Brussels, 22/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 16 November, the European Commission announced the winners of the 2006 Marie Curie Excellence Awards. Their scientific work covers areas as varied as cognitive neuroscience and psychology, atmospheric science and environmental science, nanotechnology and materials science and physics. The Marie Curie Excellence Awards, with grants of €50,000, recognise the excellence of researchers who have benefited from European support schemes. The award ceremony took place at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, and award winners are: - Michal Lavidor of Israel and the UK, for “Interhemispheric stimulation promotes reading enhancement”; - Frank Keppler of Germany, for “Discovery of climate-relevant trace gases from terrestrial ecosystems”; - Chris Ewels of the United Kingdom, for “Computer modelling of doping and defects in graphite and carbon nano-tubes”; - Nicolas Cerf of Belgium, for “Quantum information and quantum computation”; - Paola Borry of Italy and the UK, for “Semiconductor nanostructures and their ultra-fast response to laser light”. The 2006 winners were selected by a five-member Grand jury, chaired by Doctor Jozef Ritzen of the University of Maastricht. (oj)