Welcome to A Week in Science, I'm Paul Willis and R.I.O.S brings you the news in science
all week every week and this week we take a look at the 2012 Nobel Prize winners as
they were announced in Sweden.
The first Nobel Prize announced this year was awarded for Medicine or Physiology.
Their recipients were Shinya Yamanaka and Sir John Gordon who shared the prize for their
discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent.
They showed that mature cells could be reversed to become stem cells capable of converting
into all tissues of the body.
Their breakthrough has meant that scientists have created new opportunities to study disease
and developed methods for diagnosis and therapy triggering the stem cell revolution.
Congratulations to Professors Yamanaka and Gordon.
The 2012 Nobel Prize for Physics has been awarded to Serge Haroche and David Weinlein.
They received it for groundbreaking experimental methods that enabled measuring and manipulation
of individual quantum systems.
They developed techniques which allowed observation of individual particles without destroying
their quantum state or the way the particle exists.
This breakthrough is especially important in the development of superfast quantum computers
and clocks with unprecedented precision.
Congratulations Professors Weinlein and Haroche.
And the third science-based Nobel Prize for 2012 is the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
It was awarded to Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kabilka for studies of G-protein-coupled receptors.
These are an important family of receptors found on cells which allow the cells to interact
with the surrounding environment.
Additionally, nearly half of all medications act through G-protein-coupled receptors.
They not only identified many G-protein-coupled receptors and how they functioned but also
found their genetic basis.
Congratulations to Professors Lefkowitz and Kabilka.
In other non-nobel prize-winning science headlines this week, carbon emissions rise more during
economic boom times than they reduce during recessions.
A brainless slime showed that even basic organisms have a form of memory.
Stem cells have been used to generate thyroid tissue which was used to restore thyroid function
in mice.
And in good news for our indecisive producer Ben, the gut feeling we have when faced with
a decision has been found to unconsciously form in the hippocantus region of the brain.
Check out the RIO's website for events in October, including an evening with Nobel Laureate
Brian Schmidt on the 25th.
If you can't get a ticket, don't worry, his presentation will soon be up on our website.
That's been the highlights of a very big week in science.
For more science news stories, go to the RIO's website, rios.org.au.
You can also follow a week in science through the RIO's Twitter feed and join in the discussions
using the hashtag, Week in Sci.
I'm Paul Willis and on behalf of the RIO's team, I'll see you next week.
