How the Hippies Saved Physics, A Book About California Physicists in the 1970s Is Physics World's Book of the Year

The Institute of Physics' website, physicsworld.com, has chosen, How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture and the Quantum Revival, a book about a group of physicists in California who brought quantum physics to the forefront of mainstream science.

The book by associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, David Kaiser, looks at the these new age thinking scientists who called themselves the “Fundamental Fysiks Group” and how they influenced modern physics to focus on the weird world of quantum theory.

Physics World's editor, Matin Durrani, and reviews editor, Margaret Harris help choose 2012's Book of the Year based on factors such as its relevance to science (with emphasis on physics), readability, how well the book is written, it's originality, and scientifically interesting.

David Kaiser was asked why he wrote the book. He says, "I've been interested for a long time in the fortunes of physics as a discipline over they years since World War 2. The physics that came out of the war in a whole new orientation, a whole new place compared to how it ever been..."

Kaiser continues, "There was a temporal boundedness to that kind of post WW2 era of big enrollments tremendous funding, of almost glamour especially in the US to the physics profession. And that came tumbling down horribly quickly around the early 1970s.

Discovery of Higgs Particle Chosen As Scientific Breakthrough of the Year by the AAAS

The discovery of the Higgs Particle was chosen as the scientific breakthrough of the year by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

The announcement was made in Melbourne, Australia at the opening of the 2012 International Conference on High Energy Physics (ICHEP).

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) announced its discovery of the Higgs particle in early July 2012. This discovery capped decades of research and hardwork in finding the elusive particle.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society. The AAAS is affiliated with 261 societies and serves around 10 million members.

The AAAS publishes the journals Science, Translational Medicine and Science Signaling. The peer reviewed journal, Science, has over 1 million readers and has the largest paid circulation of the world.

The mission of AAAS is to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy; international programs; science education; and more.

2012 ACS Heroes of Chemistry Honors Scientists From Merck, Novartis, and Arkema, Inc.

The ACS Heroes of Chemistry program recognizes chemical scientists whose work in various fields of chemistry and chemical engineering has led to the successful innovation and development of commercial products based on chemistry. It brings attention to the important role of scientists in industrial chemistry and their companies in improving human welfare through successful commercial innovations and products. Heroes of Chemistry presents an ideal opportunity to enhance the public image of the chemical and allied industries.

Each year, Heroes of Chemistry are nominated by their own companies to recognize their talent, creativity, and innovation. Our previous Heroes of Chemistry have excelled in innovation at prominent international corporations and developed many commercial products that demonstrate strong financial performance. The commercial success of their products in the marketplace is an important criterion for this honor, because we recognize that good business results follow good science.

'Heroes of Chemistry': Developed new drugs and technology to cut heating and cooling bills

The scientists behind three inventions that touch the lives of millions of people around the world will be inducted into a coveted scientific "Hall of Fame" today as the latest Heroes of Chemistry named by the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society.

The ceremony, held at the 244th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, which continues here through Thursday, will confer public recognition on scientific teams that developed:

• The first oral drug for the most common and difficult-to-treat form of chronic hepatitis C, which infects more than 3 million people in the United States and 130-170 million worldwide.
• Another new medicine for one form of adult leukemia that provided patients with an alternative treatment when the disease became drug-resistant.
• The process, used around the world, for making "low-e window glass" and other glass coatings that saves millions of dollars each year in heating and cooling costs and significantly lowers energy consumption.

Established in 1996, the ACS Heroes of Chemistry program recognizes scientists whose work in various fields of chemistry and chemical engineering has led to the successful innovation and development of commercial products that benefit humankind.

American Chemical Society (ACS) Awards Priestley Medal To Peter J. Stang, Ph.D.

Peter J. Stang, Ph.D.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With main offices at Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio, the ACS is the world's largest scientific society with more than 164,000 members. It is also a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences.

The highest honor the ACS can confer to an individual for distinguished service in the filed of chemistry is the Priestley Medal. This was established in 1922. This award is named after Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen. The ACS formed in 1876, spearheaded by a group of chemists who had met two years previously in Priestley's home.

From 1928 to 1944, the Priestley Medal was presented every three years. After 1944, it became a yearly presentation. It honors individuals who are advanced in their fields, as it is intended to commemorate lifetime achievement.

