Better Bananas, Nicer Mosquitoes - New York Times

Better Bananas, Nicer Mosquitoes - New York Times: "EATTLE - Addressing 275 of the world's most brilliant scientists, Bill Gates cracked a joke:

'I've been applying my imagination to the synergies of this,' he said. 'We could have sorghum that cures latent tuberculosis. We could have mosquitoes that spread vitamin A. And most important, we could have bananas that never need to be kept cold.'

They laughed. Perhaps that was to be expected when the world's richest man, who had just promised them $450 million, was delivering a punchline. But it was also germane, because they were gathered to celebrate some of the oddest-sounding projects in the history of science."...

What Mr. Gates had outlined at Davos were the greatest obstacles facing doctors in the tropics: Laboratories are few and far between. Vaccines spoil without refrigeration and require syringes, which can transmit AIDS. Mosquitoes develop resistance to all insecticides. Crops that survive in the jungle or desert often have little nutritive value. Infections outwit powerful drugs by lying dormant.

His offer - originally $200 million, raised to $450 million after 1,600 proposals came in - "was to make sure that innovation wasn't reserved just for big-ticket items like cancer and heart disease," said Dr. Carol A. Dahl, the foundation's director of global health technologies, who ran the conference.