Fishy Fluorescent Green Nobel Prize?
Oct 23 at 6:06pm by Aileen
The 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to the discoverers of the ‘green fluorescent protein’, known as GFP.
This remarkable protein was first observed in a species of jellyfish in 1962, and in the years since has become one of the most important biochemical tools. by attaching GFP to other proteins of interest, such as nerve cells and cancer cells, those proteins can be followed in their actions allowing scientists to map the activities of biological functions. And while that type of research may be fairly obscure for regular people to understand and follow, the GFP protein and some engineered brother proteins have been put to a commercial use most of us can relate to…
If you have an aquarium and pay attention to the very latest in cool tropical fish, you’ve no doubt heard about GloFish. These originally engineered zebrafish (that now pass their glow onto their offspring naturally) come in the standard ‘electric green’, but also in ’starfire red’ and ’sunburst orange’! Yes, they do faintly glow in the dark, but are best shown off under a fluorescent black light.
You could see these in your dentist or doctor’s office waiting room if you don’t have any already, so impress your care-giver by talking about the GFP protein and how the discoverers finally got their Nobel Prize! It probably won’t get you a discount on that filling or check-up, but it’ll give you something besides your sore knee or the increase in your insurance premium this year to talk about.
Links:
Green Fluorescent Protein Pioneers Share 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
GloFish: Experience the Glo!
Another Example of Irresponsible Science News?
Oct 24 at 6:06pm by Aileen
Continuing the theme of bad science writing – confusing or completely ridiculous headlines, absurd assertions of fact and fancy, questionable conclusions, etc. – take a look at the screenshot below of the BBC website’s lead story in their ‘Health’ section this past Monday…
Now, it might give you a chuckle, as it did me. But come on, folks… I hereby add ‘Irresponsible Use of Illustration’ in science news reporting as yet another category for the Science News Booby Prizes at year’s end. After last week’s sordid destruction of Nobel Laureate James Watson’s storied career as a notorious bigot, this sort of thing can definitely make one wonder what the heck these science reporters are thinking.
If they are in fact thinking at all.
2007 Ig Nobel Prizes Bestowed
Oct 6 at 12:12am by Aileen
The Annals of Improbable Research has announced the winners of the 2007 Ig Nobel Prize, awarded Thursday night (October 4) at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre.
The Ig Nobels honor the contributions of off-beat scientists to humanity’s off-beat knowledge, or at least major contributions to humanity’s fine-tuned sense of the completely absurd. For instance, this years’ Ig Nobel Prize for Peace was awarded to the U.S. Air Force’s Wright Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, for research into a chemical weapon designed to make enemy soldiers become irresistible to each other – the “Gay Bomb.”
No, the Air Force neglected to send any of its prize-winning researchers to Cambridge to formally accept the Prize. Reminds me of a line Tommy Lee Jones delivered in Men In Black, with liberties…
“We in the Air Force do not have a sense of humor that we are aware of.” Luckily the sciencey-types at MIT do have a sense of humor.
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