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Mike Ivey’s Business Beat: Local scientist makes Time’s top 50 list

Wisconsin scientists hit the media big-time in 2001 when UW stem cell master James Thomson graced the cover of Time magazine.

Now, with much less fanfare, another UW lab whiz has made a splash in the venerable news weekly.

Randy Cortright, the co-founder of Madison-based Virent Energy Systems Inc., was the lead in a feature on 50 Best Inventions of the Year in the Dec. 4 issue, where he was lauded for his “grass to gas” technology.