Developing the diagnostic test, a research-intensive project, ate up two costly years.

FORBES: How A Breast Cancer Pioneer Finally Turned A Profit

Earlier today, a study in Science Translational Medicine proposed that DNA sequencing could become a standard first-choice test for infants in neonatal intensive care units, because a combination of new software and hardware could allow doctors to get results in just 50 hours, answering questions about what is making a baby sick far faster when time is of the essence.

FORBES: DNA Sequencing: Is Science Fiction Becoming Medical Fact?

An important idea is getting its test run in America: the creation of intensive outpatient care to target hot spots, and thereby reduce over-all health-care costs.

NEWYORKER: The Hot Spotters

But the fact remains that by Bush's own standard of "intensive effort" set in 2002, the White House has not met that test, in large part because the president's foreign policy has largely focused on other matters, such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

CNN: Analysis: Is Bush Mideast trip making up for lost time?

Ferrari's test at Monza the week after next is set to become their most intensive of recent years.

BBC: Ferrari need quick solutions

Intensive-care medicine has become the art of managing extreme complexity and a test of whether such complexity can, in fact, be humanly mastered.

NEWYORKER: The Checklist