Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Three Americans won the Nobel Prize in Physiology for their discoveries
about the biological clock.
They have isolated a gene that controls the body’s normal daily circadian
rhythm.
Biological clocks produce circadian rhythms and regulate their timing.
Circadian rhythm regulates the periods of tiredness and wakefulness during
the 24-hour cycle in synchronizes with earth’s rotation.
It adapts the workings of the body to different phases of the day.
It influences sleep, behavior, hormone levels, body temperature and
metabolism.
The body responds primarily to light and darkness and is found in all living
things viz plants, animals (including microbes) and human beings.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
It was awarded for the development of technique called “cryo-electron
microscopy” which helps in determining the structure of biomolecules in
solution.
It takes accurate and detailed pictures of living things at atomic scales.
The high-resolution, 3D images can help in cancer drug research and better
understanding of the Zika virus.
Nobel Prize in Physics
It was awarded for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the
observation of gravitational waves.
Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space-time released by violent
events such as mergers of black holes,
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is the
scientific project that made gravitational wave detection possible.
There are two LIGO detectors in USA (Louisiana and Washington), one in
Italy (Virgo) and one planned in India (INDIGO) and in Japan (KAGRA).
Nobel Peace Prize
It was awarded to International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
(ICAN).
It was given for its efforts to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian
consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and to achieve a treaty-based
prohibition of such weapons.
ICAN is a Geneva-based coalition of non-governmental organisations from
over 100 countries around the globe.
It began in Australia and was officially launched in Vienna in 2007.
It has been the leading civil society actor in the effort to achieve a
prohibition of nuclear weapons under international law.
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