Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés’s letters to King Charles of Castile describe the exotic customs his armed band encountered as they advanced toward Tenochtitlan in 1519. But what really is striking is how familiar it all was to Cortés. Upon reaching what is now Mexico City, he wrote: “There is one square twice as big as that of Salamanca, where more than sixty thousand people come each day to buy and sell. [There is] a courthouse where 10 or 12 persons sit as judges.” He is struck that “the orderly manner which, until now, these people have been governed is almost like that of the states of Venice or Genoa or Pisa.”

На сегодняшний день нам известны молекулярные предпосылки 4 000 болезней, но лекарства найдены только для 250 из них. Так в чем же задержка? Врач и генетик Фрэнсис Коллинз объясняет, почему крайне необходимы систематические исследования лекарств, даже от редких и сложных заболеваний, и предлагает некоторые решения, наподобие использования старых лекарств по-новому.