Kroto again. On Tuesday there was a press talk with Sir Harold Kroto, Bora Zivkovic from PLoS and Jason Wilde from Nature. Since all participants had a lot to say and the time schedule was very tight, the discussion could not immerse into the material properly. Most of you might know that the Open Access…

Last year’s chemistry Nobel Prize was one of the most softball predictions ever made for the Nobel Prize. The Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) has become so widely used in chemistry, biology and medicine that it is easy to forget that someone had to discover it and develop the technology. Every year Roger Tsien’s name used…

Aaron Ciechanover, Nobelpreisträger des Jahres 2004, skizzierte am Dienstagvormittag die Geschichte der pharmazeutischen Forschung des letzten Jahrhunderts und die Herausforderungen für die Arzneimittelentwicklung. Im Interview spricht der Biochemiker u.a. über Besonderheiten des Proteinabbaus, der Beziehung zu seinem Heimatland Israel und sein Verständnis eines gelungenen Forscherlebens. Aaron Ciechanover is a biochemist who received the Nobel Prize…

When you first meet Aaron Ciechanover, he appears to have the distracted air of a man who feels slightly inconvenienced to be in whatever situation has been apparently imposed on him. But this preoccupied demeanor belies a mind which is ready to hold forth on a disparate variety of topics with infinite verve and enthusiasm…

When I visit my favourite restaurant for lunch or dinner, I usually order a legitimate food item from the main course. But once in a while, just to indulge, I order a sample platter of appetizers. The appetizers don’t always provide the deep satisfaction that I get from eating a proper, expensive food item. But…

The second Nobel afternoon on the Isle of Lindau offered the oppurtunity to participants to discuss with Ciechanover, Molina, Noyori, Neher and Rowland. Although this time five laureates (other than three on Monday) were available and the weather rather suggested a trip to the next swimming pool, I met at least 300 fellow young researchers…

Three thoughts went through my mind as I listened to yesterday’s panel discussion about the role and future of chemistry for renewable energy. The first was mild horror. The second was intrigue. And the third was disenchantment. The horror Previously, all three winners of the 1995 chemistry Nobel – Sherwood Rowland, Paul Crutzen and Mario…

Image source Peter Agre has got to be one of the nicest scientists I have ever met. Until now I had only one data point to support this conclusion; a very enjoyable chat with him along with some other students last year at Emory University. Now I have two. Today in an informal, entertaining, witty…

In three weeks’ time, 280 high-school chemistry students from all over the world will meet in Cambridge in the UK for their most gruelling academic experience to date: the 41st International Chemistry Olympiad. Founded in eastern Europe in the late 1960s, in part to increase contact with other countries, the Olympiad competitions are held every…

Image source: Nobel Foundation Every year as Nobel Prize winning season approaches, one sees a flurry of predictions about prizewinners materializing on blogs. I have played the prediction game myself for a couple of years. When I was in graduate school one of my professors offered to give extra points to anyone in the class…