2012 Nobel and Ig-Nobel Prizes

[GarrAarghHrumph]

The Nobel Prize winners will begin to be announced beginning in the first weeks of October. In anticipation, the awards for the Ig-Nobel Prizes were given out last night. For those who don't know, the Ig-Nobels are somewhat comedic, somewhat serious awards given out for science which is done seriously, and may have serious merit, but which comes across as a bit... silly.

To grab a quote from the Ig-Nobel website:

...it's a collection of, like, actual Nobel Prize winners giving away prizes to real scientists for doing f'd-up things... it's awesome.

You can find a list of the 2012 winners here, as well as descriptions of what they won for:

http://www.improbable.com/ig/winners/

My favorite this year is probably the U.S. Government General Accountability Office. Sadly, they're the only awardee who did not show up. They won the literature prize for "issuing a report about reports about reports that recommends the preparation of a report about the report about reports about reports."

Although the peace prize is actually very cool: "The SKN Company [RUSSIA], for converting old Russian ammunition into new diamonds." In his acceptance speech, Igor Petrov said, "Ladies, if you want diamonds, come see me after the show — but bring your own explosives."

[overedge]

Thanks for the link! These are always hilarious. Especially because Nobel Prize winners show up to hand out the hardware

[GarrAarghHrumph]

And most of the winners actually show up and are happy to have a chance to call attention to their science.

[rjblue]

Thanks for posting this. I always enjoy reading about the Ig-Nobel winners. Your favourite is my favourite. I actually looked at the document and it actually is as described. I have to wonder what was going through the head of the woman who wrote it.

[Artemis@BC]

My favorite this year is probably the U.S. Government General Accountability Office. Sadly, they're the only awardee who did not show up. They won the literature prize for "issuing a report about reports about reports that recommends the preparation of a report about the report about reports about reports."

That would be funnier if it hadn't killed so many trees.

Reminds me of the West Wing episode though ...

[GarrAarghHrumph]

The schedule for the actual Nobel Prize announcements is here:
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_priz...announcements/

First announcement will be on Monday.

[GarrAarghHrumph]

The prize for medicine was announced today. It was given for reprogramming adult cells - the discovery that adult cells can be transformed back into stem cells that act like those in embryos.

John Gurdon, 79, of the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge, UK, and Shinya Yamanaka, 50, of Kyoto University in Japan, discovered ways to create tissue out of adult cells that would act like embryonic cells, without the need to harvest embryos. This lead to cloning, and has gone on to lead to the potential to treat diseases using stem cells that are harvested from an adult.

This allows, for example, tissue from an adult to be harvested from, say, the skin, grown into brain cells in a lab, and have treatments tested on it in ways that don't jeopardize the health of the patient. They hope it will help with treatments for diseases such as Parkinsons. They also hope it will eventually lead to replacement organs that can be transplanted into the person the cells were taken from, without the risk of rejection that an organ from a separate donor carries.

As an amusing aside, in an interview, Gurdon mentioned that he still keeps a report from his school on his wall. It says, of his younger self, "I believe he has ideas about becoming a scientist... This is quite ridiculous. It would be a sheer waste of time, both on his part and of those who have to teach him. He will not listen, but will insist on doing his work in his own way."

Yeah, I guess that worked out for him.

Yamanaka's research wasn't published that long ago - 2006. As I recall, it's not overly common for research that recent to win the Nobel, but his has been big-time influential. Basically, he re-wrote the book.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...363646792.html

[CantALoop]

Yamanaka's research is well deserved - it really advanced progress toward personalized and regenerative medicine.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/11/sc...chemistry.html

The Chemistry Prize went to people who worked on G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), which are a major superfamily of proteins that have a multitude of functions in the cell.

That being said, all my chemistry friends are butthurt that the Chemistry Prize went to molecular biologists again

[beepbeep]

Know the feeling. Having graduated experimental Physics, I was outraged when they gave it to astronomers last year. What is the practical result of astronomy research these days.
That said I'm glad they didn't give it to the Higgs boson team this year. The only lives it'll change (I mean, not change, since they actually found the damn particle that makes the counts right) is of mathmaticians and theoretical physicists.

[mkats]

Woohoo for Duke chemistry!

