Why We Celebrate Nobel Prize Winners - DTNS Weekend  ## Metadata - Author: [[Daily Tech News Show]] - Full Title: Why We Celebrate Nobel Prize Winners - DTNS Weekend - Category: #podcasts - URL: https://share.snipd.com/episode/7418ad30-dd30-4054-abba-154d30685a1a ## Document Notes ## Highlights - **Quantum Tunneling Powers Modern Tech** - The 2024 Physics Nobel recognized experiments proving quantum tunneling using superconducting circuits. - That foundational work underpins modern electronics and helps enable qubits and efficient transistors. Transcript: Nicole Ackermans Yes. So the Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded for quantum mechanics that paved the way for eventually creating the technology today that works in cell phones and cameras. I word it this way because the Nobels are awarded for the initial work plus the entire career of the work that tends to be the 20-ish years. So a lot of the times the prizes are awarded for something that was initially performed in the 80s, as is the case with this physics prize. What the three-person team did here was prove principles of quantum mechanics, something called quantum mechanical tunneling, which is basically particles that pass through a Barrier when they really shouldn't. And they did an experiment using a superconductor electrical system to prove that this, in fact, did happen. And eventually, through many complicated processes that I'm not going to explain, that led to helping our technology today. Tom Merritt Yeah, this is the one I actually know the most about because it is more essential to computers and technology. And from what I understand, and as I think I said when we talked about this on the main show the day it was announced, who tells you they understand quantum mechanics doesn't, including Quantum physicists who will, you know, they're actually quantum physicists when they go, well, no one really understands this, but the math is dot, dot, dot. And from what I understand, what they did was they showed that if you put a wire with some insulation in it, enough heat can drive some electrons to jump over that insulation. But at a certain point, if you cool it enough, the number of electrons jumping the insulation doesn't go down anymore. ([Time 0:03:28](https://share.snipd.com/snip/589dbed9-7ff3-43ff-a073-344b26848ffd)) - **Metal‑Organic Frameworks Trap Molecules** - The Chemistry Nobel honored metal-organic frameworks that act like 3D nets to capture and hold molecules. - These structures enable harvesting water from air and trapping pollutants for cleanup and resource extraction. Transcript: Nicole Ackermans I did try my best to wrap my head around this one. It felt easier than quantum mechanics. Yeah, anything would be. So the chemistry prize was awarded for molecular structures that can harvest water from desert air, extract polluants from the air and things like this. So this is also for experiments that were done in the 80s and the development of this research over 15 years. Usually what happens, it's the original person who discovered it and then people who built on that work and then they end up working together. So this team developed a chemical structure that forms a metal and organic framework. And it put very simply acts as a sort of very extremely efficient filter or net for other chemicals. Basically, what happens is, and the reason this is innovative, first of all, it's, you can do this with metals, but they combined metal and organic to make a pliable chemical structure That has a very big capacity on the inside of it. So it's like a 3D net structure, and it can almost capture particles and keep them inside and kind of bind them in a chemical reaction. And that's how it would do things like, quote unquote, harvest water from the air. So overnight, they coat maybe a surface in these types of chemicals that capture the water molecules, and then they'll do a separate chemical reaction to release the water molecules. ([Time 0:06:29](https://share.snipd.com/snip/8fd568e2-7510-411f-9ead-a52513d76818)) - **Support Basic Research Without Immediate Goals** - Value basic science even when immediate uses are absent because usefulness can emerge decades later. - Fund and pursue foundational research without demanding immediate practical outcomes. Transcript: Nicole Ackermans So this team developed a chemical structure that forms a metal and organic framework. And it put very simply acts as a sort of very extremely efficient filter or net for other chemicals. Basically, what happens is, and the reason this is innovative, first of all, it's, you can do this with metals, but they combined metal and organic to make a pliable chemical structure That has a very big capacity on the inside of it. So it's like a 3D net structure, and it can almost capture particles and keep them inside and kind of bind them in a