The 2013 budget proposed by President Barack Obama last week gives special attention to one disease: Alzheimer's, which will receive $80 million in new research funding from a source outside NIH's budget.

India excels in rocketry and nuclear science but has produced few breakthroughs in other fields. Now, free of sanctions and swimming in cash, the world's largest democracy is gunning for status as a scientific powerhouse.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh plans to increase the government's R&D spending and create incentives for the private sector to increase spending on science and technology as well.