That time of year – Australian science awards
I will start this article with Australian honours: the Prime Minister's Prize for Science (announced on October 19th) was won by Professor Richard (Rick) Shine for his success in a very practical ecological project.
Professor Shine has a string of achievements in ecology, including the 2013 Eureka Prize for Outstanding Mentor of Young Scientists and the 2011 Environmental Award (Australian Innovation and Challenge Awards).
This prize is for his primary passion, ecology informed by biology research. He joins his brother John, who received the 2010 Prime Minister's Prize for Science for leadership in biomedical research. John also helped Rick in his early exploration of reptiles.
"I was the kid who brought bluetongue lizards to school," Rick says. "When my big brother learnt to drive, he took me out into the bush where I could capture snakes and bring them home."
Rick has used two different, and successful, methods to help protect native reptiles, and animals such as quolls, from dying when they eat poisonous introduced cane toads. First his team worked out how to administer hormones to stop the toad tadpoles from poisoning the eggs of their competitors, allowing the natural pond-dwelling animals to grow and eat some of the cane toad tadpoles. This method has now been patented.
Next, he and his team observed carefully, and they saw that native animals and reptiles do not die when they eat juvenile toads. They get sick, then recover, and learn not to eat any more toads. Therefore, these creatures are "immunised" in a sense, and do not eat the larger, more poisonous toads.
By further rigorous observation, Professor Shine realised that there were only large, mature toads in the advancing "frontline" (in this case, moving westward in the north of Australia). So he and his research team tried introducing some small juveniles into that marching front of big toads. The native animals (snakes and lizards in Rick's research) behaved in the same way as previously observed; by eating the small ones and surviving, they learnt to avoid eating big toads, and thus the population of the native reptiles survives in its natural habitat, after this "education" of only a single generation.
Other Prime Minister's Prizes include those for Innovation, New Innovators, Physical Scientist of the Year, Life Scientist of the Year, and Excellence in Teaching in both primary and secondary schools. The winners can be seen at:
Background to the Nobel science prizes
In October every year, the Nobel prizes - the most prestigious science prizes in the world – are announced by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (for physics and chemistry), and the Karolinska Institutet for the Nobel Prize (for physiology or medicine). Those who win them are called Nobel Laureates after the ancient Greek tradition of crowning winning athletes with a wreath of laurel leaves.
In his will, the scientist and innovator Alfred Nobel dictated that his entire remaining estate be used to endow "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind." The first prize was awarded in 1901.
Different Institutions in Sweden and Norway award the Nobel prizes for Literature and Peace. The Economics prize was added later, not as part of Nobel's original will, and is called "the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel". There is no Nobel Prize for mathematics, but there are prestigious international Maths prizes: the Fields Medal for mathematicians under 40 years old; as well as the Abel Prize and Chern medal.
Alfred Nobel was a true "polymath" who was interested and talented in a wide range of languages, literature and poetry and scientific endeavours, but his main claim to fame was to confine the very explosive nitroglycerine in silica gel to stabilise it until it was needed. He then needed to invent a detonator (blasting cap) that could be remotely activated to control the explosion. He patented his invention as "dynamite", and envisaged its use for industrial development in the mining industry. Previously, the use and manufacture of nitroglycerine was dangerous due to its chemical instability: an explosion in a factory had killed his brother.
One of Nobel's closest friends and correspondents in his later years was Countess Bertha von Suttner, who became increasingly critical of the arms race of the late 1800s, and was influential in the European peace movement. She wrote the famous book "Lay Down Your Arms" and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for that endeavour in 1905.
In this article, I will only talk about the science laureates, who this year consist of a very international bunch. It seems that those of talent tend to migrate to areas where they can get support and stimulation from others of talent. Since his life and career spanning many countries – Russia, Germany, USA, England and others – I think Alfred Nobel would have been pleased.
Nobel prize in physiology or medicine
The acclaimed Japanese biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi won the prize for pioneering new ways to see inside yeast cells, and observed the process of "autophagy" in 1990 (which means "self-eating"). He determined that this is a necessary process in all living things, including humans, in order for the cell to remove old and damaged "rubbish". Ohsumi also identified the genes involved and this research has led others to understand how autophagy is important in controlling many normal physiological reactions. Mutations in these genes are implicated in some diseases, including cancer and neurological disorders.
Nobel prize in physics
The three theoretical physics laureates were claimed by both Britain (where they were born and educated) and the USA (where they now work). David Thouless, Ducan Haldane and J. Michael Kosterlitz used advanced mathematics to show how sub-microscopic particles can take on strange properties, and this helps explain some observed peculiarities of matter such as superfluids (which appear to have zero viscosity), thin magnetic films and superconductors.
It is hoped that this will lead to further work in developing new applications in materials science and electronics, to help make our lives better and also save energy.
Nobel prize in chemistry
Can you imagine tiny, tiny machines – smaller than your cells – smaller than you can see with a microscope? Well, these were both imagined and actually constructed by Jean-Pierre Sauvage (France), Sir J Fraser Stoddart (born in Scotland, now working in USA) and Bernard Feringa (The Netherlands).
Their collaborative efforts between 1983 and 1999, using the combination of computer techniques, miniaturisation and clever chemistry, have culminated in the production and control of these miniature motors that can mimic some of the processes occurring naturally in our bodies (such as the movement of muscles).
Commitment to an idea and endurance
I would congratulate all these high-achieving scientists, and I would like to think that all of us can think of them as role models, and aim to use our own skills to reach the highest point we, personally, can achieve in our own endeavours.
Hebrews chapter 1 verse 12: "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,..."
Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children.
Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html