With 440 patents and a National Medal of Technology, Dean Kamen is one of the greatest DIYers in history.

FORBES: Why The Future Will Be Much Better Than You Think

Armed with his patents and financing from Crocker First National Bank in California he established a small laboratory in San Francisco on Green Street, at the foot of Telegraph Hill.

FORBES: Channeling Philo

The European Parliament approved on first reading a law that would harmonise national patent legislation on genetic engineering , and would allow continent-wide patents for genetic inventions.

ECONOMIST: Merger dirge

Collins, the force behind the mapping of the human genome and now the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, accused the firm of hijacking drug research with flimsy patents covering huge strips of so-called junk DNA, biological bits once thought insignificant but now central to the work of disease hunters.

FORBES: Magazine Article