June 3, 2005

Biomedical Scientists Are Engaged in a Pyramid Scheme

By T.V. RAJAN

When I was very young, my grandfather taught me to play chess. He also told me a story about its invention, supposedly by an obscure, minor official in the court of a famous king in India. The king was so taken with the new game that he decided its inventor deserved a reward. When the inventor was asked what he wanted, he made what seemed to be a very modest request: He told the king that all he wanted was a grain of rice for the first square on the board, two grains for the square next to

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