2007 Nobel Prizes

Thanks to Ravi, who gave me hint about Physics Nobel price, I am writing this post. I don't closely watch current news and trends and because of that I am not aware of Nobel price distributions for 2007 a week before. And I decided to get some info about the Nobel prices this time. As usual Wikipedia gives some info about its Swedish origin and controversies and some interesting things like Gandhi was nominated for 5 times and when he was about to give Nobel price, he was assassinated.Now back to 2007 Nobel award, I am just putting the extracts from the Nobel prize site, the parts which I understand (at least partially)..

Medicine - Making Model Mice

"for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells"

The elevation of the humble mouse to become many scientists' experimental animal of choice has been one of the scientific phenomena of the last two decades. Today, genetically-altered mice are an essential component of the experimental toolkit, with thousands of varieties contributing to research in laboratories around the world. Their existence stems from discoveries made in the 1980's by this year's Nobel Laureates in Physiology or Medicine.

Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies were both seeking ways of specifically altering the mammalian genome, Capecchi with a view to inserting new genes into cells and Smithies in the hope of correcting genetic defects that lead to disease. Working against a background of skepticism, they independently discovered that they could use a natural mechanism, revealed decades before by Joshua Lederberg in bacteria, to introduce short sequences of manipulated DNA into the chromosomes of mammalian cells growing in the laboratory. The technique allowed them to target individual genes with exquisite precision, producing the genetic alterations they sought, but only at the cellular level. Happily, the embryonic stem cell cultures that Martin Evans was then developing provided the necessary vehicle for taking such gene manipulations from the Petri dish into the whole animal. Combining the two, by modifying genes in embryonic stem cells and then injecting those cells into fertilized mouse eggs, made it possible to rear mice with discrete genetic modifications that would be inherited between generations. The so-called 'Knock-out mouse' was born.

Knock-out (and knock-in) mice, the workhorses of many a laboratory today, allow researchers to study the effects of removing (or inserting) a single gene. Genetically-modified mice have therefore frequently helped to reveal a gene's function and, since mice and humans share a remarkable genetic similarity, they also serve as models of many human diseases.

Physics – Gaint Magnetoresistance

"for the discovery of Giant Magnetoresistance"

Lying at the heart of the computer which you are using to read this article is a memory retrieval system based on the discoveries for which the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Albert Fert and Peter Grünberg. They discovered, quite independently, a new way of using magnetism to control the flow of electrical current through sandwiches of metals built at the nanotechnology scale.

150 years ago, William Thomson observed very small changes in the electrical properties of metals when they were placed in a magnetic field, a phenomenon he named 'Magnetoresistance'. In due course, his finding found application, magnetically-induced current fluctuations becoming the underlying principle for reading computer memories. Then, in 1988, Fert and Grünberg, working with specially-constructed stacks made from alternating layers of very thinly-spread iron and chromium, unexpectedly discovered that they could use magnetic fields to evoke much greater increases in electrical resistance than Thomson, or anyone since, had observed. Recognizing the novelty of the effect, Fert named it 'Giant magnetoresistance', and it was only a few years before the improvements, and the miniaturization, it offered led to its adoption in favour of classical magnetoresistance.

Giant magnetoresistance is essentially a quantum mechanical effect depending on the property of electron spin. Using an applied magnetic field to cause the electrons belonging to atoms in alternate metal layers to adopt opposite spins results in a reduction in the passage of electric current, in a similar fashion to the way that crossed polarizing filters block the passage of sunlight. When, however, magnetic fields are used to align the electron spins in different layers, current passes more easily, just as light passes through polarizers aligned in the same direction.

The application of this discovery has been rapid and wide-ranging, dramatically improving information storage capacity in many devices, from computers to car brakes. And while quietly pervading the technology behind our daily lives, the principles of giant magnetoresistance are now being used to tackle problems in wider fields, for instance in the selective separation of genetic material.

Chemistry - Exploring Chemistry at the Frontier

"for his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces"

Like a successful dinner party, productive chemical reactions depend upon getting the right components to mingle in the right surroundings, and often the best environment for chemistry turns out to be a solid surface. From the cleaning of exhaust fumes in factory chimneys to the reduction of ozone on the outside of ice crystals in the clouds, surface chemistry surrounds us constantly. Developing ways to better understand the detailed dynamics of chemistry at these interfaces has been Gerhard Ertl's life work.

Studying surface chemistry is a painstaking process, requiring intricate preparation of samples and great precision in visualizing the reactive species that are undergoing chemical reactions in regions just a few atoms deep. The challenges Ertl set himself were bold, for instance to understand the Haber-Bosch process, a reaction of huge industrial importance that has been used since the first world war without anyone knowing precisely how it worked. This process generates ammonia, primarily needed for agriculture, from its constituent elements, hydrogen and nitrogen, on the surface of an iron catalyst. Using an astonishing variety of techniques, Ertl was able to piece together the step-by-step interplay between the hydrogen and nitrogen atoms bound to the face of the iron particles during the reaction, solving a sixty-year old mystery.

Another of Ertl's longstanding areas of interest, and one where his investigations have also revealed previously unknown phenomena, is the conversion of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide on platinum catalysts, one of the reactions performed by catalytic converters in cars. A hallmark of Ertl's approach has been his willingness to return to the same research questions whenever technology became available that opened new avenues for investigating an old problem in a fresh way. This intense focus on particular problems, combined with his patient approach to solving them, hold part of the key to his success in exposing events at chemistry's hidden face.

Peace - The Risk of Climate Change

"for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change"

For the third successive year, but for only the sixth time since it was initiated in 1901, the Nobel Peace Prize has been divided equally between an institution and an individual. In awarding the Prize to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the global body responsible for scientific assessment of climate change, and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore, the phenomenon's most renowned campaigner, the Norwegian Nobel Committee are highlighting the link they see between the risk of accelerating climate change and the risk of violent conflict and wars.

The IPCC was established by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide policymakers with neutral summaries of the latest information related to human-induced (or anthropogenic) climate change. Run from offices in Geneva, but open to any of the nearly 200 member states belonging to the UN or WMO, the IPCC functions through its working groups. There are currently 3 working groups, focusing on the science, impact and mitigation of climate change, and one task force charged with developing greenhouse gas inventories. The findings of the IPCC are presented as 'Assessment reports', synthesizing the views of the working groups, which are produced approximately every 5 years. The fourth and next report is due at the end of 2007.

The working groups have already published their individual contributions to the forthcoming fourth report. A quote from the Science Working Group's report states "Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations". A quote from Working Group II, which looks at impact, states "Much more evidence has accumulated over the past five years to indicate that changes in many physical and biological systems are linked to anthropogenic warming". They go on to say that "Unmitigated climate change would, in the long term, be likely to exceed the capacity of natural, managed and human systems to adapt".

Al Gore is the leading public advocate of the need to take immediate action to reduce anthropogenic climate change. His campaigning takes many forms, including the Academy Award-winning film An Inconvenient Truth and a book of the same name. He is also the founder and Chairman of the Alliance for Climate Change, an organization dedicated to persuading people of the urgency of responding to what it calls the 'climate crisis'.

I haven't included info about Literature and Economics, which I am not interested and really don't understand. The above search leads to discovery of Ig Nobel Prize and a fantastic documentary – 'An Inconvenient Truth' which I will put in upcoming posts…