2023-10-06 20:40:58
Here are the scientific discoveries rewarded by the Nobel Prizes awarded this week.
RNA vaccines (Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology)
Scientists Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work on the development of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines. It is thanks to this research that the entire world was able to obtain effective vaccines once morest COVID-19 so quickly.
While some vaccines are made from inactivated or weakened viruses (like the flu), mRNA vaccines work by exploiting only certain components of the targeted virus. This allows large quantities of vaccines to be produced much more quickly.
The two scientists, who were colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania, became interested in mRNA and its interaction with the immune system in the late 1990s. They realized that mRNA had therapeutic potential thanks to the genetic information it contains. The vaccine delivers a small strand of mRNA into our cells. These decode the message it carries within it, a bit as if they were reading an instruction manual, in order to build proteins (from the virus to be fought). The presence of these proteins activates the immune system and teaches it to recognize the virus during a subsequent infection.
> To see a detailed explanation of how RNA viruses work, see:
Ultra-fast light flashes (Nobel Prize in physics)
The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier for their experiments highlighting ” the world of electrons inside atoms and molecules. » Each in their own way, these scientists succeeded in generating extremely brief light pulses, on the order of attoseconds. “ An attosecond is so short that there are as many in one second as there have been seconds since the birth of the universe », Explains the Nobel Committee.
Such short light pulses are used to track the movement of electrons in atoms and study their interactions. In the Washington Post, a physicist compares them to the blades of a fan which, when rotating, are impossible to distinguish from each other. However, by projecting a strobe light, each blade becomes discernible. This is also what happens with atoms when they are exposed to a pulse of light, making it easier to study them further.
> Very few women have succeeded in winning the Nobel Prize in physics. Reread our interview with Canadian Donna Strickland, winner of this prize in 2019.
Quantum dots (Nobel Prize in Chemistry)
The trio composed of Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “ the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots. » These particles are so small that it was thought they would be impossible to manufacture. However, today, these colored dots are commonly used in screens (computers and QLED televisions) and find applications in the medical field.
Quantum dots are semiconductor nanocrystals that exhibit different properties and colors depending on their size. “When the particle is only a few nanometers in diameter, the space available for electrons decreases. This affects the optical properties of the particle. » For example, a nanoparticle can change from red to blue when compressed.
According to the Nobel Prize selection committee, many technologies can be improved or invented thanks to the properties of quantum dots.
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