The gentle green hills of southeastern Ohio clasp us in an intimate hold. This area offers natural beauty and a sanctuary from the hubbub of the city and suburbs. People say it’s a good place to raise a family. But it’s not always the most obvious subject of research. A geologist who studies volcanoes must fly to El Salvador to carry out her work. A botanist in search of rare violets must trek to Hawaii and Bolivia to collect plant samples. Our biologists have journeyed to the seashore of Maine to examine tiny ocean critters and the chilly icebergs of Antarctica to seek unusual species of fish. Fieldwork in such far-flung places is one of the appealing aspects of research and scholarship.

But other Ohio University researchers have discovered the subjects of their work right in their own back yards. For paleobotanist Gar Rothwell, that’s literally true, as he’s found some intriguing plant fossils on his property in rural Athens County. Ohio and neighboring states are a good source of early plant specimens, he reports, as Appalachia was a resting ground for sediment millions of years ago, when the landscape and continents of our world were very different.

Nutritionist Melani Duffrin is exploring uses for a forgotten fruit that grows well in this region but had been little studied as a healthy ingredient in baked goods. As writer Ellen Gerl reports in this issue, Ohio University alumnus Chris Chmiel found globes of pawpaw fruit rotting on the ground and wondered why no one was making better use of the produce. Chmiel, who launched a business that sells pawpaw products, is working with Duffrin now on finding practical uses for the fruit, which some describe as a cross between a mango, banana, and apple.

But these local finds have relevance beyond our back yards. The fossils Rothwell unearthed from his lawn can tell scientists in the field of paleobotany more about the origin and evolution of plant life on Earth. Duffrin’s cooking experiments on pawpaw breads and muffins could help place this local fruit in the kitchens of connoisseurs in New York or Colorado.

The examples don’t end with pawpaws and plant fossils. Elsewhere in this issue, we profile a team of doctors, plant biologists, and other scientists who are attempting to grow in southeastern Ohio soil the Chinese herbs key to Eastern medicine. If successful, the project could be the basis of new plant-based drugs and treatments for health problems. A duo of researchers in the field of retail merchandising had to look no farther than across the College Green to find subjects for a study of how college students use the Internet to shop for apparel. With high disposable incomes, college students are a demographic of interest to many online retailers.

These and other stories reflect something that many of us who have lived and worked in southeastern Ohio have learned: There is more to these hills than first meets the eye.