chemical reaction. And that's how it would do things like, quote unquote, harvest water from the air. So overnight, they coat maybe a surface in these types of chemicals that capture the water molecules, and then they'll do a separate chemical reaction to release the water molecules. And you could do this also with poluments, other types of molecules that you're trying to extract from the air or water. Tom Merritt Yeah, if you want to reduce pollution clean up something smoke something yeah um that that makes sense uh i like to based on your description call this uh the tardis meets the one ring Nicole Ackermans Because it's bigger space it's bigger on the inside kind of not really but kind of some quotes say that some of them can fit a football field's worth of uh equivalent chemicals on the inside Tom Merritt It's hard to explain that but yeah uh and then and then it's it's the the one thing that binds them yeah so you get the one true ring in there noble prize media needs to make some more puns Like Like, yeah, I don't even know if that's a pun. Uh, I don't know what that is, but, uh, something, if it helps you remember about the Nobel prize for chemistry, that it's a TARDIS meets the one ring, uh, bigger on the inside and binds Things, then, uh, maybe I've done my work here, but, uh, there is a product that I I've interviewed the CEO about that captures water from dry air. They say they even make it work in places like Arizona. They are selling a coffee maker that you never need to add water to. You still have to buy the coffee, of course. Oh, that's a good stunt. And they're doing that to kind of popularize the technology with the hopes of also creating things for helping people in dry areas who need water. Right. But it's all based on this this this same principle that was discovered by these folks. Nicole Ackermans And in reading about this, I really like that one of the sort of the second person who who started building on the original discovery read a book by a former Nobel Prize winner who said That not everything has to have a use. So some discoveries are going to be useless until they're not. And they had this structure, but some people had developed metal structures that were similar, that worked better. And so everyone was like, okay, you develop it this, but it doesn't matter until eventually they were able to kind of refine it enough that they became extremely useful. Tom Merritt So you never know. Nicole Ackermans And we talk about this a lot in science, like basic science. You can't know until you know that it's useful. Right. Tom Merritt It's like, let's figure out how things work. Then we can figure out what to do with them. ([Time 0:07:00](https://share.snipd.com/snip/5ea7975d-2ba4-4771-a0e3-5904916fed8a)) - **Regulatory T Cells Explained Autoimmunity** - The Physiology/Medicine Nobel revealed regulatory T cells that prevent immune self‑attack and explain rare autoimmune syndromes. - That discovery directly spurred hundreds of clinical trials for cancer and autoimmune therapies. Transcript: Nicole Ackermans Yes, you may have heard about this one. This one always tends to be more relatable than the other two, but this one was based on immune system regulation, how our immune system is prevented from harming our own body, and the Results of this finding leading to cancer and autoimmune disease therapies and treatments. So you probably know when we get an infection or something wrong with our body, our immune system reacts. We have cells called T cells that are part of this reaction. We've got helper T cells. They patrol the body and they sound the alert. And then we have killer T cells and they can either become infected or attack like tumors, for example. And when you have an autoimmune disease, there's a T cell misfunction where the T cells think that some of your own body tissue is infected, even though it's not, and it'll attack your Own body. Tom Merritt So the helper T cells might misidentify something that's not an enemy as an enemy. And then the killer T cells come in and kill it. And you're like, hey, that was my liver. Don't do that. Nicole Ackermans And so you could see how that would be a problem because you need your liver. What the winner, the winners of this award, what they realized is that there must be some kind of, uh they call this like security guard cells so through a long series of research um they Identified a new group of t-cells called regulatory t-cells and these are the ones that are actually helping prevent the other t-cells from attacking themselves um autoimmune diseases Can be pretty rare so we don't usually have those and it is thanks to these regulatory t-cells so these are the t-cells that hold back the other t-cell when they get a little crazy at the Tom Merritt Bar and like, you don't want to do this, man. Nicole Ackermans And after the