Trained as a scientist, Neil Atkins can detail the very moment when an enzyme breaks down from a complex sugar to a simple sugar. 

Whether it’s in a sterile medical research lab or the peanut-shell-laden Offshore Ale Brewery Company in Oak Bluffs, Mr. Atkins has discovered little difference when it comes to studying molecules and creating a fine beer.

In the book Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, college history professor James Loewen tackles the subject of why nearly all high school students find history boring. One of his main conclusions is that textbooks place characters from history into one of two categories: Hero or Villain. There are no gray shadings, no nuance as to how nearly everyone, in both character and action, can be both good and bad, misguided and prophetic.

The U.S. Coast Guard has scaled down its deign for a new boathouse in Menemsha, but Chilmark selectmen said this week that it was still too big.

“The height is still an issue,” said selectman and board chairman Frank Fenner at a special presentation Tuesday afternoon. “Everything seems to be growing and we’re trying to contain this a little bit and not get into a position where everyone is up in arms about a mammoth structure.”