Still Not a Genius

Once again, the MacArthur Foundation announced its "Genius Grants" recipients, and once again, I was not on the list of winners.

As I have said in the past, I am at peace with the fact that, like most geniuses, I will not be recognized as such in my own lifetime. That doesn't make it right, of course.

Even worse, the list includes no outright cancer-related geniuses.

The closest we get is Yukiko Yamashita, a biologist who studies stem cells, those as-yet-unformed cells that somehow know that they should turn into liver cells, or skin cells, or white blood cells. Her work does not focus specifically on cancer, but it does have implications for cancer research. It may help us understand why and how stem cells divide, and more importantly, how and why they know when to stop.

Another indirect cancer genius is Melanie Sanford, who, like Yamashita, is from the University of Michigan. She is described as an "organometallic chemist," which means she finds ways to bond metals with carbon, which makes the resulting compounds more easily used to develop new drugs (and may be more environmentally friendly as well). Her work could have implications for the development of cancer drugs someday.

There are a few other geniuses there that I like: the poet Kay Ryan, whose work I admire, and the radio producer Jad Abumrad, whose show RadioLab is very cool. Lots of other artsy types in there, too, which I suppose is a decent third prize behind my getting one on my own and someone getting one for a cancer cure.

I'll need to up my brain power for next year.