Hideki Shirakawa, who shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Alan MacDiarmid and Alan Heeger for discovering that polymers can conduct electricity, has died at age 90. His breakthrough came from research at Tokyo Institute of Technology, where a 1967 experimental error by a visiting researcher led to the creation of a metallic-looking polyacetylene film instead of the expected powder, which Shirakawa then developed further by doping it with other chemicals to make it electrically conductive.
nature.com
· 2026-11-11
A new English-language book compiling Annie Ernaux's letters, interviews, previously unpublished diaries and essays has been released, offering insight into her literary and political work. The 86-year-old Nobel laureate, known for memoirs like The Years and A Man's Place, discussed in an interview her continued engagement with current events, including student protests in France against education cuts and austerity measures.
vulture.com
· 2026-11-04
William Nordhaus, the Yale economist who created the DICE model for analyzing the economics of climate change starting in the 1970s, has died. He also co-authored the long-running textbook 'Economics' with Paul Samuelson and held numerous advisory and leadership roles, including on the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's board and the President's Council of Economic Advisers.
news.yale.edu
· 2026-10-31
A Nature report examines the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and finds that women remain starkly underrepresented among winners since the prize's inception in 1969. Only a small handful of women have received the award, a pattern the analysis says is more pronounced than in other Nobel categories.
nature.com
· 2026-10-27
Nobel and Turing Award-winning computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton told The Telegraph that AI systems now possess subjective experience, citing a study showing AI alters its behavior when it detects it is being tested. He argued that awareness and consciousness are effectively the same thing, and warned that humans must get AI to genuinely care about them or risk being 'toast.'
futurism.com
· 2026-10-22
DeepMind co-founder and Nobel Prize winner Demis Hassabis discussed his long-standing goal of developing artificial general intelligence, framing it as a foundational step toward solving broader scientific and societal problems. He traced his path from a childhood chess prodigy to AI researcher to Nobel laureate, describing his career as pursuing a consistent two-stage plan centered on intelligence first.
wsj.com
· 2026-10-21
A Nature editorial argues that several Nobel Prize-winning scientific breakthroughs originated from research on neglected or unusual organisms rather than mainstream model species. The piece calls for sustained funding and attention to biodiversity in research rather than concentrating resources solely on popular model organisms like mice and fruit flies.
nature.com
· 2026-10-20
Francis Halzen received the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, which detects high-energy cosmic neutrinos using sensors buried in Antarctic ice. Commentary following the award highlights several astroparticle physics projects in development, including the Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment off Vancouver Island and dark-matter searches like XLZD and PandaX, noting that IceCube cost roughly $271 million to build versus about $7 million for its predecessor, AMANDA.
nature.com
· 2026-10-16
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics, Chemistry and Physiology or Medicine were all awarded to men, extending a pattern seen repeatedly this century, even as the Peace Prize went to South African lawyer Navi Pillay and the Literature Prize to Canadian writer Anne Carson. Nature reports that since 2019 only seven science Nobels have gone to women, with four years producing no female laureates at all. A committee representative told Nature that members are concerned about the imbalance and want to see it change.
nature.com
· 2026-10-13
The Swedish Academy announced that Canadian poet and essayist Anne Carson received the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature. Recognized for her inventive blending of poetry, prose, and translation, Carson’s work often references Greek mythology and classical themes. Her notable publications include 'Autobiography of Red' and 'Nox', which showcase her experimental approach to literature.
theguardian.com
· 2026-10-08
Henri Kagan and Kensō Soai received the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work on the origins and control of molecular chirality, which is crucial for drug development and material synthesis. Their research sheds light on why living organisms predominantly use one enantiomer over the other, a phenomenon known as homochirality, and offers new methods to manipulate these reactions in laboratories.
wired.com
· 2026-10-08
Juan Carlos Díaz Vélez, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, shared insights into the Nobel Prize awarded to his supervisor, Francis Halzen, for work on the IceCube neutrino detector. The detector uses sensors embedded in Antarctic ice to observe elusive subatomic particles called neutrinos, which are produced by natural processes on Earth and in living organisms. Díaz Vélez emphasized the ongoing nature of this research despite the recent accolade.
wired.com
· 2026-10-08
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