2024-10-07 05:05:50
Awarded since 1901, the Nobel Prizes honor those who, in the words of prize creator and scientist Alfred Nobel, “have conferred the greatest benefit on humanity,” highlighting encouraging progress at a time when the world is witnessing devastating wars in Middle East and in the Middle East. Ukraine and a climate on the brink of collapse.
The Nobel Prize for Medicine is the first to be awarded, announced around 11.30am in Stockholm on Monday.
Among those considered possible winners is Kevan Shokat, an American biologist who has discovered how to block the KRAS cancer gene behind a third of cancers, including hard-to-treat lung, colon and pancreatic cancers.
“Thanks to his discovery these are now being tested for new treatments,” said Annika Ostman, science journalist for Swedish public radio SR.
Research into how to treat cardiovascular disease may also gain traction, with the work of geneticists Jonathan Cohen and Helen Hobbs mentioned.
They identified genes that regulate the metabolism of essential lipids such as cholesterol, which has led to a new class of cholesterol-lowering drugs, David Pendlebury, head of the Clarivate analytics group that identifies research worthy of Nobel.
Hobbs won the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences in 2016, sharing the honor with Swedish geneticist Svante Pääbo, who went on to win the Nobel in 2022.
Pendlebury also highlighted a trio of neuroscientists who have studied the basal ganglia, a brain region important for motivation and reward, and how it regulates our behavior.
The three are the American neuroscientist Ann Graybiel, the Japanese Okihide Hikosaka and the German Wolfram Schultz.
Other potential winners include Davor Solter and Azim Surani for their study of epigenetics, which examines how cells control the activity of genes without changing DNA.
Last year, the medicine prize went to researchers Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman for their work on messenger RNA technology that paved the way for innovative Covid-19 vaccines.
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Atomic scale microscope
For the Nobel Prize in Physics, announced Tuesday, SR scientific experts suggested the honor could go to Swiss physicist Christoph Gerber, a pioneer in the development of the atomic force microscope.
“This is a microscope that provides 3D images on such an incredibly small scale that they sometimes have even atomic resolution,” said SR science journalist Camilla Widebeck.
The tool has become indispensable in nanotechnology and nanoresearch, he added.
Clarivate also mentioned Gerber as a possible winner, as well as David Deutsch and Peter Shor for their work on quantum algorithms and quantum computing.
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SR’s Lars Broström meanwhile said he hopes to see Jordanian-American Omar Yaghi win Wednesday’s chemistry prize.
Yaghi developed a type of custom porous material known as MOF (metal-organic framework), now used in commercial products that can, among other things, absorb and decontaminate toxins, act as a catalyst, or even absorb water from the air of the desert.
Karl Deisseroth, an American psychiatrist and neurologist, has also been mentioned over the past decade as a possible prize winner for developing the field of optogenetics, using light to control cells.
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There is also speculation about the prize for literature, which will be announced on Thursday and perhaps about the most awaited Nobel after the one for peace.
Many experts believe that Chinese author Can Xue will be the choice of the Swedish Academy this year – and on several betting sites he has the lowest odds.
An avant-garde fiction writer often compared to Kafka, her experimental style oscillates between utopia and dystopia and transforms the banal into the surreal.
“I think it will be a woman from a language area outside Europe,” Björn Wiman, culture editor of Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, told AFP.
Others suggest it could go to Australian novelist Gerald Murnane, Britain’s Salman Rushdie or Kenyan Ngugi wa Thiong’o.
Who deserves the Peace Prize?
The highlight of the week comes on Friday when the winner of the Peace Prize is announced, but experts say this year predictions are more difficult than ever due to the growing number of crises around the world.
Among the possibilities cited are the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, the International Court of Justice and Afghan women’s rights activist Mahbouba Seraj.
Given the existential risks to humanity posed by weapons systems that can operate autonomously without human control, several Nobel watchers have also cited the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots as a potential winner.
The economics prize will conclude the 2024 Nobel season on October 14.
It could be used for research on the economics of child development, the integration of nature into the economy, or the effects of corruption on economic growth.
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