American Chemical Society's highest honor goes to pioneer of 'Lego-like' molecules

Peter J. Stang, Ph.D., distinguished professor of chemistry at the University of Utah and editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), has been named winner of the 2013 Priestley Medal by the American Chemical Society (ACS). It is the highest honor bestowed by the world's largest scientific society.

Priestley Medal

The award recognizes Stang's cutting-edge research that has had far-reaching implications for many areas of science, including drug development and more efficient ways to produce gasoline and home heating oil. The annual award includes a gold medallion designed to commemorate the work of Joseph Priestley, who lived from 1733 to 1804, and is best remembered for his 1774 discovery of the gas that would later be named "oxygen."

"Stang is a pre-eminent organic chemist with an international reputation and seminal, creative contributions to a broad spectrum of chemistry," said Gabor Somorjai, Ph.D., of the University of California, Berkeley. Somorjai nominated Stang for this award.

Last year, Stang won a National Medal of Science, which is the highest U.S. honor for a scientist or engineer. He received the award from President Barack Obama in a White House ceremony, where he was honored "for his creative contributions to the development of organic supramolecular chemistry and for his outstanding and unique record of public service."

$500,000 Gruber Foundation Genetics Prize for 2012 Goes To Douglas C. Wallace

The Genetics Prize of the Gruber Foundation is presented to leading scientists in recognition of groundbreaking contributions in genetics research. It can be awarded from one to up to three scientists.

The Genetics Prize was established in 2001. It was awarded to Rudolf Jaenisch. His work has produced important advances in understanding cancer, neurological disorders, connective tissue diseases, and developmental abnormalities in bone and muscle.

Since 2001, the Prize, comprising of a gold medal and an unrestricted $500,000 cash award, has been awarded for fundamental insights in the field of genetics. These may include original discoveries in genetic function, regulation, transmission, and variation, as well as in genomic organization.

The Gruber Foundation is now established at Yale University.

$500,000 Gruber Foundation Genetics Prize goes to Philadelphia scientist

Douglas C. Wallace, PhD

Douglas C. Wallace, PhD, a pioneering genetics researcher who founded the field of mitochondrial genetics in humans, will receive the 2012 Genetics Prize of The Gruber Foundation. Wallace is being honored with this prestigious international award for his groundbreaking achievements in helping science understand the role of mitochondria—the "power plants" of cells—in the development of disease and as markers for human evolution.

He will receive the award November 9 in San Francisco at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics, where he will also deliver a lecture titled "A Bioenergetic Perspective on Origins, Health, and Disease".

"Douglas Wallace's contributions to our understanding of mitochondrial genetics have changed the way human and medical geneticists think about the role of mitochondria in human health and disease," said Elizabeth Blackburn, chair of the Selection Advisory Board to the Prize. Blackburn is the 2006 Gruber Genetics Prize laureate and shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine.

Dr. Stephen Quake Honored As Recipient of the 2012 $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize

Stephen Quake, PhD

The Lemelson-MIT Program celebrates outstanding innovators and inspires young people to pursue creative lives and careers through invention.

Within the program, there is the Lemelson-MIT Prize. It recognizes individuals whose ideas, inventions, and innovations have contributed a significant value to society and the world. Dubbed the "Oscar for Inventors," the Lemelson-MIT Prize is awarded to outstanding mid-career inventors, who have developed a patented product or process which can or has been adopted for practical use.

By recognizing and funding younger, mid-career inventors, the prize is designed to spur inventive careers and provide role models for future generations of inventors.

The Lemelson-MIT Prize seeks to highlight the pivotal role inventive activity plays in the achievement of positive social, cultural and economic goals.

