Scientists are racing to define and map the human exposome — the sum of all environmental exposures over a lifetime — in a groundbreaking effort that could transform our understanding of disease and precision medicine.
Tag: nobel prize
An appeal signed by 75 Nobel Prize winners calls on the world to take action to end the suffering of Congolese civilians in the mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. But they have little chance of being heard — despite our shared responsibility.
The release from exile of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, the election of an Asian country’s first female leader and the opening of one of the highest-grossing movies of all-time.
The first Nobel Prizes being awarded, a milestone in the history of transnational legislation, and the loss of a soulful music legend.
The alleged death of two famous outlaws, an iconic museum opens its doors and a French DJ is born.
Honoring the research of Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson marks a comeback for the importance of public institutions in economics.
Updated August 14, 2024 at 11:50 a.m. Lech Wałęsa led strikes at the Gdańsk shipyards in Poland on this day in 1980. A Polish electrician and labor activist, he led the movement to protest against the oppressive Communist regime in Poland. What were the key demands of the strikes led by Lech Wałęsa? The strikes […]
Updated July 12, 2024 at 11:35 a.m. Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani activist and Nobel laureate known for her advocacy of girls’ education and women’s rights was born on this day in 1997 in Mingora, Swat Valley, Pakistan. She gained international prominence after surviving an assassination attempt by the Taliban in 2012. How did the Taliban […]
French writer Annie Ernaux’s Nobel prize in literature took many by surprise, after a career spent largely in the shadows. A different kind of surprise comes in comparing her to another French writer, iconoclast media star Virginie Despentes.
Like other intellectuals of his time, the celebrated Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez admired Cuba’s Fidel Castro. What’s just been revealed, however, is also, as one text reveals, the Sandinista rebels who have stifled Nicaraguan democracy in past years.
Even as it celebrates this year’s literature prize going to Tanzanian author Abdulrazak Gurnah, Africa is again completely absent from the list of Nobel winners in science. In research as elsewhere, money is the key.
? Sannu!* Welcome to Friday, where the Taliban issue a decree on women’s rights, the U.S. avoids another government shutdown, and we discover the most metallic planet ever. Delhi-based news website The Wire also suggests Indians should pause before any nationalistic boasting about the choice of Parag Agarwal as new Twitter CEO. [*Hausa – Nigeria […]
Journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov have won the Nobel Peace Prize for their fight to defend freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia. Ressa, who co-founded the news site Rappler, was commended by the Nobel committee for using freedom of expression to “expose abuse of power, use of violence and growing authoritarianism in […]
? Bonġu!* Welcome to Friday, where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to two journalists risking their lives in Russia and the Philippines, the U.S. pushes the Iran nuclear deal back on the table, and a Swiss CEO is ousted after offering a different kind of COVID incentive to employees. From rural Sweden, we also […]
? Bom dia!* Welcome to Monday, where the financial secrets of the rich and powerful are exposed in a massive data leak, the two Koreas get on the phone for the first time in months, Japan has a new prime minister and there’s a spicy Nobel prize winner for medicine. For Paris-based daily Les Echos, […]
Winning a Nobel Prize can’t be the only criterion by which we measure a nation’s scientific achievement — but it is a matter of pride, like winning a gold at the Olympics. Lower funding on R&D alone doesn’t explain India’s abysmal show at the Nobel Prizes. Some key elements seem to be missing, beyond funding and infrastructure, vis-à-vis our scientists’ ability to produce path-breaking work.
NEW DELHI — In an article in The Atlantic, Patrick Collison and Michael Nielsen express their concerns about the perceived slowdown of scientific progress. With “more scientists, more funding for science, and more scientific papers published than ever before,” they ask whether the rising investment in scientific research is yielding proportionately rising dividends, or whether we are “investing vastly more merely to sustain (or even see a decline in) the rate of scientific progress?” Yet, as they concede, it’s unclear how to measure the rate of scientific progress. Much ink has been spilled on the misplaced reification of the Nobel […]
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On This Day – November 7
PARIS — Bob Dylan has long inspired musicians around the world, professional and otherwise, to sing his songs — and write their own. Some have done a bit of both, translating and singing versions of his masterpieces in different languages. With the Nobel Academy awarding the 2016 Literature prize to Mr. Bob, it seemed times […]
The newspapers, they all went along for the ride …
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On This Day – December 10
HUNGARY TRIES TO STEM REFUGEE TIDE Hungary may be considering deploying its army to help police stem the daily arrival of thousands of refugees at its southern border with Serbia. A new razor wire is being built along the border, and the Hungarian military was also staging border protection exercises yesterday, the BBC reports. Human […]
PARIS — With all due respect to the Cassandras of national decline and lovers of French bashing — the cherished pastime of denigrating all things French at every turn — Patrick Modiano’s Nobel Prize for Literature win is excellent news. Lovers of French literature will be the first to rejoice, but the prize is also […]
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Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Beyond Solitude
Weeks before Marquez’s death at 87, the Bogota daily wrote how the legendary novelist was followed right until the end by the ghosts of his strongest character: his mother.
BEIJING — The Chinese authorities have recently introduced a “Ten Thousand Talents Support Program,” a nationwide project for selecting outstanding talent in all areas of scientific and technological innovation. Among those, 100 people would be identified as potential Nobel Prize winners. Similar programs, equally generous and costly, have been put in place before. But regrettably, […]
TEL AVIV — The Nobel Prize ceremony is usually an occasion for celebration in Israel, as there is often at least one Israeli citizen among the honorees. This year, two Israelis were awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, but the country’s pride was bittersweet since both scientists live in the United States. The rise in […]
PARIS — Are Nobel Prizes a wicked luxury? This year, like every year for more than a century, Scandinavian juries will honor researchers in physics, chemistry and medicine, an author, and a man or a woman who contributed to peace. The season will end with the presentation of the latest prize, created a little more […]
ISIS ASSAULT OF KOBANI CONTINUESISIS fighters are gaining ground in Syria’s Kurdish town of Kobani, on Turkey’s border, forcing a wave of Kurdish civilians to try to cross into Turkey, where the police repeatedly used tear gas to disperse them and the press. Those who managed to cross the border told Guardian journalists stories of […]