Taking the time for a coffee break — and the ensuing conversations with colleagues — helped Thomas Steitz on his way to the Nobel prize in chemistry. According to the Associated Press, Steitz was surprised by all the breaks in the day at Cambridge University. "What a fabulous place! Coffee in the morning, lunch in the afternoon, tea in the afternoon, I wondered how does anyone get any science done," he says. "It's because they are talking to each other and they are learning what experiments they should do."