Dr. Francis Collins is one of America’s leading scientists. With both an M.D. and a Ph.D, he led the team of scientists that mapped the entire human genome. It is an extraordinary accomplishment in the history of science.

In a recent interview, Harvard's Dr. Henry Louis Gates asked Dr. Collins if there was any special spark or any moment in particular that inspired him to pursue a life of science. Dr. Collins replied that in fact there was.

He said that when he was in high school, on the first day of his first science course, the teacher handed each student a box. The boxes were sealed on the outside and hollow on the inside. But each box contained something. And as young Collins turned the box on........

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