The Nobel Prize for medicine was announced yesterday. It was awarded to 3 Americans, Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider, and Jack Szostak. They collectively discovered the mechanism that chromosomes use to preserve themselves while they undergo countless rounds of cell division. They found that a stretch of DNA at the ends of the chromosomes (called telomeres) protect the chromosomes from unraveling kind of like the plastic ends of shoelaces protect them from becoming frayed (those plastic ends are called aglets by the way).
When I heard who won this year's pirze, I was happy for a couple reasons. First, it's 3 Americans - cheesy I know but I am still a patriot at heart even when the Olympics aren't going on. Secondly, 2 women were awarded the prize - maybe even more cheesy, but there is still some disparity between male and female scientists even today although it's getting better. Thirdly, Carol Greider was a graduate student in Elizabeth Blackburn's lab. This is cool because grad students are usually the workhorses of the lab and get little recognition for their contributions (however, this was not the case in the lab that I did my graduate work). I think it's awesome that someone's grad school work could potentially lead to the Nobel Prize.
