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Frank Franklin Ii  /  AP file New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer launched the investigation into the mutual fund industry after receiving a tip about trading activities of a hedge fund. updated 12/29/2003 9:59:43 PM ET 2003-12-30T02:59:43 For a year in which there was so much good news emanating from the economy and the financial markets, there sure was a lot of bad news too. Investors who enjoyed the first winning year on the stock market since 1999 also had to endure yet another year of scandal. This time the spotlight focused on the giant mutual fund industry and the New York Stock Exchange itself -- institutions that touch the lives of virtually every investor. The economy finally began showing signs of life, but only after U.S. companies trimmed their already-spare payrolls even further. Here are...

Bruno Goussault, 63, is both a scientist and an economist. He has been training chefs like Fabio Trabocchi at the Ritz-Carlton and Michel Richard at Citronelle, both in Washington, Dan Barber at Blue Hill in New York and Daniel Boulud at Daniel, also in New York, not only how to use sous vide but also to understand the science behind it. Where Escoffier organized the way chefs cook, dividing the professional kitchen into stations (sauces, cold foods, sautéing, pastry), Goussault has reprogrammed their approach to temperature, technique and taste -- their fundamental understanding of cooking. At Charlie Trotter's in Chicago, the intense heat and scrape of pans against the stove is giving way to an almost placid atmosphere, the barely audible hum of water baths that run 24 hours a day. Dufresne, the chef at the innovative Manhattan restaurant WD -50, calls Goussault's contribution to cooking "monumental." The advancements he has made are on par with the invention of t...