The present book discusses the Nobel Prizes in physiology or medicine 1966-68. The 1966 prize recognized that viruses may be involved in cancer formation. Later studies revealed that these kinds of infectious agents could pick up and transmit cellular genes of importance for regulation of cellular growth. It was then possible to recognize that many genes of this kind could be involved in the formation of cancer. The disease was found to represent the dark side of evolution. As a consequence of this insight new means of treatment fortunately have been developed.The rear parts of the eyes are extensions of the central nervous system. They have a fascinating intrinsic complexity, the neurophysiology and biochemistry of which has been progressively analyzed. These revealing studies concern both our capacity to distinguish different colors and also our possibility to see in the dark. The Prize in 1967 identified seminal contributions in this wide field by Ragnar Granit, Haldan Hartline and George Wald.The 1968 Prize is distinct in its recognition of Robert Holley, Ghobind Khorana and Marshall Nirenberg, who in different ways had contributed to the cracking of the genetic code. Insights into the language used by Nature, since the dawn of cellular life some 4.6 billion years ago, have completely revolutionized modern life sciences. The capacity to read and also to write the books of life has defined new kinds of science, deepening our understanding of the magic of evolution and opened the possibilities for molecular medicine by understanding the genetic background to diseases, not least cancer.Related Link(s)

The present book discusses the Nobel Prizes in physiology or medicine from 1969 to 1971. The 1969 prize recognized Max Delbrück, Alfred Hershey and Salvador Luria. Their pioneering studies of viruses infecting bacteria, bacteriophages, from the mid-1940s through the 1950s laid the foundation for the wide field of molecular biology. The nature of the gene was finally understood. Insights into the biochemistry of the critical information molecules, the nucleic acids, opened wide vistas for interpreting their expression and the interaction of their product with other gene products.The contact between the endings of a nerve and a target cell, the synapse, has always stirred the imagination of scientists. A number of the insights gained have been highlighted by Nobel Prizes in physiology or medicine. In 1970 the prize recognized Bernard Katz, Ulf von Euler and Julius Axelrod. They had revealed how signaling substances in the nerve terminals were stored in packages, released by membrane fusion and inactivated or reused by particular metabolic events.The recipient of the 1971 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was a single scientist, Earl Sutherland. He had identified critical molecules in cells that allow signals elicited at their surface via a number of internal steps to influence the expression of specific genes in the nucleus. The new kind of information transmitting molecules were referred to as 'secondary messengers'. They represent a critical part of a highly complex network of signaling controlling the operative conditions of the cell by adjustments of the so-called intermediary metabolism.The widening insights into functions of specialized cells and their complex interactions have led to the development of many kinds of remedies.

How unassuming government researcher Marshall Nirenberg beat James Watson, Francis Crick, and other world-famous scientists in the race to discover the genetic code. The genetic code is the Rosetta Stone by which we interpret the 3.3 billion letters of human DNA, the alphabet of life, and the discovery of the code has had an immeasurable impact on science and society. In 1968, Marshall Nirenberg, an unassuming government scientist working at the National Institutes of Health, shared the Nobel Prize for cracking the genetic code. He was the least likely man to make such an earth-shaking discovery, and yet he had gotten there before such members of the scientific elite as James Watson and Francis Crick. How did Nirenberg do it, and why is he so little known? In The Least Likely Man, Franklin Portugal tells the fascinating life story of a famous scientist that most of us have never heard of. Nirenberg did not have a particularly brilliant undergraduate or graduate career. After being hired as a researcher at the NIH, he quietly explored how cells make proteins. Meanwhile, Watson, Crick, and eighteen other leading scientists had formed the “RNA Tie Club” (named after the distinctive ties they wore, each decorated with one of twenty amino acid designs), intending to claim credit for the discovery of the genetic code before they had even worked out the details. They were surprised, and displeased, when Nirenberg announced his preliminary findings of a genetic code at an international meeting in Moscow in 1961. Drawing on Nirenberg's “lab diaries,” Portugal offers an engaging and accessible account of Nirenberg's experimental approach, describes counterclaims by Crick, Watson, and Sidney Brenner, and traces Nirenberg's later switch to an entirely new, even more challenging field. Having won the Nobel for his work on the genetic code, Nirenberg moved on to the next frontier of biological research: how the brain works.