bar fight, quote unquote, they also tell everyone else, OK, this is over. Let's calm down. So everybody nothing to see here. Yeah. So they'll help the immune system also regulate after an invasion because you can't be on high alert all the time. ([Time 0:10:25](https://share.snipd.com/snip/cf4160d5-3dae-4e2e-b879-c5cf6be208de)) - **Nobels Show Science's Long Arc** - Nobel recognition makes long-term basic research visible and links old fundamental studies to today's practical technologies. - That publicity helps the public appreciate that science often yields benefits decades later. Transcript: Tom Merritt I think that these kinds of prizes could be motivating for people in science. However, I don't get the sense, and I would be curious if someone would study this. I don't know how you'd A-B test this, but I don't get the sense that the people who win the Nobel Prizes really factored that in as a major motivation for their work. They quite often seem surprised that their work got this recognition, right? Nicole Ackermans Well, you can't say, like, I knew it was coming. Tom Merritt Yeah, and I get that. Like, nobody's going to go, like, well, of course I won the Nobel prize. Nicole Ackermans I don't have a lot of students that are like, my goal is to win the Nobel prize. Tom Merritt But that, yeah, that's my point is like, I don't think these scientists were like, this is what I was after this whole time. I wasn't sure if I could win it, but this, this was my goal. It's always the science. That's the goal. So I'm not sure how much it's doing to encourage science, which then leads me to, but it makes people aware of science because you hear about it and suddenly you're like, oh, that kind Of fundamental research from 20 years ago led to me having a better, more useful device now. That kind of research 20 years ago now has led to the ability to cure this particular disease. And I think it is important in that respect to be able to show people the process of science and how it is long-term. And it's not something that, well, if I don't see a result today, it's not worth it. Like we were talking about earlier, the idea of doing fundamental research and it taking a while to understand how it has a practical benefit. ([Time 0:18:31](https://share.snipd.com/snip/b125e360-77dc-4759-bf97-dae6fc54a0b4)) - **Prizes Reinforce Academic Concentration** - Nobel wins create prestige and funding feedback loops that raise certain labs and universities. - That concentration perpetuates academic inequities and narrows who receives major awards. Transcript: Nicole Ackermans And then there's also these kind of like side benefits of, we call people from the Nobel club. Once they get the Nobel prize, the university they're currently at and the university they made the discovery at jump up in academic rankings. Um, but this then becomes a problem because the Nobel prize is, I want to say, kind of nepotistic. 96% of the STEM prizes come from the same Nobel academic families. So people who previously had a Nobel Prize and then trained other people, which makes sense. You tend to get more grants. If you got a Nobel Prize, people are going to be like, okay, this is assured funding. I mean, at that point, you're at the, I would say, maybe not the end of your career or anything, but you've already accomplished quite a bit. But it will say, okay, this is a good place to put more money. So it kind of has this positive feedback loop effect. Tom Merritt Well, and also, I mean, I hate to say it, but if you're smart enough to win a Nobel Prize, probably more people are going to learn more things from you too, right? Nicole Ackermans Well, you have to have been given the opportunity to give. Tom Merritt That's the other side of it. Nicole Ackermans Yeah, that's the other side of like, well, a lot of these are, I mean, the majority are amongst five countries. We did this last year where we were like, what do you need to do to get a Nobel prize? Be an older white man, be in the U.S. At these three or four universities, be of this age and have already been trained by an academic who won a Nobel prize. Um, we still, I think one woman, uh, from in STEM one this year. So we're up to 4% of total Nobel prize winners are winning a women still no, a single black person has won a STEM Nobel prize. They've all been peace prizes. And it's still around 1.5% of total winners. And that's that, as you can tell, because you're getting the award for something that was fundamental and established in the 80s, women and people of color were not necessarily doing A lot of science in the 80s. And then apparently one of the criteria, and again, it's a secret selection process, so who knows, but they say one of the criteria is your work has to have been cited at least a thousand Times to be considered. But that will, like the people who are citing are other