Friday Delights #7

Nobel Prize, CRISPR, Black Holes, Hepatitis, Poetry

This week we are having a look at the Nobel prize winners for 2020

Chemistry

CRISPR has been making more and more waves in recent years. The possibilities of the DNA-editing tool are still being explored — from eradicating genetic diseases to growing super-crops it seems that we are just beginning to understand the power behind gene editing. All of this would have never been possible without the scientists at the forefront, doing the research. This year’s Nobel prize in chemistry has been awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna — two of the pioneers who developed the gene-editing tool. Here is a video explaining (shortly) some of the ways that CRISPR operates:

Medicine

While CRISPR might be useful at fighting disease, it is no use unless we know their cause. The Nobel prize in Medicine this year is awarded because of one such discovery — the Hepatitis C virus. The winners are Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice and their discovery allowed for the…