Register | Forgot Your Password?
 

A History of Science Prizes

Prizes have proven to be the most powerful tool for inspiring radical scientific breakthroughs - to make the seemingly impossible become inevitable. Going back to the Longitude Prize in 1714, rewards have proven to encourage new levels of excellence and innovation, expanding perceptions of what is possible. That prize, offered by the British government, sought a simple and practical method for the precise determination of a ship's longitude. In the 19th century, Napoleon's Food Preservation Prize ("An army marches on its stomach") resulted in the canning industry, significantly contributing to ending famine and the near doubling of lifespan in the developed world. The Orteig Prize, which led to Charles Lindberg crossing the Atlantic in 1927, mobilized a large pool of talent with diverse approaches and techniques - exactly what a well-designed prize should do. In anticipation of major advances in extending healthy human life, Methuselah Foundation offers significant prizes.

What happens along the way? Many important innovations result from the effort that goes into winning a race. Let's use the Space Race as an example. Much of the technology of the past 50 years can be traced to the Space Race - some say even the Internet itself. Here's a partial list of the practical solutions that came as a result of the race to the moon:

  • ATM technology
  • Pay at the Pump satellite technology
  • Athletic shoe manufacturing technique
  • Insulation barriers for autos
  • Freeze-dried food
  • Cordless tools
  • Airport baggage scanners
  • Hazardous gas sensors
  • Precision navigation
  • Grooved road surfaces
  • Clock synchronization
  • Climate change studies
  • Monitoring of storms
  • Solar collectors
  • Fusion reactors
  • "Space-age" fabrics
  • Teflon-coated fiberglass
  • Lightweight breathing system used by firefighters
  • WD-40
  • GPS


And many innovations that are an important part of healthcare today were created by using or adapting space race technology:

  • Artificial heart implants
  • Pacemakers
  • Physical therapy machines
  • Cardiac angiography
  • Monitoring neutron activity in the brain
  • Cleaning techniques for hospital operating rooms
  • Portable x-ray technology
  • Memory foam
  • Water purification filters
  • Invisible braces
  • Space blankets
  • Cochlear implants
  • MRI and CAT Scans
  • Kidney dialysis


Why award a prize rather than put money into research? Firstly, it allows for the broadest possible range of approaches; you are asking for the diverse ingenuity of the world rather than relying on your own ingenuity to select the approach you will fund. Secondly, far more funding will be devoted to research as a part of competing for the prize than stands in the prize purse. We humans rise to the challenge of a contest, as research prizes have shown over and over again.

Ingenuity applies to raising funds for high profile prize competitions too. Multipliers occur at all levels of the process when you harness the basic human desire to move forward and win. So if you want to put your charitable donations where they will make the most difference ... then donate to a research prize!


Competitor Christian Sell

A decline in tissue function and protein synthesis occurs with increasing age. This catabolic state is associated with a decrease in the serum levels of IGF-I and IGF-I supplementation has been proposed as a therapy for elderly individuals. Not only is there a decline in the levels of IGF-I in the serum but the response of cells to IGF-I decreases with increasing age.

In vitro, human cells that have reached the end of their lifespan do not proliferate in response to IGF-I or other growth factors that will induce proliferation in the cells early in their lifespan. The reason for this lack of response is not clear and may be tied to fundamental changes within the cell that are important to the loss of function seen in "old" cells. For example, the rate of protein synthesis is regulated in part by IGF-I and, as mentioned above, protein synthesis declines with age both in the body and in vitro. An understanding of the changes in IGF-I responses are regulated and their connection to the senescent growth arrest may provide novel therapeutic approaches to some of the problems associated with aging.

Read More »