2007 Nobel Prize Speech by Mario Capecchi

"I hope that our scientific contributions, among other developments, will be used by many to reduce suffering, improve our health and extend the productivity and fulfillment of our lives. Equally important, I hope that the new biological insights will yield a better understanding of ourselves as human beings and of our relationship to our environment, so that we may become better stewards of a fragile Earth. We live in a closed system and we have to gain the knowledge that will enable us to live in harmony with it. Neither we nor our planet can afford the ravages of wars. Nor can the planet survive needless consumption. We must learn to distribute our resources more equitably among all peoples. As a scientist, I naturally find myself thinking about the future. As a person, we must learn to become more responsible for the consequences of our activities over a much longer periods of times that the future generations may also enjoy this splendid world. It is my hope that science can combine with ethics to permit this."