The cause of science

Nobel-winning discoveries have direct applications

The 2022 science Nobels afford recognition to a trio that dramatically improved chemical molecular manufacturing processes, another trio that gave us deep insights into quantum mechanics, and an individual who developed ways to sequence the genomes of extinct human species. While the basic science in all these cases may seem esoteric, these discoveries all have direct practical applications that have improved our lives in many ways. The chemistry prize, for instance, went to Carolyn Bertozzi, Morten Meldal, and Barry Sharpless (who also won a chemistry Nobel in 2001) for “the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry”. In layman terms, click chemistry is the art of inducing quick reactions without unwanted by-products. Bioorthogonal chemistry is a method of doing click chemistry within living cells without disrupting the normal functions of the cell. These processes enable scientists to quickly and cheaply build new molecules which can be studied intensively. It is of enormous utility when it comes to pharmaceutical research both in generating new drugs and when studying the impact of, say, cancer drugs on cells using the bioorthogonal approach.

The physics prize is also shared among three individuals who have (separately) investigated the rules by which entangled particles work. Entanglement between two paired particles means that a change in the state of one particle leads to a simultaneous change in the state of the other particle even if the pairs are separated by a distance. This appears to violate the tenets of relativity, which says nothing, not even information, can travel faster than light. Albert Einstein described it as “spooky action”. That is only one of many puzzling aspects to entanglement and in the 1960s John Stewart Bell wrote two key papers that calculated the mathematical consequences and offered ideas for experimental tests of the phenomenon suggesting the value would exceed a key limit. One earlier hypothesis (which Einstein among others subscribed to) was that there were hidden variables in entanglement which carried key information. Bell’s Inequality was experimentally verified by John Clauser, in an experiment refined later by Alain Aspect. Anton Zeilinger demonstrated what’s now called quantum teleportation using entanglement. Quantum effects are already vastly important in cryptography and in computing and they will become more so.

The medicine Nobel is being awarded to a single individual, which is rare these days. Svante Pääbo pioneered the field of paleogenealogy, using modern DNA technology to examine the genomes of extinct branches of the human race. He is credited with the discovery of the Homo Denisovan sub-species and with sequencing the Neanderthal genome. The methods he evolved can be used to extract and analyse ancient DNA from many other species with likely payoffs. At one level, the mix of genes that resulted from the intermingling of several sub-species gives us many clues as to Palaeolithic migration and socialisation patterns and further, buttressing both the theory of evolution and the Out of Africa theory. These techniques also gave scientists ways to refute unfounded racist ideologies of “purity” as they can conclusively prove that intermingling and migration patterns have been very complex for a very long time. In addition, ancestral genes from extinct sub-species, which remain in the sapiens gene-pool, may have peculiar and useful effects in terms of affording immunity. A Neanderthal gene, for example, is credited with giving a small subset of North Europeans immunity to HIV. Other such discoveries could add to the cause of science.