????微軟研究院計算生態與環境科學小組負責人德魯?帕維斯

????微軟（Microsoft）內部有一個叫做“比爾評論”（Bill Reviews）的保留節目，也就是員工們可以在創始人兼董事長比爾?蓋茨面前提出自己的創意。當微軟研究院劍橋實驗室（Microsoft Research’s Cambridge Labs）的計算機學負責人史蒂夫?艾默特在一次“比爾評論”中提出，要由劍橋實驗室出資，在公司內部建立一個生態學研究小組時，“那真是一次糟糕得出名的會議。”——時任普林斯頓大學（Princeton University）生態學家的德魯?帕維斯如是說。但是最后比爾?蓋茨改變了主意，很快微軟聘請了帕維斯作為這個小組的領頭人，負責建立地球生態系統的預測模型。自從微軟的“藍天”研究部門成立后，帕維斯已經帶領科研團隊開發了一個模擬地球所有生命的“馬丁利模型”。這個項目可謂雄心勃勃，雖然有些“唐吉訶德”色彩，但它的部分成果說不定最終也能應用于實際。帕維斯表示：“國民經濟中發生的每一件事，都可以放在一定的環境因素中考量。”他隨口道出全世界面臨的幾大最嚴重的挑戰，包括人口老齡化、癌癥、食品安全、氣候變化和替代能源等問題。對于生態學和生物學，帕維斯補充道：“這些東西將成為21世紀經濟的核心驅動力。”

????Drew Purves, Head of the Computational Ecology and Environmental Science Group, Microsoft Research

????When Stephen Emmott, head of computational science at Microsoft Research’s Cambridge Labs, pitched the idea of having the lab sponsor an internal ecology group at one of the company’s “Bill Reviews”—where employees present in front of founder and chairman Bill Gates—“it was a “famously bad meeting,” says Drew Purves, then a Princeton University ecologist. “He thought it was the most ridiculous thing.” But Gates ended up changing his mind, and soon Microsoft hired Purves to lead a group tasked with building predictive models of Earth’s systems. Since landing in Microsoft’s blue skies research division, Purves has helped develop “The Madingley Model,” a simulation of all life on Earth. The project is ambitious—quixotic, even—but it may eventually generate practical applications. “Everything that happens within the economy fits within an environmental context,” Purves says, rattling off some of the world’s most daunting challenges, including aging populations, cancer, food security, climate change and alternative sources of energy. Of ecology and biology, he added, “these things will be the key driver of 21st century economy.” —Robert Hackett