The 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Svante Pääbo for his work on palaeogenetics.

Pääbo basically invented the field, by developing techniques of sequencing degraded DNA. His methods have been used to sequence the nuclear, Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA of ancient H. sapiens, neanderthals and denisovans.

This a fairly unusual decision by the committee.

dv said:

The 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Svante Pääbo for his work on palaeogenetics.

Pääbo basically invented the field, by developing techniques of sequencing degraded DNA. His methods have been used to sequence the nuclear, Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA of ancient H. sapiens, neanderthals and denisovans.

This a fairly unusual decision by the committee.

OK, so there was I thinking that sounds like a very worthy winner of the prize, then I read your last line.

So what is so unusual about it?

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

The 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Svante Pääbo for his work on palaeogenetics.

Pääbo basically invented the field, by developing techniques of sequencing degraded DNA. His methods have been used to sequence the nuclear, Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA of ancient H. sapiens, neanderthals and denisovans.

This a fairly unusual decision by the committee.

OK, so there was I thinking that sounds like a very worthy winner of the prize, then I read your last line.

So what is so unusual about it?

Typically the P&M NPs go to work that increases understanding of human physiology/biomechanics, or work that directly lead to mew treatments.
This is an uncommonly, shall we say, esoteric work. A field concerned with the “big picture” of humanity’s place in evolution.
DGMW, I think the results have been fascinating, I’m not saying it is a bad choice, but it’s certainly an unusual choice compared to the set of winners from the last fifty years.

I was literally preparing a post on the replacement of Y- and mt- DNA in Neanderthals when I read this news.

Alain Aspect, John F Clauser and Anton Zeilinger were awarded for “experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science”.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the laureates — Dr Aspect is French, Dr Clauser American and Dr Zeilinger Austrian — enabled further fundamental research and also potentially cleared the way for new practical technology.

The scientists all conducted experiments into quantum entanglement, where two particles are linked regardless of the space between them, a field that unsettled Albert Einstein himself, who once referred to it in a letter as “spooky action at a distance”.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-05/nobel-prize-in-chemistry-awarded-click-bioorthogonal-chemistry/101505826

Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to Carolyn Bertozzi, Morten Meldal and K Barry Sharpless
Scientists Carolyn Bertozzi, Morten Meldal and K Barry Sharpless have been awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering reactions that let molecules snap together to create desired compounds and that offer insight into cell biology.
The technologies known as click chemistry and bio-orthogonal chemistry are now used globally to explore cells and track biological processes, the award-giving body said in a statement.

“Using bio-orthogonal reactions, researchers have improved the targeting of cancer pharmaceuticals, which are now being tested in clinical trials,” it added.

Congrats to all f them, I am sure they are very deserving.

I guess the work of Svante Paabo does not fall easily into any category. I have watched many of his lectures on Youtube over the last few years regarding the genetic discoveries his team has made. I think it is a very interesting field.

party_pants said:

Congrats to all f them, I am sure they are very deserving.

I guess the work of Svante Paabo does not fall easily into any category. I have watched many of his lectures on Youtube over the last few years regarding the genetic discoveries his team has made. I think it is a very interesting field.

What a nerd.

sibeen said:

party_pants said:

Congrats to all f them, I am sure they are very deserving.

I guess the work of Svante Paabo does not fall easily into any category. I have watched many of his lectures on Youtube over the last few years regarding the genetic discoveries his team has made. I think it is a very interesting field.

What a nerd.

it’s only when there is no cricket or footy on.

party_pants said:

sibeen said:

party_pants said:

Congrats to all f them, I am sure they are very deserving.

I guess the work of Svante Paabo does not fall easily into any category. I have watched many of his lectures on Youtube over the last few years regarding the genetic discoveries his team has made. I think it is a very interesting field.

What a nerd.

it’s only when there is no cricket or footy on.

There’s other sport, you know.

Nobel peace prize given to human rights activists in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine

The jailed Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties have won the 2022 Nobel peace prize, in an award the committee said was to honour champions of “peaceful coexistence” during the most tumultuous period in Europe since the second world war.

dv said:

Nobel peace prize given to human rights activists in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine

The jailed Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties have won the 2022 Nobel peace prize, in an award the committee said was to honour champions of “peaceful coexistence” during the most tumultuous period in Europe since the second world war.

Tverskoy Court in Moscow. Today, Nobel Peace Prize-winners Memorial, Russia’s oldest human rights group, are trying to stop the Russian authorities from seizing their office building.

Dark Orange said:

dv said:

Nobel peace prize given to human rights activists in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine

The jailed Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties have won the 2022 Nobel peace prize, in an award the committee said was to honour champions of “peaceful coexistence” during the most tumultuous period in Europe since the second world war.

Tverskoy Court in Moscow. Today, Nobel Peace Prize-winners Memorial, Russia’s oldest human rights group, are trying to stop the Russian authorities from seizing their office building.

:(

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-universe-is-not-locally-real-and-the-physics-nobel-prize-winners-proved-it/?amp=true

Witty Rejoinder said:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-universe-is-not-locally-real-and-the-physics-nobel-prize-winners-proved-it/?amp=true

“. (Von Neumann’s proof, it must be said, was refuted just three years later by a young female mathematician, Grete Hermann, but at the time no one seemed to notice.)”

How come I’ve never heard of that before (so far as I remember)?

Another thing.
My understanding is that Bell thought a possible resolution of the problem was that actually information can travel faster than light.

How come that possibility is always dismissed without discussion?