I (an American) was discussing science education with my
colleague Lesley (a Kiwi) at work (in Scotland) one day. I
mentioned that the definition of osmosis had been so thouroughly
drilled into me half a lifetime ago by my manic biology teacher
that I could probably still recite it. She looked doubtful, so I
started off:  "The movement of a substance from an area of
greater concentration... (Lesley joined in) ... to an area of
lesser concentration... (Alison, educated in South Africa,
looked up from her desk and chimed in) ... through a semi-
permeable membrane... (Sandy, passing by, added the benefit of
his Scottish education) ... to reach a state of equilibrium!" We
finished triumphantly, in unison.  Our educational experience
spanned four continents, but only one rote memorized definition
of osmosis. The existence of the global village may be
debatable, but we clearly all went to the global village school.
"Osmosis is the diffusion of a solvent across a selectively
permeable membrane from an area of lesser