As the school year commences, returning scientists are again applying for grants, awards, and other financial support to pursue their various disciplines. But six academic scientists among the 24 recipients of this year's John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowships--popularly known as the "genius awards"--are in an extremely fortunate position: Their explorations for the next five years will extend as far as their imaginations will take them. "When the director called me up to co

PRIZE WITH A PRICE: Science historian Peter Galison has taken some ribbing from his family since being named a MacArthur fellow. One could almost pity Peter Galison. A historian of science at Harvard University, Galison is one of seven members of the scientific community among the 23 recipients of this year's John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowships. The coveted five-year awards provide unrestricted support plus health insurance to talented individuals, with no reports or proj

SOLVING REAL-WORLD PROBLEMS: MacArthur fellow Vonnie McLoyd's research combines concepts in socioeconomics, psychology, and anthropology. This year's John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation fellowships will help six scientists advance their cutting-edge, multidisciplinary projects that extend from the ocean depths to distant stars and planets. With grants of about $250,000 or more, the newly named fellows will be able to finance innovative-even maverick-research ideas that might otherwis

Since 1981, the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's MacArthur Fellows Program has awarded more than $100 million to nearly 300 individuals in a wide range of professions. The generous, unrestricted awards allow MacArthur fellows the freedom to carry out research and pursue projects they otherwise might never be able to even contemplate. This year, the MacArthur Foundation selected nine scientists among its 33 fellowship recipients. Many of these researchers say the fin

In his search for effective therapies for Parkinson’s disease, Lorenz Studer is uncovering pluripotency switches and clues to what makes cells age.

Joseph Gall, whose investigations have focused on the structure and function of chromosomes, has received the 1989 V.D. Mattia Award from Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. for his contributions to biomedical research. Gall, 61, was presented with the award on September 28 at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology; the Nutley, N.J.-based company’s basic research center. A native of Washington, D.C., Gall received his B.S. (1949) and his Ph.D. (1952) in zoology from Yale University. From 1952 to 1

A Living Legacy At the birthplace of stem cell research, the next generation of scientists continues to advance the field. By Megan Scudellari In Toronto’s downtown Discovery District, world-class stem cell researchers populate the buildings like athletes at the Olympics. On University Avenue, Andras Nagy, a renowned innovator in induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, works at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, housed within the towering Mount Sin