Commentary: Old World, New Mandate

When it comes to drive and enterprise, few can top Nicolas Taquet. The 30-year-old French biologist wowed colleagues with his work on anticancer compounds. But France's state-controlled medical system was so bureaucratic that Taquet couldn't even get the biological cultures he needed. And a take-home salary of $1,150 per month barely covered his rent.

By last June, Taquet had had enough: He emigrated to the U.S. to work as a researcher at the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research in Dallas for twice the money. Within five months he had a big raise and a promotion. "I'm so motivated here that I work weekends and nights," he says. "That wasn't the case back home."