Discover names its "10 Most Influential People in Science," including a number of scientists who have made their mark in this community. Bioethicist Arthur Caplan is credited for sorting "through the ethical traps of science for the United Nations, the National Institutes of Health, the president of the United States," and more. Craig Venter is noted for his "audacity" and his unorthodox approaches to scientific problems. "With his successes, Venter now inspires everyone from Nobel laureates to untenured professors to launch start-ups, streamlining the path to discovery and racking up profits along the way," the article says. And Harold Varmus is cited for his work on the origin of retroviral genes, his administrative success at NIH, and his latest challenge, "an attempt to overhaul the system of publishing research in journals so that all papers are freely available on the Internet."
And speaking of Varmus, here's a fun article from the New Yorker reporting on a "Genes & Jazz" presentation Varmus and his son delivered at the Guggenheim Museum recently. "He offered a primer on cell biology, evolution, and cancer, all to the accompaniment of a jazz quintet under the direction of his son Jacob, a thirty-five-year-old trumpeter and composer," says the story, which focuses on the father/son dynamic.