Sixty years ago, Francis Crick and James Watson announced their discovery of the structure of DNA. The academics themselves were an international pair: one was American, the other British. Back then, both needed to be in Cambridge to work together. Things had changed little in the 250 years since Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz argued about calculus. Today, however, duos such as Crick and Watson can work in different countries because technology has slashed the cost of collaborating among research leaders.
60年前，弗朗西斯•克里克(Francis Crick)和詹姆斯•沃森(James Watson)宣布，他们发现了脱氧核糖核酸(DNA)的结构。这两位学者是一对国际合作伙伴：一个是英国人，另一个是美国人。当时，这种合作是建立在两人都身在剑桥大学(Cambridge University)的基础上。自艾萨克•牛顿(Isaac Newton)和戈特弗里德•莱布尼茨(Gottfried Leibniz)讨论微积分以来的250年里，这种情况基本上没有什么变化。但如今，像克里克和沃森这样的合作伙伴可身在不同的国家工作，因为科技的发展大大降低了研究带头人之间的合作成本。