The 2016 Nobel Prizes Thread

[jwl]

The 2016 Nobel Prizes will be announced in a week and a bit.

Who do you think will win them? Who do you think should win them?

[Ziggy Stardust]

I hear the odds are decent for Ko Un to win for Literature this year. There are always rumors of Haruki Murakami winning as well, though that seems unlikely at this point. I personally think the winner should be Antonio Lobo Antunes or Adunis.

[Patroklos]

I am not sure, but I am sure the 2017 peace price with go to President Clinton for reasons.

[Ziggy Stardust]

Well, then you should put some money down on that. NicerOdds doesn't even have odds listed for Clinton to win, so you could probably make a bundle on that bet if it turns out to happen. That said, of all people Kanye West and Kim Kardashian inexplicably have published odds on whether or not they will win, so clearly the odds in general are being rather polluted by people putting down sarcastic bets. Of the 'serious' candidates on the list, the current favorites are the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and Pope Francis. The latter winning would be very interesting (and, I believe, unprecedented), but unlikely given the past voting behaviors of the current prize committee - the past several years have all seen winners from outside of Europe. It would be in line with their behavior to give the award to the nuclear weapons campaign (a few years ago they gave awards to the OPCW).

I think the most likely winner for the Peace Prize is Mussie Zerai. The prize committee almost invariably latches on to recent high-profile events when they make their decision, and Mussie Zerai has been an incredibly active force in the refugee crisis, which is about as high-profile as humanitarian causes have gotten in recent years.

[Patroklos]

Pope Francis isn't European, he just lives there.

[Ralin]

Pope Francis isn't European, he just lives there.

Technically he does have citizenship in an European country now.

[Ziggy Stardust]

Yeah, and I think the "he lives there" is the critical part with respect to the Nobel committee. Even though the Church itself is far more relevant culturally and politically in Africa and South America than it is in Europe these days, it is still viewed as a predominantly European organization (of course, the Vatican itself is a European country, but, well, there is always a little bit of a disconnect between them and the rest of Europe). I also meant European more in terms of "European ISSUES" than ethnic background or citizenship. The prize committee has been a bit focused on events in the broader Muslim world (south Asia and the middle East in particular) as opposed to Europe proper, which is why I'm leaning towards the refugee crisis being central to their decision (yes, I know that the refugee crisis is a European issue, so don't be pedantic, you understand my point).

[jwl]

Whether Francis represents "European issues" surely depends not on where he lives or where he is born, but what issues he was nominated based on?

Googling it, the issues people seem to highlight are him championing environmental issues and helping out with the US-Cuba deal, neither of which can really be considered uniquely western issues. Although having said that, some of the same articles indicate he might not accept the award.

[The Romulan Republic]

I am not sure, but I am sure the 2017 peace price with go to President Clinton for reasons.

I'm guessing this is meant as some snide jab about supposed liberal bias or about Obama getting a Peace Prize or something, but honestly, I'd say keeping Donald Trump out of the Presidency probably does qualify one for a Nobel Peace Prize.

[K. A. Pital]

How so? Did Trump start any wars?

I understand the man is a total asshole, but "total asshole" and "war" are different, and so far as Trump has not started a single war, keeping him out of office does not make one qualify for the Peace Prize. No.

Then again, Obama's guilty of overlooking - or worse, consciously encouraging - the jihadist Turkish, Saudi and Qatari puppetmasters of the "Arab Spring" and in turning the Middle East into a blood bath. And he has that peace prize as well.

I guess that Peace Prize is just meant for bad people.

[The Romulan Republic]

Well, not to go too far off topic, but I would say that Trump's incitement and condoning of political violence from his supporters, his flippant talk of using nukes, his support for torture and killing the families of terrorists, his inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric (a potential recruiting tool for jihadis), his potentially destabilizing waffling on weather he'd throw America's allies under the bus, and the economic instability his election would likely cause, all mark him as a threat to world peace.

Clinton is a potential threat to world peace too (but then, any US President can fuck the world up royally with one mistake), but all things considered, I'd say she's less of one.

[jwl]

Regardless of whether keeping Trump out of office is worth the peace prize, Clinton has not yet succeeded in keeping Trump out of office, so this shouldn't be a reason yet. Anyway, Nobel prize nominations closed on 1 February, at which time neither Clinton nor Trump were presidential nominees. (For this reason, there are doubts about whether gravitational waves will win the physics prize, since they were announced on February 11, but leaks were from before then).

