Number Two: Mapping the body
Remember the Human Genome Project the first-ever map of our genetic code in 2000? J. Craig Venter claimed the glory. But a squad led by MITs Eric Lander sequenced one-third of it. While most geneticists hunted for each gene they thought was involved in a disease, Lander used fast computers to search for dozens of abnormal genes in a diseased cell. This process has led to the discovery of a whole set of clues to disease. Lander also helped create the Broad Institute, a consortium of MIT, Harvard, and other scientists, now on the cutting edge of genomics research.