Avis Beek (she/her)

2023 #NobelPeacePrize laureate Narges Mohammadi’s brave struggle has come with tremendous personal costs. The Iranian regime has arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times, and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes. Mohammadi is still in prison.

This year’s #NobelPrize laureate in physics Anne L’Huillier discovered that many different overtones of light arose when she transmitted infrared laser light through a noble gas. Each overtone is a light wave with a given number of cycles for each cycle in the laser light. They are caused by the laser light interacting with atoms in the gas; it gives some electrons extra energy that is then emitted as light. L’Huillier has continued to explore this phenomenon, laying the ground for subsequent breakthroughs.

“Ten years ago I was kicked out and forced to retire.” Our new medicine laureate Katalin Karikó (@kkariko) told us how much it means to be awarded the Nobel Prize after a scientific career that has been full of challenges. Ten years ago, Karikó was still doing all her experiments by hand but today she has been awarded the medicine prize for her research on mRNA, which led to the development of COVID-19 vaccines. Listen now:

Congratulations to one of our new medicine laureates: Katalin Karikó (@kkariko)! 🎉 An interview with her will be coming soon.