Three Americans won the Nobel Prize in Physiology for their discoveries about the biological clock.
They have isolated a gene that controls the body’s normal daily circadian rhythm.
Biological clocks produce circadian rhythms and regulate their timing.
Circadian rhythm regulates the periods of tiredness and wakefulness during the 24-hour cycle in synchronizes with earth’s rotation.
It adapts the workings of the body to different phases of the day.
It influences sleep, behavior, hormone levels, body temperature and metabolism.
The body responds primarily to light and darkness and is found in all living things viz plants, animals (including microbes) and human beings.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
It was awarded for the development of technique called “cryo-electron microscopy” which helps in determining the structure of biomolecules in solution.
It takes accurate and detailed pictures of living things at atomic scales.
The high-resolution, 3D images can help in cancer drug research and better understanding of the Zika virus.
Nobel Prize in Physics
It was awarded for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves.
Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space-time released by violent events such as mergers of black holes,
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is the scientific project that made gravitational wave detection possible.
There are two LIGO detectors in USA (Louisiana and Washington), one in Italy (Virgo) and one planned in India (INDIGO) and in Japan (KAGRA).
Nobel Peace Prize
It was awarded to International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).
It was given for its efforts to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons.
ICAN is a Geneva-based coalition of non-governmental organisations from over 100 countries around the globe.
It began in Australia and was officially launched in Vienna in 2007.
It has been the leading civil society actor in the effort to achieve a prohibition of nuclear weapons under international law.
Embryo Transfer Technology
Government has undertaken a Mass Embryo Transfer programme in Indigenous Breeds under National Mission on Bovine Productivity.
Embryo transfer refers to a step in the process of assisted reproduction in which embryos are placed into the uterus of a female with the intent to establish a pregnancy.
It is implemented with the objective of conservation and development of indigenous breeds under Rashtriya Gokul Mission.
Under this programme, embryos of higher genetic merit indigenous bovines are being transferred in to surrogate cows.
Embryos of Indigenous breeds such as Sahiwal, Gir, Red Sindhi, Ongole, Deoni and Vechur have been proposed to be transferred under this programme.
