folks not only tended to speak well, but they also tended to listen well. And there’s a very strong case to be made for the importance of listening in effective communication.

The Elementary Outreach Program (EOP) is looking for volunteers for the 2013–2014 school year. This program is designed to bring science into the classrooms of Frederick County students in grades 1 through 5. You’ll have a chance to work with small groups of children, presenting hands-on lessons that are coordinated with the school curriculum. Volunteer teams in each grade are scheduled to visit four schools in Frederick County this year.

Scientists at NCI and Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR) are partnering with the Lustgarten Foundation to test whether a vitamin D derivative will make a difference when combined with a conventional anticancer drug in treating tumors of the pancreas.

Leidos Biomedical Research reclaimed the Defelice Cup trophy from NCI at the eighth annual Ronald H. Defelice golf tournament, held October 14. The final score was 15–7, with Leidos Biomed tying the series 4 to 4. Fourteen players on each team battled it out at Rattlewood golf course in Mount Airy, Md.

The ping of an aluminum bat off a ball or the thump of a pop-up fly ball caught in a glove are two sounds familiar to baseball fans. Slow-pitch softball sounds—like those in the August game between mixed teams of NCI and Leidos Biomedical Research (formerly SAIC-Frederick) players—are similar.