The objectives of the Lemelson-MIT Prize are to:

• Recognize and reward America’s outstanding mid-career inventors
• Encourage broad dissemination of invention(s) to achieve maximum impact
• Celebrate individuals who enhance economic opportunity and community well-being through their inventive work
• Foster continued inventive work that creates opportunities and overcomes challenges
• Increase awareness of the work of inventors and the potential for commercialization and wider adoption of their inventions
• Promote role models who can inspire young people to pursue creative lives and careers

Physicist and entrepreneur Dr. Stephen Quake honored with $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize

Dr. Stephen Quake, one of the world's most prolific inventors, was announced today as recipient of the 2012 $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize. An adventurer at heart, Quake relishes in the adrenaline that comes from mountain biking and ski mountaineering. It is that same rush he gets from exploring the unknown that drives him to consistently push scientific limits. Quake is being recognized for his revolutionary work in drug discovery, genome analysis and personalized medicine. He will accept the prestigious award and present his accomplishments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during the Lemelson-MIT Program's sixth-annual EurekaFest, a multi-day celebration of the inventive spirit, June 20 – 23.

Raised in an entrepreneurial household with a father who worked in the computer industry, Quake was captivated by technology and its infinite applications at an early age. Quake found academic success in his high school science and math courses, and went on to earn degrees in physics and mathematics from Stanford University and Oxford University. Today, the professor of Bioengineering and Applied Physics at Stanford and investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute has more than 80 patents and four companies to his name.

Seven Scientists Receive 2012 Kavli Prize In The Fields of Astrophysics, Nanoscience and Neuroscience

The Kavli Prize is awarded to scientists who have shown outstanding and exemplary work in their field. The Kavli prize focuses on three fields of science; astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience.

Recipients of the prize are announced every second year. The Kavli Prize was first awarded in Oslo, Norway on 09 September 2008. They were presented by His Royal Highness Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway.

The Kavli Prize is a partnership between The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, The Kavli Foundation (US) and The Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research.

Kavli Prize recipients are chosen biennially by three prize committees comprised of distinguished international scientists recommended by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the French Academy of Sciences, the Max Planck Society, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and The Royal Society. After making their selection for Award recipients, the recommendations of these prize committees are confirmed by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

7 scientific pioneers receive the 2012 Kavli Prizes

This year's laureates were selected for making fundamental contributions to our understanding of the outer solar system, the differences in material properties at nano- and larger scales, and how the brain receives and responds to sensations such as sight, sound and touch.

The Kavli Prize in Astrophysics is shared between David C. Jewitt, University of California, USA, Jane X. Luu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lincoln Laboratory, USA, and Michael E. Brown, California Institute of Technology, USA. They received the prize "for discovering and characterizing the Kuiper Belt and its largest members, work that led to a major advance in the understanding of the history of our planetary system."

The Kavli Prize in Nanoscience is given to Mildred S. Dresselhaus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, "for her pioneering contributions to the study of phonons, electron-phonon interactions, and thermal transport in nanostructures."

In Celebration of National Women's Health Week Female Scientists Recognized for Achievements

Coordinated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women's Health, National Women's Health Week (NWHW) brings together communities, businesses, government, health organizations, and other groups in an effort to promote women’s health. The event started on May 13 and ends May 19.

For 2012, NWHW carries the theme, “It’s Your Time.” It empowers women to make their health a top priority. National Women's Health Week also encourages women to take the following steps to improve their physical and mental health and lower their risks of certain diseases:

• Visit a health care professional to receive regular checkups and preventive screenings.
• Get active.
• Eat healthy.
• Pay attention to mental health, including getting enough sleep and managing stress.
• Avoid unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking and not wearing a seatbelt or bicycle helmet.

Female scientists recognized for achievements at the Feinstein Institute

In celebration of National Women's Health Week and in recognition of the numerous accomplishments undertaken at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, a newly organized group of female scientists, Advancing Women in Science and Medicine (AWSM), hosted its first annual awards breakfast on May 17. Scientists, educators, business and community leaders from the region attended the event to celebrate the excellence and achievements of women scientists at the Feinstein Institute.

AWSM was created in an effort to advance the career opportunities and career satisfaction of female scientists at the Feinstein Institute. AWSM is comprised of 25 female faculty members who lead programs in basic, translational and clinical research. The group elected Christine Metz, PhD, as president, and Nadeen Chahine, PhD, as vice president. The four core initiatives of AWSM are in the areas of career development, recognition, advocacy and education, and networking, and mentoring.

March of Dimes Awards Prize in Developmental Biology To Two Pioneering Scientists In Skin Biology

The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP) was created in 1938 by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It's mission was to lead, direct, and unify the fight against polio. At the time, polio was a paralyzing viral disease that affected children. The NFIP's annual event was called The March of Dimes which gradually became synonymous with that of the organization.

