More Scientists Turn to Gates Fund for Grants

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has become “a magnetic new force in research underwriting The Boston Globe reports.

Many traditional research sponsors, including the federal government, increasingly focus on short-term projects, so university laboratories and other nonprofit groups that conduct scientific research have turned to the Gates Foundation for long-term studies.

In addition, the newspaper noted that the federal government tends to focus on financing research on diseases that afflict many Americans, while Gates makes grants mainly to fight diseases that affect people in the developing world.

In addition, Mr. Gates, who is heavily involved in the daily operations of the Foundation, has challenged normal scientific practices by requiring that scientists, who usually compete with each other, share data and research methods.