In this archive, you will find thirty-six revolutionaries. They are curing cancer with math and curing our schools with advertising. Creating synthetic life from our DNA and remaking music one color at a time. They probe the depths of our cities and the workings of our democracy. They believe in extending our youth and eradicating our worst plagues. Their ideas will not only remake the world, but will make your life better. Consider this a preview of what's to come: Thirty-six reasons for hope.
The Best and Brightest 2007
Chris Adrian, 37, novelist, pediatrician, divinity student
Martin Blaser, 58, microbe-hunter, chairman, Department of Medicine, NYU Medical School
George Church, 53, artificial life engineer, professor of genetics, Harvard Medical School
Geoffrey Coates, green-plastic pioneer
Vicki Colvin, inventor of the pollution magnet
Ron Deibert, anti-Internet-censorship crusader
Nikhil Dhurandhar, 47, microbe-hunter, associate professor of biochemistry, LSU
Andy Dillin, 36, pursuer of youth-extending drugs
Drew Endy, 37, artificial life engineer, assistant professor, department of biological engineering, MIT
Fahrenheit 212, revolutionary new consulting and advertising firm
Jacques Grosset, tuberculosis fighter, professor of bacteriology, Johns Hopkins Center for TB Research
Bill Jacobs, 52, tuberculosis fighter, professor of microbiology and immunology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Sanjay Jain, tuberculosis fighter, assistant professor of pediatrics, Johns Hopkins Center for TB Research
Jing X. Kang, heart-healthy bacon designer
Jay Keasling, 43, artificial life engineer, director of the physical-biosciences division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Deborah Kenny, 44, education reformer, Village Academies founder
Miru Kim, 26, underground urban explorer and photographer
Tom Knight, 59, artificial life engineer, senior researcher, computer-science and artificial-intelligence laboratory, MIT
Stephanie Lacour, stretchable-circuit builder
Gyanu Lamichhane, tuberculosis fighter, assistant professor of infectious diseases, John Hopkins Center for TB Research
Hod Lipson, smart-robot engineer
Gal Luft, energy independence advocate
Lieutenant Colonel Tim Maxwell, 42, founder of the U.S. Marines Corps' first Wounded Warriors barracks, at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina
Franziska Michor, 25, developer of math tools for fighting cancer
Eric Nuermberger, tuberculosis fighter, assistant professor of infectious diseases, John Hopkins Center for TB Research
James Powderly, 31, and Evan Roth, 29, vandals of the year
John Robb, global war strategist, author of Brave New War
Shauna Robertson, 32, producer of Knocked Up, Superbad, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Ricardo Romaneiro, 28, genre-breaking composer
Eric Rubin, 49, tuberculosis fighter, associate professor of immunology and infectious diseases, Harvard School of Public Health
Ben Silverman, 37, cochair of NBC Entertainment
Heather Smith, 31, electoral activist, executive director, Rock the Vote
Christina Smolke, 32, artificial life engineer, assistant professor, chemical-engineering department, Caltech
Joel Weinstock, 55, microbe-hunter, chief of gastro-enterology/hepatology, Tufts-New England Medical Center
Kurt Zenz House, carbon sequesterer
