Nobel Prizes

Physics
As is usual, the Nobel prizes were announced in November. This time, the prize for physics goes to François Englert, Belgium, and Peter W. Higgs, UK, “for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was confirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider”.
Some of you regular JM readers may remember a long article (actually a series) in the Jul-Aug 2012 issue of the magazine on the Higgs boson. It is the particle, interactions with which give all fundamental particles their mass. Well, it was in the news last year because it was discovered in the CERN's Large Hadron Collider experiment. It is again in the news not even a year later because the discoverers of this particle and this mechanism for mass have now been awarded the Nobel prize for this work which they did in 1964. Prof Englert and his colleague Prof Robert Braut (who is now deceased) wrote about their solution to this problem and Prof Higgs independently worked on it. Of course as with all Science, many other scientists contributed to the understanding of this problem.
For more details about the science, do find the old JM issue again! In brief, we now believe that all matter is made up of fundemental particles such as electrons. However, particles such as protons and neutrons are not fundamental, or elementary, because they are made up of other fundamental particles called quarks. Also, other particles similar in nature to the electrons exist, for example, the muons, and they are collectively called charged leptons. Each of the charged leptons are associated with a neutral partner called neutrino.
All quarks and leptons interact with each other through four basic fundamental forces. Two of these are the well-known gravitational and electromagnetic forces. The strong force holds the quarks together inside the protons and neutrons, while the weak force is responsible for radio-activity.
All these interactions were coded into a mathematical theory which looked very elegant. However, for a long time, there was a problem: the elegance of the theory would break down if the particles had mass. It was in this context that these scientists wrote down a mechanism whereby the particles acquired mass through interactions with the Higgs field, but the elegance and symmetry of the theory was retained.
While the work is rather technical, the analogy used in the last year's issue can be repeated here.
A very popular analogy to the particles moving through the Higgs field is that of a pop star (or famous actor) moving through a crowd of fans. If you or I go through the crowds, they will simply let us pass through, but once they see the actor, they will surround him and won't let him move easily! You can say that the interaction with the crowd (the Higgs field) has given a large mass to the actor, but none to you or me!
Another way of thinking about it is to imagine a particle as a ship on a vast ocean. The friction between the ship and water causes it to slow down; this is like its mass while the ocean is the Higgs field. Waves in the ocean can be thought of as the Higgs particle. Whatever be the analogy, it remains an exotic answer.
You can always think of a particle as being far away from the influence of any forces. But even then it has a mass. In fact, a particle is characterised or recognised by its mass, otherwise we won't be able to tell electrons and muons apart. This means that the particle is always under the influence of the Higgs field and can never get away from it! 
If this puzzle you, don't worry: it puzzles, and will continue to puzzle a large number of students in physics when they are taught this fact! But the final proof of a theory in Physics is the discovery of the prediction. And this has been recognised through awarding the Nobel prize to the scientists who came up with this idea.

Chemistry
The Nobel prize in Chemistry has been awarded jointly to Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel of the USA "for the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems".
The Science
This means that the prize has been given for work done in computer modelling of chemical processes. The main difficulty in understanding chemical processes of large and complex biological systems such as photosynthesis in green leaves is the sheer number of molecules involved in the process. What these scientists did in the 1970s was to separate the problem into two parts.
Only small portions of the molecules actually participated at any givewn time in an interaction. Large portions of the complex molecules did not participate directly in the interaction. They were modelled in a very simple way using classical Newton's laws. The molecules that were actually involved cannot be treated classically, since atoms require quantum mechanics to collectly understand their behaviour. Such quantum calculations require enormous computing power and initially could be carried out only for small molecules.
Karplus, Levitt and Warshel managed to study the system so that the interacting molecules were described quantum mechanically and the remaining bystanders were treated classically.
For instance, in simulations of how a drug couples to its target protein in the body, the computer performs quantum theoretical calculations on those atoms in the target protein that interact with the drug. The rest of the large protein is simulated using less demanding classical physics. Such models are now the basis of study for most chemists.

Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2013 was awarded jointly to James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman and Thomas C. Sudhof of the USA (Sudhof was born in Germany) "for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells".
These three scientists have solved the mystery of how the cell organizes its transport system. For instance, insulin is manufactured and released into the blood. Signalling molecules called neurotransmitters are sent from one nerve cell to another. These molecules are transported around the cell in small packages called vesicles. The three Nobel Laureates have discovered the molecular principles that govern how this cargo is delivered to the right place at the right time in the cell.
Schekman discovered a set of genes that were required for vesicle traffic. Rothman unravelled protein machinery that allows vesicles to fuse with their targets to permit transfer of cargo. Thomas Sudhof revealed how signals instruct vesicles to release their cargo with precision.
Through their combined discoveries, the scientists have revealed the exquisitely precise control system for the transport and delivery of cellular cargo. Disturbances in this system can contribute to conditions such as neurological diseases, diabetes, and immunological disorders. Without this wonderfully precise organization, the cell would lapse into chaos. Hence vesicle transport gives insight into disease processes.

Economics
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for 2013 to Eugene F. Fama, Lars Peter Hansen, and Robert J. Shiller of the USA "for their empirical analysis of asset prices”.
There is no way to predict the price of stocks and bonds over the next few days or weeks. But it is quite possible to foresee the broad course of these prices over longer periods, such as the next three to five years. These findings, which might seem both surprising and contradictory, were made and analyzed by this year’s Laureates.
These findings not only had a profound impact on subsequent research but also changed market practice. The emergence of so-called index funds in stock markets all over the world is a prominent example.
From the Nobel Prize archives: www.nobelprize.org