The 2023 Nobel prizes honour work that touched millions of lives
Besides mRNA vaccines, they celebrate ultra-fast lasers and tiny prisons for light
THE COMMITTEES which award the Nobel prizes are hard to second-guess. Last year, for instance, the prize in physiology or medicine went to Svante Paabo, a pioneer of the study of fossil DNA, which has shed much light on human evolution.
Explore more
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Nobel pursuits”
From the October 7th 2023 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the edition
An interstellar object is cruising through the solar system
Its appearance puts a new branch of astronomy to the test
RFK junior wants to ban an ingredient in vaccines. Is he right?
Studies show that thimerosal does more good than harm
AI is helping to design proteins from scratch
They could treat diseases, test drugs and boost crop yields
A new project aims to synthesise a human chromosome
The tools developed along the way could revolutionise medicine
How sea slugs give themselves superpowers
Their slimy shenanigans might have applications for humans, too
Is being bilingual good for your brain?
Perhaps. Learning languages offers other, more concrete benefits