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'Darwin in a test tube':


beecee

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https://phys.org/news/2018-10-trio-nobel-chemistry-prize-evolution.html

'Darwin in a test tube': Trio wins Nobel for harnessing evolution

October 3, 2018

US scientists Frances Arnold and George Smith and British researcher Gregory Winter won the Nobel Chemistry Prize on Wednesday for applying the principles of evolution to develop proteins used in everything from new biofuels to to the world's best-selling drug.

Arnold, just the fifth woman to clinch chemistry's most prestigious honour since Marie Curie was honoured in 1911, won one half of the nine million Swedish kronor (about $1.01 million or 870,000 euros) award, while Smith and Winter shared the other half.

"The 2018 Nobel Laureates in Chemistry have taken control of evolution and used it for purposes that bring the greatest benefit to humankind," the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences said.

Life on Earth exists because over the past 3.7 billion years organisms have adapted to their environment, with evolution solving complex chemical problems: fish can for example swim in polar oceans because they have antifreeze proteins in their blood.



Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-10-trio-nobel-chemistry-prize-evolution.html#jCp

 

 

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12 minutes ago, MigL said:

Wow. 
M curie won the Physics Nobel in 1903.
And the Chemistry Nobel in 1911 ?
 

Oui.

Quote

Together with her husband, she was awarded half of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903, for their study into the spontaneous radiation discovered by Becquerel, who was awarded the other half of the Prize. In 1911 she received a second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry, in recognition of her work in radioactivity. 

 https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1903/marie-curie/biographical/

 

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Dr. Smith is at the University of Missouri, my alma mater, and the first to win a Nobel Prize in the University of Missouri system. My wife knows him from her Biology undergraduate days, and he was a professor of my son's.

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18 hours ago, MigL said:

Wow. 
M curie won the Physics Nobel in 1903.
And the Chemistry Nobel in 1911 ?
 

Yep, sure did. I actually see Maria Curie up there in greatness with the  Newtons and Einsteins. The efforts in the primitive conditions both here and her Husband Pierre had to edure to extract an inkling of Radium salts from tons and tons of Pitche Blend is nothing short of amazing dedication to science. Also of course her Daughter Eve Curie also won the Noble prize for Chemistry in 1935 for artificial radioactivity. Quite a family!

If anyone is interested in a reasonably factual film of the life of Marie and Pierre Curie, there is an excellent B+W film released in the 40's entitled "Madame Curie" starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon.

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