scientists who may or may not have biases, probably have societal biases. And then there's already been papers written about how, you know, minorities are cited less. So this kind of perpetuates itself but then at the same time i think it's a good tool for scientific communication um i was also looking at what people do with the prize money um so you get About a million dollars and it's yours so some people put it back into research some people i saw one guy put in a croquet uh field in his house some bought a motorbike. ([Time 0:20:04](https://share.snipd.com/snip/cb1170c5-f04e-4f40-a3f3-476985237673)) - **Nobel Demographics Reflect Past Biases** - Nobel demographics remain skewed: most STEM laureates come from a few countries, institutions, and are predominantly older white men. - Citation thresholds and historical biases help perpetuate underrepresentation of women and minorities. Transcript: Nicole Ackermans Be an older white man, be in the U.S. At these three or four universities, be of this age and have already been trained by an academic who won a Nobel prize. Um, we still, I think one woman, uh, from in STEM one this year. So we're up to 4% of total Nobel prize winners are winning a women still no, a single black person has won a STEM Nobel prize. They've all been peace prizes. And it's still around 1.5% of total winners. And that's that, as you can tell, because you're getting the award for something that was fundamental and established in the 80s, women and people of color were not necessarily doing A lot of science in the 80s. And then apparently one of the criteria, and again, it's a secret selection process, so who knows, but they say one of the criteria is your work has to have been cited at least a thousand Times to be considered. But that will, like the people who are citing are other scientists who may or may not have biases, probably have societal biases. And then there's already been papers written about how, you know, minorities are cited less. ([Time 0:21:17](https://share.snipd.com/snip/a3814f39-782d-46d2-a099-fcb34736626c)) - **Global Shifts Will Change Nobel Leaders** - The U.S. may decline in Nobel prominence as funding and global research investment shift. - Other nations, notably China, will likely produce more laureates as their scientific ecosystems mature. Transcript: Nicole Ackermans I'd be willing, you know how we do our prediction show every year? I'd be willing to bet that in 20 years, Tom, okay. When we're, we're, we're like AI robots doing DTNS. Um, I bet the American prices are going to take a huge dip because of how academic funding is being impacted in these next, let's say five to 10 years. Tom Merritt Yeah. If it does there, you know, there's a lot to be seen over the next four to five years about, you know, what is what is done after that. Yeah. Nicole Ackermans And I think depending on what comes after, I think we are going to take a big hit. Speaker 3 An exciting time but it can also be overwhelming and kids may feel isolated a vulnerability that human traffickers can exploit human trafficking doesn't always look like what you Expect everyday moments can become opportunities for someone with bad intentions whether you're a parent teacher coach or neighbor check in ask questions stay connected blue campaign Is a national awareness initiative that provides resources to help recognize suspected instances of human trafficking. Learn the signs and how to report at dhs.gov/blue campaign. If you love to travel, Capital One has a rewards credit card that's perfect for you. With the Capital One Venture X card, you earn unlimited double miles on everything you buy. Plus, you get premium benefits at a collection of luxury hotels when you book on Capital One travel. And with Venture X, you get access to over 1,000 airport lounges worldwide. Open up a world of travel possibilities with a Capital One Venture X card. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. Nicole Ackermans Lounge access is subject to change. See CapitalOne I mean, who cares if Americans get less Nobel Prizes, but like in terms of just like geopolitical science and like America being the number one that always gets all the Nobel Prizes. I didn't mention, but the University of California broke the record and have five Nobel Prizes in the same year this year. Tom Merritt Yeah. Nicole Ackermans I think that we may no longer be in the lead soon. Tom Merritt And that is interesting..com for details. Typical cycle. It used to be they were all German and French and English, right? And that is not the way it is now either. So for multiple reasons, I can imagine you will have a lot more Chinese scientists winning the Nobel Prize 30 or 40 years. And they've been developing for decades. ([Time 0:24:20](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d5dbc86f-20c3-4137-87de-425c6063eb61))