Globocop
Who: Ronald Noble, first American (and the first non-white guy) to head Interpol, the international police agency based in Lyon, France.
Strategy: Noble, 45, is building the first networked database to trace wanted criminals and illegal passport holders worldwide. "There needs to be a connection between databases of fugitives or alleged terrorists," he says.
Bragging Rights? Interpol issued the first arrest warrant for Osama bin Laden - in 1998. Embarrassing caveat: Terrorist-harboring Libya requested it.
G-man: As US Treasury Department undersecretary, Noble once oversaw the Secret Service, the Customs Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. Last year, his name was floated as a contender to head the FBI.
Getting The Bad Buys: The September 11 attacks boosted Noble's overhaul of the stodgy 78-year-old agency. The new Interpol, he says, is open 24/7 and all about terrorism: "This is the kind of crime that Interpol needs to focus on nonstop."
The Man With the Golden Thumbs
Who: Johnathan Wendel, world's highest-paid videogamer.
In Demand: The 21-year-old is negotiating a deal to play in the first pay-per-view videogame match this spring. "The thing about gaming is it actually is exciting to watch," he says. "Kids our age see how we play, and they're like, 'Whoa, that's how to do it.'"
Start Button: Wendel went crazy for interactive mayhem in 1985 with the debut of the first Nintendo console. He mastered deadly combo moves with Mortal Kombat, making him nearly invincible. His nom de guerre: Fatal1ty.
Bling-Bling: Wendel sealed his rep by leveling the Quake III competition 18 to 0 at the 2000 World Cyber Games in Sweden. Last year, his agent negotiated a six-figure spokesgamer deal with Razer, a computer mouse maker.
Home Turf: When not in South Korea or Europe whupping other pro gamers, he lives with his father in Lee's Summit, Missouri.
Puff Daddy
Who: Brack Hattler, executive director of the Artificial Lung Lab at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Quest: To be the Jarvik of the lung. Since 1984, Hattler has been developing a mechanical implant that oxygenates blood in patients with respiratory trauma.
Think Small: Conventional oxygenators draw a patient's blood outside of the body, run it through gas exchangers and heaters, and pump it back in. Result: torn red blood cells and a fatality rate as high as 50 percent. The Hattler Respiratory Catheter is threaded through a vein and into the heart's right atrium, where the process is gentler. A thousand hollow fibers wrap around a rapidly inflating and deflating balloon, forcing the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide.
Thanks, Saddam: The Department of Defense backed Hattler's research in the early '90s when it learned Saddam Hussein had chemical and biological agents that could cripple the lungs.
Put To The Test: Human trials are scheduled for fall 2002, "which is the goal we had 15 years ago," says Hattler, 66. "We've finally gotten there."
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