[jwl]

Also, although the nobel prize nominations are to be kept secret for 50 years, nominators do sometimes leak who they are nominating, and some made a list of peace prize leaks for this year: https://www.prio.org/About/PeacePrize/P ... ions-2016/
Clinton is not part of the leaks, but Francis and Trump are.
If these leaks are true:
Trump was nominated for "‘his vigorous peace through strength ideology, used as a threat weapon of deterrence against radical Islam, ISIS, nuclear Iran and Communist China" by a US Nominator.
Francis was nominated, to share with Herman Daly and the Club of Rome, for "significant contributions to global understanding of sustainable development", by Desmond Tutu.

[The Romulan Republic]

Well, Hitler was nominated too, so its just another parallel between him and Trump.

Francis I could sort of see- he at least makes some effort towards reconciliation in his speeches. Though perhaps their are others who have done more.

Hell, how about Kerry (since Obama's already won) for negotiating the Iran deal? Plus there's the whole warming of relations with Cuba. US foreign policy has a lot of faults, God knows, but those were both substantial diplomatic triumphs.

[jwl]

Francis I could sort of see- he at least makes some effort towards reconciliation in his speeches. Though perhaps their are others who have done more.

Of course, if the Nobel committee go with that particular nomination, they would be looking not at speeches based on reconciliation but ones based on sustainable development, and the contributions of his co-nominees.
Someone else might have nominated him for another reason, however.

[jwl]

Nobel prize for medicine announced:

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has today decided to award

the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

to

Yoshinori Ohsumi

for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy

Summary
This year's Nobel Laureate discovered and elucidated mechanisms underlying autophagy, a fundamental process for degrading and recycling cellular components.

The word autophagy originates from the Greek words auto-, meaning "self", and phagein, meaning "to eat". Thus,autophagy denotes "self eating". This concept emerged during the 1960's, when researchers first observed that the cell could destroy its own contents by enclosing it in membranes, forming sack-like vesicles that were transported to a recycling compartment, called the lysosome, for degradation. Difficulties in studying the phenomenon meant that little was known until, in a series of brilliant experiments in the early 1990's, Yoshinori Ohsumi used baker's yeast to identify genes essential for autophagy. He then went on to elucidate the underlying mechanisms for autophagy in yeast and showed that similar sophisticated machinery is used in our cells.

Ohsumi's discoveries led to a new paradigm in our understanding of how the cell recycles its content. His discoveries opened the path to understanding the fundamental importance of autophagy in many physiological processes, such as in the adaptation to starvation or response to infection. Mutations in autophagy genes can cause disease, and the autophagic process is involved in several conditions including cancer and neurological disease.

Degradation – a central function in all living cells
In the mid 1950's scientists observed a new specialized cellular compartment, called an organelle, containing enzymes that digest proteins, carbohydrates and lipids. This specialized compartment is referred to as a "lysosome" and functions as a workstation for degradation of cellular constituents. The Belgian scientist Christian de Duve was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1974 for the discovery of the lysosome. New observations during the 1960's showed that large amounts of cellular content, and even whole organelles, could sometimes be found inside lysosomes. The cell therefore appeared to have a strategy for delivering large cargo to the lysosome. Further biochemical and microscopic analysis revealed a new type of vesicle transporting cellular cargo to the lysosome for degradation (Figure 1). Christian de Duve, the scientist behind the discovery of the lysosome, coined the term autophagy, "self-eating", to describe this process. The new vesicles were named autophagosomes.

Autophagosome.
Figure 1: Our cells have different specialized compartments. Lysosomes constitute one such compartment and contain enzymes for digestion of cellular contents. A new type of vesicle called autophagosome was observed within the cell. As the autophagosome forms, it engulfs cellular contents, such as damaged proteins and organelles. Finally, it fuses with the lysosome, where the contents are degraded into smaller constituents. This process provides the cell with nutrients and building blocks for renewal.

During the 1970's and 1980's researchers focused on elucidating another system used to degrade proteins, namely the "proteasome". Within this research field Aaron Ciechanover, Avram Hershko and Irwin Rose were awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation". The proteasome efficiently degrades proteins one-by-one, but this mechanism did not explain how the cell got rid of larger protein complexes and worn-out organelles. Could the process of autophagy be the answer and, if so, what were the mechanisms?

