  Bill and Melinda Gates, 5 Scientists Share Lasker Awards  This
year's recipients of the prestigious Lasker Awards for medical
research and contributions to public health include Bill and
Melinda Gates, three researchers who developed implants that
enable deaf people to hear, and two scientists who revealed how
brain cells communicate.  The winners of the $250,000 prizes in
the different categories were announced Monday by the Albert and
Mary Lasker Foundation. The awards will be presented Sept. 20 in
New York City, the Associated Pressreported.  The clinical
medical research award will be shared by Australian researcher
Graeme Clark, Austrian Ingeborg Hochmair, and Blake Wilson of
Duke University in North Carolina for their roles in developing
the modern cochlear implant, which benefits more than 320,000
people around the world with severe hearing loss.  The award for
basic medical research will be shared by Richard Scheller of the
biotech company Genentech and Dr. Thomas Sudhof of Stanford
University. They