Science:
The Golden Goose Award, which will be given out this Thursday
in Washington, DC, is to be given to researchers who pursued
research in unusual topics that led to significant
breakthroughs. The recipients of the inaugural award include
Nobel Prize winners in both chemistry and physics. Martin
Chalfie, Osamu Shimomura, and Roger Tsien are being recognized
for their work with green fluorescent protein from
bioluminescent jellyfish, which is now used to track gene
expression. Charles Townes conceived and developed the laser,
which became a ubiquitous technology despite early criticism
that he was wasting his time. Jon Weber, Eugene White, Rodney
White, and Della Roy combined interests to develop a technique
for creating bone grafts using coral as scaffolding.