A groundbreaking experiment
Yoshinori Ohsumi had been active in various research areas, but upon starting his own lab in 1988, he focused his efforts on protein degradation in the vacuole, an organelle that corresponds to the lysosome in human cells. Yeast cells are relatively easy to study and consequently they are often used as a model for human cells. They are particularly useful for the identification of genes that are important in complex cellular pathways. But Ohsumi faced a major challenge; yeast cells are small and their inner structures are not easily distinguished under the microscope and thus he was uncertain whether autophagy even existed in this organism. Ohsumi reasoned that if he could disrupt the degradation process in the vacuole while the process of autophagy was active, then autophagosomes should accumulate within the vacuole and become visible under the microscope. He therefore cultured mutated yeast lacking vacuolar degradation enzymes and simultaneously stimulated autophagy by starving the cells. The results were striking! Within hours, the vacuoles were filled with small vesicles that had not been degraded (Figure 2). The vesicles were autophagosomes and Ohsumi's experiment proved that authophagy exists in yeast cells. But even more importantly, he now had a method to identify and characterize key genes involved this process. This was a major break-through and Ohsumi published the results in 1992.

Yeast.
Figure 2: In yeast (left panel) a large compartment called the vacuole corresponds to the lysosome in mammalian cells. Ohsumi generated yeast lacking vacuolar degradation enzymes. When these yeast cells were starved, autophagosomes rapidly accumulated in the vacuole (middle panel). His experiment demonstrated that autophagy exists in yeast. As a next step, Ohsumi studied thousands of yeast mutants (right panel) and identified 15 genes that are essential for autophagy.

Autophagy genes are discovered
Ohsumi now took advantage of his engineered yeast strains in which autophagosomes accumulated during starvation. This accumulation should not occur if genes important for autophagy were inactivated. Ohsumi exposed the yeast cells to a chemical that randomly introduced mutations in many genes, and then he induced autophagy. His strategy worked! Within a year of his discovery of autophagy in yeast, Ohsumi had identified the first genes essential for autophagy. In his subsequent series of elegant studies, the proteins encoded by these genes were functionally characterized. The results showed that autophagy is controlled by a cascade of proteins and protein complexes, each regulating a distinct stage of autophagosome initiation and formation (Figure 3).

Stages of autophagosome formation
Figure 3: Ohsumi studied the function of the proteins encoded by key autophagy genes. He delineated how stress signals initiate autophagy and the mechanism by which proteins and protein complexes promote distinct stages of autophagosome formation.

Autophagy – an essential mechanism in our cells
After the identification of the machinery for autophagy in yeast, a key question remained. Was there a corresponding mechanism to control this process in other organisms? Soon it became clear that virtually identical mechanisms operate in our own cells. The research tools required to investigate the importance of autophagy in humans were now available.

Thanks to Ohsumi and others following in his footsteps, we now know that autophagy controls important physiological functions where cellular components need to be degraded and recycled. Autophagy can rapidly provide fuel for energy and building blocks for renewal of cellular components, and is therefore essential for the cellular response to starvation and other types of stress. After infection, autophagy can eliminate invading intracellular bacteria and viruses. Autophagy contributes to embryo development and cell differentiation. Cells also use autophagy to eliminate damaged proteins and organelles, a quality control mechanism that is critical for counteracting the negative consequences of aging.

Disrupted autophagy has been linked to Parkinson's disease, type 2 diabetes and other disorders that appear in the elderly. Mutations in autophagy genes can cause genetic disease. Disturbances in the autophagic machinery have also been linked to cancer. Intense research is now ongoing to develop drugs that can target autophagy in various diseases.

Autophagy has been known for over 50 years but its fundamental importance in physiology and medicine was only recognized after Yoshinori Ohsumi's paradigm-shifting research in the 1990's. For his discoveries, he is awarded this year's Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.

https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes ... press.html

Physics is tomorrow, Chemistry is Wednesday, Peace is Friday. They haven't said yet when they will announce literature.

[Ziggy Stardust]

It's usually announced on Thursday. Peace is traditionally the last prize announced (at least for the past decade or so, have no idea how old the current ordering regime is).

