If I have 300 ideas in a year and just one turns out to work, I am satisfied.
Alfred Nobel (1833-1896), Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, founder of the Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prize for Physics in 2020 went to Robert Penrose, of the University of Oxford (UK), for having established that the theory of general relativity accurately predicts black hole formation, and jointly to Reinhard Genzel, of the University of Berkeley (CA, USA) and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching (Germany) and Andrea Ghez, of the University of Los Angeles (CA, USA) for the discovery of a compact and supermassive object, compatible with a black hole, at the center of our galaxy. A theoretical physicist, Penrose in 1965 created a mathematical method to explore Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity, demonstrating that the theory leads to the formation of black holes. Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez were able to precisely map the orbit of the brightest stars near the center of our galaxy, and both came to the conclusion that there was something invisible and extremely heavy there that made stars spin at very high speed. This invisible mass corresponds to about 4 million Suns, crushed in a volume no larger than our solar system, and is probably a supermassive black hole.
What does this mean for your everyday life? The theory of general relativity shows that everything and everyone in the universe is governed by gravity. Gravity is the supreme queen of the universe as much as the Childlike Empress was of Fantàsia (and if you have never seen The Neverending Story you should stop reading right now and go to culture up a little). Gravity ensures that the Earth does not disintegrate and that we do not float in the air like balloons, it shapes space and influences time. A fairly heavy mass can bend space and slow time. An extremely heavy mass can even cut space and encapsulate it, forming a black hole. The study of black holes is the study of gravity, which not only governs the formation of stars and the universe as a whole, but also governs very practical things like your GPS.
(this Monnalisa News has been kindly written by Cristina Belgiovine, PhD in Molecular Biology)
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the discovery of CRISPR-Cas9, which is a method that allows DNA sequences in plants, animals and humans to be cut and replaced with other genetic sequences. Albeit that several labs discovered CRISPR-Cas9 (which stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats), the two winners Emmanuelle Charpentier, from the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens, and Jennifer A. Doudna, from the University of Berkeley (USA), were the first to demonstrate the potential of this mechanism. CRISPR-Ca9 was discovered in 1987 and is a protein that has the function of the adaptive immune system in bacteria, the equivalent of our lymphocytes. The CRISPR protein has “chemical scissors”, Cas9, which can cut the viral DNA and replace it.
How has this discovery revolutionized the world? CRISPR is a fast and inexpensive method that could virtually cure any genetic disease, thanks to the fact that, by not requiring the introduction of new DNA sequences, it can intervene directly on the gene. It opens the door to endless new scenarios about genetic manipulation. Genetic engineering can be directed to study genes, the creation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the treatment of fatal diseases. Humanity is on the verge of a genetic revolution in which bodies and organisms turn into cars and we become the mechanics. In the future we will be able to replace a single piece to understand how it works, to improve a particular part of the vehicle (to produce a new GMO) or fix defects and repair broken parts to keep the car working longer and better.
The 2020 Nobel Prize for Medicine went to Harvey J. Alter, of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda (USA), Michael Houghton, of the University of Alberta, Edmonton (CA), and Charles M. Rice, of Rockefeller University, New York (USA), for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus. Hepatitis, from the Greek “liver” and “inflammation”, is a disease characterized by little appetite, vomiting, fatigue and yellow coloration of the skin and eyes. Chronic hepatitis leads to liver damage, which in turn can progress into cirrhosis or cancer. Until 1960, transfusions of infected blood caused up to 30% of cases of chronic hepatitis. The work of Alter, Houghton and Rice has succeeded in isolating the virus which produces Hepatitis C, and is caused by an RNA virus of the Flavivirus family, now renamed the Hepatitis C virus (HCV).
What does this mean for your everyday life? In the world there are 80 million people affected by Hepatitis C, more or less 1% of the global population. This work has allowed the development of screening methods that have dramatically reduced the risk of getting hepatitis from a transfusion, and has led to the development of antiviral drugs that have improved and saved the lives of millions of people.
We cannot speak about black holes and Nobel prizes without mentioning the visionary, arrogant, testosteronic and yet monumental Interstellar by Christopher Nolan. The plot is the story of Ulysses re-proposed in a colossal frame set in a dystopian future, with Matthew McConaughey as the one who explores the unknown, black holes as the pillars of Hercules and Anne Hathaway as Penelope, equipped with a spacesuit and a physics degree rather than needle and thread. Written by Nolan’s brother Jonathan* and supervised by the physicist and Nobel Laureate Kip Thorne, the film is a fest of everything a colossal of our time should be. It’s like the Ben Hur of the 2020s (with a touch of The Notebook because the Nolans are a bit tacky when it comes to love stories). It also has the merit of being scientifically very accurate. Thorne wrote a book about the physics of Interstellar and delivered countless lectures, two of which I attended during my LA years – Thorne was dressed in a pristine white suit like an aging David Bowie. I still dream about the wave scene at night.
It is not possible to talk about CRISPR without asking yourself some bioethical questions. Could genetic engineering generate errors in the genetic code? To what extent can scientists predict the effects of introducing genetically modified species into the environment? What if, in addition to being used to treat diseases, it will also be used to enhance human beings, turning us into engineered, elitist weapons? What, then, are the limits we should set? These are some of the questions tackled by Unnatural Selection, a nicely done Netflix miniseries that presents the CRISPR method from many points of view (there is the child born blind, but also the biohacker). We would like to close this week with the opening question from the series : “If you had an idea that was going to outrage society, would you keep it to yourself?”. ‘Til next time!
*When left alone writing a script, Christopher just creates chaos. Don’t believe me? Watch Tenet.
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