The article sort of buries the real reason for this: the large amounts of biotech VC funding. Boston is the world-center of biotech startups and VC, and biotech VC funding is on pace to be $15-20B this year. As recently as 2013 __total__ VC activity was just $29B
The amount of money being invested (and made) in biotech today, and the level of technological advancement in the field, is disproportionately higher than mainstream awareness of the field
The amount of money being invested (and made) in biotech today, and the level of technological advancement in the field, is disproportionately higher than mainstream awareness of the field