[jwl]

Based on some hints in the official Nobel prize twitter feed, I'm going to guess that Vera Rubin and Kent Ford will win this year's Nobel Physics prize. We'll find out if I'm right soon.

[jwl]

Well, I was wrong. I thought it might be Rubin and Ford because the offical twitter account was tweeting about female nobel physics prize winners not long before the announcement.

Here's who actually won it:

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics 2016 with one half to

David J. Thouless
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

and the other half to

F. Duncan M. Haldane
Princeton University, NJ, USA

and

J. Michael Kosterlitz
Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

”for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter”

They revealed the secrets of exotic matter
This year’s Laureates opened the door on an unknown world where matter can assume strange states. They have used advanced mathematical methods to study unusual phases, or states, of matter, such as superconductors, superfluids or thin magnetic films. Thanks to their pioneering work, the hunt is now on for new and exotic phases of matter. Many people are hopeful of future applications in both materials science and electronics.

The three Laureates’ use of topological concepts in physics was decisive for their discoveries. Topology is a branch of mathematics that describes properties that only change step-wise. Using topology as a tool, they were able to astound the experts. In the early 1970s, Michael Kosterlitz and David Thouless overturned the then current theory that superconductivity or suprafluidity could not occur in thin layers. They demonstrated that superconductivity could occur at low temperatures and also explained the mechanism, phase transition, that makes superconductivity disappear at higher temperatures.

In the 1980s, Thouless was able to explain a previous experiment with very thin electrically conducting layers in which conductance was precisely measured as integer steps. He showed that these integers were topological in their nature. At around the same time, Duncan Haldane discovered how topological concepts can be used to understand the properties of chains of small magnets found in some materials.

We now know of many topological phases, not only in thin layers and threads, but also in ordinary three-dimensional materials. Over the last decade, this area has boosted frontline research in condensed matter physics, not least because of the hope that topological materials could be used in new generations of electronics and superconductors, or in future quantum computers. Current research is revealing the secrets of matter in the exotic worlds discovered by this year’s Nobel Laureates.

https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes ... press.html

[jwl]

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2016 to

Jean-Pierre Sauvage
University of Strasbourg, France

Sir J. Fraser Stoddart
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

and

Bernard L. Feringa
University of Groningen, the Netherlands

"for the design and synthesis of molecular machines"



They developed the world's smallest machines
A tiny lift, artificial muscles and miniscule motors. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2016 is awarded to Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L. Feringa for their design and production of molecular machines. They have developed molecules with controllable movements, which can perform a task when energy is added.

The development of computing demonstrates how the miniaturisation of technology can lead to a revolution. The 2016 Nobel Laureates in Chemistry have miniaturised machines and taken chemistry to a new dimension.

The first step towards a molecular machine was taken by Jean-Pierre Sauvage in 1983, when he succeeded in linking two ring-shaped molecules together to form a chain, called a catenane. Normally, molecules are joined by strong covalent bonds in which the atoms share electrons, but in the chain they were instead linked by a freer mechanical bond. For a machine to be able to perform a task it must consist of parts that can move relative to each other. The two interlocked rings fulfilled exactly this requirement.

The second step was taken by Fraser Stoddart in 1991, when he developed a rotaxane. He threaded a molecular ring onto a thin molecular axle and demonstrated that the ring was able to move along the axle. Among his developments based on rotaxanes are a molecular lift, a molecular muscle and a molecule-based computer chip.

Bernard Feringa was the first person to develop a molecular motor; in 1999 he got a molecular rotor blade to spin continually in the same direction. Using molecular motors, he has rotated a glass cylinder that is 10,000 times bigger than the motor and also designed a nanocar.

2016's Nobel Laureates in Chemistry have taken molecular systems out of equilibrium's stalemate and into energy-filled states in which their movements can be controlled. In terms of development, the molecular motor is at the same stage as the electric motor was in the 1830s, when scientists displayed various spinning cranks and wheels, unaware that they would lead to electric trains, washing machines, fans and food processors. Molecular machines will most likely be used in the development of things such as new materials, sensors and energy storage systems

https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes ... press.html

[jwl]

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2016 to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos for his resolute efforts to bring the country's more than 50-year-long civil war to an end, a war that has cost the lives of at least 220 000 Colombians and displaced close to six million people. The award should also be seen as a tribute to the Colombian people who, despite great hardships and abuses, have not given up hope of a just peace, and to all the parties who have contributed to the peace process. This tribute is paid, not least, to the representatives of the countless victims of the civil war.

