Nobel Prize
2004 Nobel Laureats are been announced this week. I've been meaning to write about this, but what's there to say?First of all, it is especially exciting to see the Physiology/Medicine prize go to Richard Axel and Linda Buck, for their discovery of the odorant receptors and the olfactory system organization. Unlike a lot of other awards in this category, in this case the immediate application to disease treatment is not clear. The coding of the ordorant receptors and the olfactory bulb is intellectually fascinating, but on the practical side of things, the sense of smell probably comes in fourth or fifth when it comes to our five senses. So it is indeed great to see two scientists who were daring and perservered to follow their own intellectual interest, to seek out the road less traveled, yet still get recognition for their great science.
Second, the chemistry prize. Some may argue that the discovery of ubiquitin pathway should be considered for physiology. At the moment, it certainly has more impact in disease treatment than the odorant receptors. But it illustrates the point when one begins his scientific journey it's difficult to see where he will end up. Even more amazing is that in so many cases different people taking different approaches and studying different systems yet arrive at the same scientific discovery at the same moment in history.
Now to Nobel himself. His fortune from the invention of dynamite made his foundation possible. Of course dynamite has its share of detractors. Sure, it destroys things, and can and did kill a lot of people. But if Nobel had a moral objection to the destructive power of dynamite, and chose not to pursuit the scientific study of it, someone else would have. In the same way, scientists today still face the same dilemma. With knowledge, comes responsibility. The moral objections that people raise against some of the research today, such as embryonic stem cell research, fail to recognize that science will move forward no matter what, and the inevitable responsibility of applying the discovery should be shared, not avoided, by all of us, for better or for worse. I can try to prove why thea pathetic number of useful ES cell lines approved by the white house is silly, but it's a difficult idea to understand for everyone. How about why do you need fifty different kinds of assalt weapons for hunting? Because each looks different, works differenly, and has a different use! But the fact is, while you are arguing about outsourcing the manufacturing jobs, the limit on ES cell research is forcing the outsourcing of science.
Laura Bush, who's against expanding ES cell lines by claiming that people are been misled about the promise of ES cell research, simply does not understand how science works. At the same time, I also find it objectionable that the same people who approve death penalty could have moral objection to ES cell research. I'm not sure when we developed this skepticism about science. However, Nobel and his foundation continue to show us that the practices of rigorous science and ethical judgement do not have to exist in two parallel universes.
posted by hedgehog @ 3:37 AM
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