i'm steve usdin. welcome to "biocentury this week"." >>> your trusted source for biotechnology, information and analysis. "biocentury this week." >> the defense advanced research project agency has two missions. to maintain the technological superiority of the u.s. military and prevent technological surprises from harming national security. the life science pros jects are rooted in military needs like meeting the threat of microbes or treating brain injury in the battlefield but they promise to transform civilian medicine. darpa specializes in high reward research. many of its projects sound like science fiction. when completed isu

i'm steve usdin. welcome to "biocentury this week." >>> your trusted source for biotechnology information and analysis, "biocentury this week." >>> it has blazed the trail. now as we've highlighted many types on "biocentury this week," patients have moved to the center of every aspect of medicine, especially the search for new treatments. patient groups are funding and directing research. they're working with regulators to design clinical studies, helping companies recruit patients for trials, creating registries that yield priceless data about the natural history of disease and much more. but patient advocacy and activism is still a work in progress. >> w

. >>> are perverse economic incentives ruining ruining --i'm steve usdin welcome to "biocentury thisk." >> your trusted source for biotechnology, information and analysis, "biocentury this week." >> academic scientists may not like to admit it but science are money are intertwined, the threat of budget sequestration makes this clearer than ever if. u.s. falls over the fiscal cliff $2.5 million could be slurred from the budget. economics influences everything from the types of questions researchers ask to the quantity and quality of scientists who conduct research. in her book how economic shapes science georgia state university economist paula stephan argues --