David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian jointly won the 2021 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch. The first of the 2021 Nobel Prizes kicked off the week of announcements of the most coveted award.
"Our ability to sense heat, cold and touch is essential for survival and underpins our interaction with the world around us. In our daily lives we take these sensations for granted, but how are nerve impulses initiated so that temperature and pressure can be perceived? This question has been solved by this year's Nobel Prize laureates," the Nobel Assembly said.
David Julius of the University of California utilised capsaicin, a pungent compound from chili peppers that induces a burning sensation, to identify a sensor in the nerve endings of the skin that responds to heat. Ardem Patapoutian, who is with Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Scripps Research, used pressure-sensitive cells to discover a novel class of sensors that respond to mechanical stimuli in the skin and internal organs.
Also at: BBC News Services.
[Source]: The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @02:55AM
Dyn-O-Mite!!
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday October 05 2021, @11:32AM (2 children)
Hard to avoid that such prizes tend to be awarded at the end of a successful career, when the money is less likely to serve as an incentive, or as badly needed for the winner's current or next research ideas. Julius is 65, and has won nearly a dozen other prizes already. Also suspect prize committees are too swayed by that, fearing to take chances on those of less obvious accomplishment.
I've seen a few too many contests in which the whole affair was a means to get research or just work, on the cheap. For example, Netflix ran a contest to get a better way of predicting what customers want.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @12:19PM
It can take decades to realize how important some discoveries are.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @02:27PM
That wasn't always the case, but it will be increasingly the case as discoveries just get harder and harder to make. The point of the price isn't the money, it's the recognition of accomplishment. It's a goal that many scientists aspire to, having that award. Also, keep in mind that even when they're on the verge of retirement, that kind of money still makes a huge difference, few people would say no to a vacation home or the ability to just spend the rest of their days studying things that they feel like studying without having to do the work associated with fundraising.