Items in food science professor Fred Caporaso's office at
Chapman… (Luis Sinco, Los Angeles…) The sign outside Fred
Caporaso's door lists his official title: professor of food
science. And it's true that his research area is sensory
evaluation, the science of how food tastes. But step inside, and
it's clear that his heart never strays far from the Galapagos
Islands. His cluttered desk and shelves are lined with tortoise
trinkets and photos with him and his students, mementos from the
18 trips he has taken to the islands. The professor has become
enamored with the islands made famous by Charles Darwin, and he
has emerged as something of an authority — taking students each
year and giving lectures nationwide about the creatures
inhabiting the islands. It's a breathtaking place, remote and
almost untouched by mankind, where many of the animals have
little fear of humans. "A bird will land on you as easily as [it
would] somewhere else.... You can snorkel with penguins, and sea
lions will swim up to your face," Ca