In 1958, The March of Dimes changed it's mission from fighting polio to improving the health of babies by preventing birth defects, infant mortality, and premature birth.

Currently, The March of Dimes is the leading nonprofit organization for pregnancy and baby health. With chapters nationwide and its premier event, March for Babies®, the March of Dimes works to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.

March of Dimes awards $250,000 prize to 2 scientists who pioneered advances in skin disorders

Honorees revealed workings of skin stem cells and developed skin grafts for burn victims

Two scientists who have revolutionized the understanding of skin biology, creating crucial advances in treating skin cancers and other diseases as well as severe burns, have been chosen to receive the 2012 March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology.

Howard Green, MD, George Higginson Professor of Cell Biology, Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, and Elaine Fuchs, PhD, Rebecca C. Lancefield Professor, Laboratory of Mammalian Cell Biology & Development, Howard Hughes Medical Investigator, Rockefeller University, will share this year's prize.

Science's Breakthrough of the Year: HIV treatment as prevention

AAAS PRESS RELEASE: A clinical trial that revitalized HIV research tops the journal's list of advances in 2011

The journal Science has lauded an eye-opening HIV study, known as HPTN 052, as the most important scientific breakthrough of 2011. This clinical trial demonstrated that people infected with HIV are 96 percent less likely to transmit the virus to their partners if they take antiretroviral drugs (ARVs).

The findings end a long-standing debate over whether ARVs could provide a double benefit by treating the virus in individual patients while simultaneously cutting transmission rates. It's now clear that ARVs can provide treatment as well as prevention when it comes to HIV, researchers agree.

In addition to recognizing HPTN 052 as the 2011 Breakthrough of the Year, Science and its publisher, AAAS, the nonprofit science society, have identified nine other groundbreaking scientific accomplishments from the past year and compiled them into a top 10 list that will appear in the 23 December issue.

Myron Cohen from the University of North Carolina's School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, N.C. and an international team of colleagues kicked off the HPTN 052 study in 2007 by enrolling 1,763 heterosexual couples from nine different countries: Brazil, India, Thailand, the United States, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Each participating couple included one partner with an HIV infection.

The researchers administered ARVs to half of those HIV-infected individuals immediately and waited for the other half of the infected participants to develop CD4 counts below 250 — indicative of severe immune damage — before offering treatment. (A CD4 count below 200 indicates AIDS.)

Video: Get to know AAAS

Then, earlier this year, four years before the study was officially scheduled to end, an independent monitoring board decided that all infected study participants should receive ARVs at once. The board members had seen the dramatic effects of early ARV treatment on HIV transmission rates, and they recommended that the trial's findings be made public as soon as possible. Subsequently, the results of HPTN 052 appeared in the 11 August issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

"This [HPTN 052 trial] does not mean that treating people alone will end an epidemic," said Science news correspondent Jon Cohen, who wrote about the trial for Science's Breakthrough of the Year feature. "But, combined with three other major biomedical preventions that have proven their worth in large clinical studies since 2005, many researchers now believe it is possible to break the back of the epidemic in specific locales with the right package of interventions."

Treatment with ARVs was already known to reduce the viral load, or the actual amount of HIV, in an infected individual. Many HIV/AIDS researchers had thus reasoned that treated individuals should also be less infectious. But, before HPTN 052, skeptics had contended that such a theory was unproven — and that the viral load might not reflect levels of virus in genital secretions.

"Most everyone expected that reducing the amount of virus in a person would somewhat reduce infectiousness," explained Jon Cohen. "What was surprising was the magnitude of protection and then the impact the results had among HIV/AIDS researchers, advocates and policy-makers."

These findings have added important momentum to a movement, already underway, that promotes the ongoing treatment of HIV to reduce viral loads in communities and could possibly eliminate HIV/AIDS epidemics in some countries. But moving forward won't be easy, researchers say.

Video: Myron Cohen on HPTN 052 HIV Prevention Trial


"There are huge hurdles when it comes to applying this clinical trial evidence to a population," said Jon Cohen. "Some 52 percent of the people who need ARVs immediately for their own health right now have no access — and that's 7.6 million people. What's more, there are all sorts of obstacles that hinder attempts to scale this up that have more to do with infrastructure than the purchase price of drugs."

