This makes me feel better about the money I just spent on a copy of Windows XP.

Addressing 275 of the world's most brilliant scientists, Bill Gates cracked a joke. They laughed.

They were gathered to celebrate some of the oddest-sounding projects in the history of science -- their answers to the Grand Challenges in Global Health that Mr. Gates posed in a 2003 speech in Davos.

Mr. Gates, in an interview, sidestepped a request to name his favorite projects. "Oh, I love all my children," he said.

"Eighty percent of these are likely to be dead ends," he said. "But even if we have a 10 percent hit rate, it will all have been worthwhile."

What follows is a selection of the winning projects.

I saw some basic news articles about the award late last week, but this article is a nice pop-science overview of a few projects.