I loved these two clips from the WP article:

Lefkowitz said he was fast asleep when the Nobel committee called, but he didn’t hear it because he was wearing ear plugs. So his wife picked up the phone.

“She said, ‘There’s a call here for you from Stockholm,’” Lefkowitz told The Associated Press. “I knew they ain’t calling to find out what the weather is like in Durham today.”

Kobilka said he found out around 2:30 a.m., after the Nobel committee called his home twice. He said he didn’t get to the phone the first time, but that when he picked up the second time, he spoke to five members of the committee.

“They passed the phone around and congratulated me,” Kobilka told AP. I guess they do that so you actually believe them. When one person calls you, it can be a joke, but when five people with convincing Swedish accents call you, then it isn’t a joke.”

[altai_rose]

I interviewed with Dr. Lefkowitz a few years ago when I was interviewing at Duke.... very friendly person!

Regarding iPS cells (Yamanaka's research): iPS cells are a "hot" field right now, and lots of people are working on it. I do feel the Nobel's a bit premature, though, considering that clinical applications are still extremely preliminary.

[CantALoop]

Know the feeling. Having graduated experimental Physics, I was outraged when they gave it to astronomers last year. What is the practical result of astronomy research these days.
That said I'm glad they didn't give it to the Higgs boson team this year. The only lives it'll change (I mean, not change, since they actually found the damn particle that makes the counts right) is of mathmaticians and theoretical physicists.

Now that I think of it, physicists have more reason to complain because they got snaked by the chemists in 2010 (graphene), so you have more scientific disciplines encroaching on your territory

Regarding iPS cells (Yamanaka's research): iPS cells are a "hot" field right now, and lots of people are working on it. I do feel the Nobel's a bit premature, though, considering that clinical applications are still extremely preliminary.

You're not alone, I know many other cell biologists who think that the iPS Nobel is premature given how medical application of stem cells is still in its infancy and nowhere near being a standard clinical procedure. However, I think it really shifted the paradigm of the field because of its potential use and the practical advantage of using adult cells rather than plucking an embryonic cell and then keeping it preserved until needed.

But that being said, it's nice they coupled it with a classic Xenopus experiment with the theme of cellular reprogramming rather than just iPS.

[susan6]

The Chemistry Prize went to people who worked on G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), which are a major superfamily of proteins that have a multitude of functions in the cell.

That being said, all my chemistry friends are butthurt that the Chemistry Prize went to molecular biologists again

I'm a little butthurt. I was rooting for Brus or Graetzel. You know.....chemists.

[Buzz]

Looks like our cousins down south are doing very well with the Nobel committee again this year. congratulations to all the winners.

[Evilynn]

The Literature prize went to Chinese novelist Mo Yan.
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_priz...aureates/2012/

[liv]

I loved watching that press conference with Gurdon about how his teacher said he shouldn't try to do anything with science!! That is soooo funny. Talk about the ultimate way to prove someone wrong!

[GarrAarghHrumph]

The physics prize this year went to Serge Haroche, 68, of the Collège de France and the École Normale Supérieure, in Paris, and David J. Wineland, also 68, of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado, for their work observing quantum particles.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/sc...pagewanted=all

It's believed this work will lead to things such as more accurate atomic clocks (already has done some of that), better GPS systems, and quantum computers.

[beepbeep]

Now that I think of it, physicists have more reason to complain because they got snaked by the chemists in 2010 (graphene), so you have more scientific disciplines encroaching on your territory

Physics is everything

I was particularly happy with the award in 2007 (discovery of giant magnetoresistance) as the 1st name on the paper (Baibich) was actually one of my teachers. Of course he wouldn't win anything as he was a mere post-dco in need of a publication. He noticed the effect on the measurements and Fert and Grünberg did the work. Sitll, very exciting

[equatorial]

GREAT decision re Literature. Mo Yan is an outstanding writer.

[Domshabfan]

Know the feeling. Having graduated experimental Physics, I was outraged when they gave it to astronomers last year. What is the practical result of astronomy research these days.
That said I'm glad they didn't give it to the Higgs boson team this year. The only lives it'll change (I mean, not change, since they actually found the damn particle that makes the counts right) is of mathmaticians and theoretical physicists.

Wow, i can't believe this statement...