Still, some researchers consider HPTN 052 a "game-changer" because of its near-100 percent efficacy in reducing HIV transmission rates. And, indeed, it has already sprung many clinicians and policy-makers into action. For all these reasons, Science spotlights the HPTN 052 study as the 2011 Breakthrough of the Year.

Science's list of nine other groundbreaking scientific achievements from 2011 follows.

The Hayabusa Mission: After some near-disastrous technical difficulties and a stunningly successful recovery, Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft returned to Earth with dust from the surface of a large, S-type asteroid. This asteroid dust represented the first direct sampling of a planetary body in 35 years, and analysis of the grains confirmed that the most common meteorites found on Earth, known as ordinary chondrules, are born from these much larger, S-type asteroids.

Unraveling Human Origins: Studying the genetic code of both ancient and modern human beings, researchers discovered that many humans still carry DNA variants inherited from archaic humans, such as the mysterious Denisovans in Asia and still-unidentified ancestors in Africa. One study this year revealed how archaic humans likely shaped our modern immune systems, and an analysis of Australopithecus sediba fossils in South Africa showed that the ancient hominin possessed both primitive and Homo-like traits.

Capturing a Photosynthetic Protein: In vivid detail, researchers in Japan have mapped the structure of the Photosystem II, or PSII, protein that plants use to split water into hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The crystal-clear image shows off the protein's catalytic core and reveals the specific orientation of atoms within. Now, scientists have access to this catalytic structure that is essential for life on Earth — one that may also hold the key to a powerful source of clean energy.

Pristine Gas in Space: Astronomers using the Keck telescope in Hawaii to probe the faraway universe wound up discovering two clouds of hydrogen gas that seem to have maintained their original chemistry for two billion years after the big bang. Other researchers identified a star that is almost completely devoid of metals, just as the universe's earliest stars must have been, but that formed much later. The discoveries show that pockets of matter persisted unscathed amid eons of cosmic violence.

Getting to Know the Microbiome: Research into the countless microbes that dwell in the human gut demonstrated that everyone has a dominant bacterium leading the gang in their digestive tract: Bacteroides, Prevotella or Ruminococcus. Follow-up studies revealed that one of these bacteria thrives on a high-protein diet while another prefers vegetarian fare. These findings and more helped to clarify the interplay between diet and microbes in nutrition and disease.

A Promising Malaria Vaccine: Early results of the clinical trial of a malaria vaccine, known as RTS,S, provided a shot in the arm to malaria vaccine research. The ongoing trial, which has enrolled more than 15,000 children from seven African countries, reassured malaria researchers, who are used to bitter disappointment, that discovering a malaria vaccine remains possible.

Strange Solar Systems: This year, astronomers got their first good views of several distant planetary systems and discovered that things are pretty weird out there. First, NASA's Kepler observatory helped identify a star system with planets orbiting in ways that today's models cannot explain. Then, researchers discovered a gas giant caught in a rare "retrograde" orbit, a planet circling a binary star system and 10 planets that seem to be freely floating in space — all unlike anything found in our own solar system.

Designer Zeolites: Zeolites are porous minerals that are used as catalysts and molecular sieves to convert oil into gasoline, purify water, filter air and produce laundry detergents (to name a few uses). This year, chemists really showed off their creativity by designing a range of new zeolites that are cheaper, thinner and better equipped to process larger organic molecules.

Clearing Senescent Cells: Experiments revealed that clearing senescent cells, or those that have stopped dividing, from the bodies of mice can delay the onset of age-related symptoms, such as cataracts and muscle weakness. Mice whose bodies were cleared of these loitering cells didn't live longer than their untreated cage-mates — but they did seem to live better, which provided researchers with some hope that banishing senescent cells might also prolong our golden years.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world’s largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science as well as Science Translational Medicine and Science Signaling. AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes some 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The non-profit AAAS (www.aaas.org) is open to all and fulfills its mission to “advance science and serve society” through initiatives in science policy; international programs; science education; and more. For the latest research news, log onto EurekAlert!, www.eurekalert.org, the premier science-news Web site, a service of AAAS.

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