President Santos initiated the negotiations that culminated in the peace accord between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas, and he has consistently sought to move the peace process forward. Well knowing that the accord was controversial, he was instrumental in ensuring that Colombian voters were able to voice their opinion concerning the peace accord in a referendum. The outcome of the vote was not what President Santos wanted: a narrow majority of the over 13 million Colombians who cast their ballots said no to the accord. This result has created great uncertainty as to the future of Colombia. There is a real danger that the peace process will come to a halt and that civil war will flare up again. This makes it even more important that the parties, headed by President Santos and FARC guerrilla leader Rodrigo Londoño, continue to respect the ceasefire.

The fact that a majority of the voters said no to the peace accord does not necessarily mean that the peace process is dead. The referendum was not a vote for or against peace. What the "No" side rejected was not the desire for peace, but a specific peace agreement. The Norwegian Nobel Committee emphasizes the importance of the fact that President Santos is now inviting all parties to participate in a broad-based national dialogue aimed at advancing the peace process. Even those who opposed the peace accord have welcomed such a dialogue. The Nobel Committee hopes that all parties will take their share of responsibility and participate constructively in the upcoming peace talks.

Striking a balance between the need for national reconciliation and ensuring justice for the victims will be a particularly difficult challenge. There are no simple answers to how this should be accomplished. An important feature of the Colombian peace process so far has been the participation of representatives of civil war victims. Witnessing the courage and will of the victims' representatives to testify about atrocities, and to confront the perpetrators from every side of the conflict, has made a profound impression.

By awarding this year's Peace Prize to President Juan Manuel Santos, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to encourage all those who are striving to achieve peace, reconciliation and justice in Colombia. The president himself has made it clear that he will continue to work for peace right up until his very last day in office. The Committee hopes that the Peace Prize will give him strength to succeed in this demanding task. Furthermore, it is the Committee's hope that in the years to come the Colombian people will reap the fruits of the ongoing peace and reconciliation process. Only then will the country be able to address effectively major challenges such as poverty, social injustice and drug-related crime.

The civil war in Colombia is one of the longest civil wars in modern times and the sole remaining armed conflict in the Americas. It is the Norwegian Nobel Committee's firm belief that President Santos, despite the "No" majority vote in the referendum, has brought the bloody conflict significantly closer to a peaceful solution, and that much of the groundwork has been laid for both the verifiable disarmament of the FARC guerrillas and a historic process of national fraternity and reconciliation. His endeavors to promote peace thus fulfil the criteria and spirit of Alfred Nobel's will.

https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes ... press.html

[Elheru Aran]

The Peace Prize has been a poorly done political farce for years. This is just another example.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... farce.html

[scythewielder]

The Peace Prize has been a poorly done political farce for years. This is just another example.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... farce.html

There has always been an inherently political element to the Peace Prize and this latest case is not different. But even in that sense, I feel Santos has actually done much for the cause of peace inside his country by insisting on negotiating in spite of a very ravenous right-wing opposition led by former president Uribe, gradually reducing violence in a significant manner during these talks and ultimately reaching a concrete peace agreement. Which is certainly far more than whatever Obama had done at the time of receiving this same award.

That said, it is true the peace talks could fail in the near future if a successful renegotiation surrounding certain controversial issues is not achieved. Given the current political climate within Colombia, which is rather evenly divided between those who favor the current peace deal and those who do not (as the recent vote makes quite clear), I feel that granting this prize does carry some valid weight as a form of encouragement to those who support the peace process and, frankly, helps prevent Santos from just giving up altogether after an electoral defeat.

I would also argue the current agreement does have a lot more to say about the rights of victims than what that article suggests. The FARC group has also acknowledged that they will have to pay reparations, though it's true they have been far from completely open about this subject. The Catholic Church is not opposed to the peace deal at all either. There has been some opposition from certain evangelical and Christian groups who have (questionably) criticized the inclusion of references to gender issues as an "attack on the family" but plenty of figures within the Church have supported it.

[K. A. Pital]

There's also the not-small matter that although a full peace deal has not come to pass, the ceasefire between FARC and government is still in effect.

[Murazor]

And Bob Dylan takes Literature.

What the actual fuck?