Nobel Chemistry Prize for method to visualise biomolecules

Written by Hannah Devlin and Nicola Davis

The Nobel prize in chemistry has been awarded to three scientists for developing a technique to produce images of the molecules of life frozen in time.

Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson will receive equal shares of the 9m Swedish kronor (£825,000) prize, which was announced by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm on Wednesday.

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Martian Volcanoes Bigger, Faster Growing than Expected

Written by Alice Scarsi

Scottish scientists have used meteorites fallen to Earth to recreate the evolution of a volcano on Mars, in a first-ever attempt made in history. The space rocks analysed hid more than 90 million years of information on the Red Planet’s volcanoes.

They allowed scientists to identify from which volcano they came from, how fast it grew and how long it was active. Mars has the largest volcanoes in the solar system. Olympus Mons is more than 370 miles wide and over 13 miles high, more than twice the height of Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth.

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Great Barrier Reef ‘Dying’ Scare Exposed as #FakeNews

Written by James Delingpole

The Great Barrier Reef is recovering ‘surprisingly’ fast, according to Australia’s state propagandist ABC. Optimism is rising among scientists that parts of the Great Barrier Reef that were severely bleached over the past two years are making a recovery.

Scientists from the Australian Institute of Marine Science this month surveyed 14 coral reefs between Cairns and Townsville to see how they fared after being bleached.

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Life first emerged in ‘warm little ponds’

Written by Ian Johnston

Life on Earth began up to 4.5 billion years ago as carbon-rich meteors bombarded the planet and leached the essential elements into “warm little ponds”, according to new research. It was in this nutrient-rich broth that the first self-replicating molecules, with the first genetic code for life, were born.

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Plate tectonics: 50th Anniversary of Great Discovery

Written by Jonathan Amos

Dan McKenzieImage copyright: THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, MCKENZIE ARCHIVE
Image caption: Dan McKenzie: The young scientists of the 1960s sought answers that had eluded their elders

What would you put on your list of the great scientific breakthroughs of the 20th Century? General relativity? Quantum mechanics? Something to do with genetics, perhaps?

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Sunken continent of Zealandia reveals thousands of fossil specimens

Written by John Sharman

Scientists have uncovered more than 8,000 fossils during an expedition to a lost, underwater continent in the Pacific Ocean. Drilling into the crust of Zealandia, thousands of feet below the surface, researchers discovered the remains of hundreds of species including pollen from land plants.

The land mass, on which New Zealand sits, was announced as the globe’s newest continent earlier this year. It spans 5,000,000 sq km and is a distinct geological entity, a landmark study declared in the summer.

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DNA surgery on embryos removes disease

Written by James Gallagher

Embryo researchImage copyright: GETTY IMAGES

Precise “chemical surgery” has been performed on human embryos to remove disease in a world first, Chinese researchers have told the BBC.

The team at Sun Yat-sen University used a technique called base editing to correct a single error out of the three billion “letters” of our genetic code. They altered lab-made embryos to remove the disease beta-thalassemia. The embryos were not implanted.

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Body clock scientists win Nobel Prize

Written by James Gallagher

body clock cartoon imageImage copyright: GETTY IMAGES

Three scientists who unravelled how our bodies tell time have won the 2017 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine. The body clock – or circadian rhythm – is the reason we want to sleep at night, but it also drives huge changes in behaviour and body function. The US scientists Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael Young will share the prize.

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