Big Leaps: Science Celebrates Achievements that Changed How We Understand the World (and Ourselves)

It takes zero effort to spot the bad news lately: falling vaccination rates and government recommendations that can’t be trusted; a shutdown that is already having implications for our health and for stalling scientific progress; promising clean energy projects that were canceled without serious consideration. That’s why this week I’m pleased to focus on something kind of rare: good news!

This week is a special one on the scientific calendar — it’s when the Nobel prizes are awarded. They dole them out slowly, one prize each day, giving us more time to celebrate each winner while dragging out the anticipation for the prizes still to come. In the broad category of science, there are three awards: physics, chemistry, and physiology or medicine.

Here’s a look at this year’s winners.

Physics: Quantum mechanics

Nobel laureates John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis were honored for conducting experiments in the 1980s that revealed new information about quantum physics. While it had previously been known that certain quantum dynamics existed at microscopic scale, scientists were unsure whether those same dynamics would hold true at larger scale. The awardees proved that certain quantum effects occurred in a bigger system — one that could be held in the hand. That discovery powered the quantum technologies that followed, including the quantum computers of today.

Chemistry: Metal-organic frameworks

Scientists Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar Yaghi were awarded the Nobel prize for building molecular constructs known as metal-organic frameworks. These are small structures made of molecules containing spaces large enough to allow gases and chemicals to flow through. The frameworks might make it possible to capture carbon dioxide or toxic gases, or even pull water out of air. Most of the work done as the basis for this award took place from the late 1980s to the early 2000s.

Physiology or medicine: Peripheral immune tolerance

Newly minted laureates Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi were selected for their important work in figuring out how the immune system takes action against invaders without also attacking the body’s own cells. They identified regulatory T cells as the specific type of immune cell responsible for directing the immune system away from cells that need to be kept safe. The core of this work, which has since led to the development of treatments for autoimmune disorders, was performed in the 1990s and early 2000s.

In other good news, this week the MacArthur Foundation announced this year’s class of fellows — 22 high achievers who will be better known as “MacArthur Geniuses” going forward. While the list spans quite a few categories of experts, there’s great representation from scientists. Winners work in areas including neurobiology, structural biology, chemical engineering, evolutionary biology, and epidemiology, among others. If you don’t mind feeling like an underachiever for a moment, check out the full list of winners linked above.