The cause of science

Source: The post is based on an article “The cause of science” published in The Business Standard on 10^th October 2022.

Syllabus: GS 3

Relevance: Nobel Prize 2022 in science

News: Recently, Nobel Prize has been given in many fields which also include Chemistry, Physics and Medicine. The developments made in these fields are important for the development in science.

Who has been awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry and for what achievement?

The Nobel prize of 2022 in chemistry prize went to Carolyn Bertozzi, Morten Meldal, and Barry Sharpless (who also won a chemistry Nobel in 2001) for “the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry”.

Click chemistry helps in quick chemical reactions without unwanted by-products.

Bioorthogonal chemistry is a method of doing click chemistry within living cells without disrupting the normal functions of the cell.

These processes enable scientists to quickly and cheaply build new molecules which can be studied intensively.

It has many benefits as it can help in pharmaceutical research by making new drugs and also studying the impact of those drugs.

For example, bioorthogonal approach can help in studying the impact of cancer drugs in cells.

Who has been awarded Nobel Prize in physics and for what achievement?

The Nobel Prize in physics is shared among three individuals – Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger. They have separately investigated the rules for the working of entangled particles.

Entanglement between two paired particles means that a change in the state of one particle leads to a simultaneous change in the state of the other particle even if the pairs are separated by a distance.

This appears to violate the principle of relativity which says that not even information can travel faster than light. Albert Einstein described it as “spooky action”.

Anton Zeilinger demonstrated quantum teleportation using entanglement.

Quantum effects are important in cryptography and in computing.

Who has been awarded Nobel Prize in medicine and for what achievement?

The Nobel Prize 2022 in medicine has been awarded to Svante Pääbo.

He developed the field of paleogenealogy by using modern DNA technology to examine the genomes of extinct branches of the human race.

He is also led the discovery of the Homo Denisovan sub-species and with sequencing the Neanderthal genome.

This discovery gives us many clues about Palaeolithic migration and socialisation patterns. Further, this method can be used to extract and analyse ancient DNA from many other species.

Moreover, genes from extinct sub-species may have peculiar and useful effects in terms of affording immunity.