In 1965, French microbiologist André Lwoff was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on lysogeny—one of the two types of viral life cycles—which resolved a contentious debate among scientists about the nature of viruses. A Tale of Two Viruses is the first study of medical virology to compare the history of two groups of medically important viruses—bacteriophages, which infect bacteria, and sarcoma agents, which cause cancer—and the importance of Lwoff’s discovery to our modern understanding of what a virus is. Although these two groups of viruses may at first glance appear to have little in common, they share uniquely parallel histories. The lysogenic cycle, unlike the lytic, enables viruses to replicate in the host cell without destroying it and to remain dormant in a cell’s genetic material indefinitely, or until induced by UV radiation. But until Lwoff’s discovery of the mechanism of lysogeny, microbiologist Félix d’Herelle and pathologist Peyton Rous, who themselves first discovered and argued for the viral identity of bacteriophages and certain types of cancer, respectively, faced opposition from contemporary researchers who would not accept their findings. By following the research trajectories of the two virus groups, Sankaran takes a novel approach to the history of the development of the field of medical virology, considering both the flux in scientific concepts over time and the broader scientific landscapes or styles that shaped those ideas and practices.

A Best Book of 2021 by Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Time, and The Washington Post The bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs returns with a “compelling” (The Washington Post) account of how Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues launched a revolution that will allow us to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and have healthier babies. When Jennifer Doudna was in sixth grade, she came home one day to find that her dad had left a paperback titled The Double Helix on her bed. She put it aside, thinking it was one of those detective tales she loved. When she read it on a rainy Saturday, she discovered she was right, in a way. As she sped through the pages, she became enthralled by the intense drama behind the competition to discover the code of life. Even though her high school counselor told her girls didn’t become scientists, she decided she would. Driven by a passion to understand how nature works and to turn discoveries into inventions, she would help to make what the book’s author, James Watson, told her was the most important biological advance since his codiscovery of the structure of DNA. She and her collaborators turned a curiosity of nature into an invention that will transform the human race: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA. Known as CRISPR, it opened a brave new world of medical miracles and moral questions. The development of CRISPR and the race to create vaccines for coronavirus will hasten our transition to the next great innovation revolution. The past half-century has been a digital age, based on the microchip, computer, and internet. Now we are entering a life-science revolution. Children who study digital coding will be joined by those who study genetic code. Should we use our new evolution-hacking powers to make us less susceptible to viruses? What a wonderful boon that would be! And what about preventing depression? Hmmm…Should we allow parents, if they can afford it, to enhance the height or muscles or IQ of their kids? After helping to discover CRISPR, Doudna became a leader in wrestling with these moral issues and, with her collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier, won the Nobel Prize in 2020. Her story is an “enthralling detective story” (Oprah Daily) that involves the most profound wonders of nature, from the origins of life to the future of our species.

Competition Science Vision (monthly magazine) is published by Pratiyogita Darpan Group in India and is one of the best Science monthly magazines available for medical entrance examination students in India. Well-qualified professionals of Physics, Chemistry, Zoology and Botany make contributions to this magazine and craft it with focus on providing complete and to-the-point study material for aspiring candidates. The magazine covers General Knowledge, Science and Technology news, Interviews of toppers of examinations, study material of Physics, Chemistry, Zoology and Botany with model papers, reasoning test questions, facts, quiz contest, general awareness and mental ability test in every monthly issue.

Competition Science Vision (monthly magazine) is published by Pratiyogita Darpan Group in India and is one of the best Science monthly magazines available for medical entrance examination students in India. Well-qualified professionals of Physics, Chemistry, Zoology and Botany make contributions to this magazine and craft it with focus on providing complete and to-the-point study material for aspiring candidates. The magazine covers General Knowledge, Science and Technology news, Interviews of toppers of examinations, study material of Physics, Chemistry, Zoology and Botany with model papers, reasoning test questions, facts, quiz contest, general awareness and mental ability test in every monthly issue.