The document outlines the schedule and topics for Govinda Bhisetti's Science Day event on December 30, 2008. The schedule includes presentations on the 2006 Nobel Prizes, science trivia, a discussion on breakthroughs in science in 2008, and a discussion on the 2008 financial meltdown.

1. Science Day 2008
December 30, 2008
Govinda Bhisetti, Ph. D.
Lexington, MA 02421
govindab@gmail.com
10:30 AM Arrival
11:00 – 11:45 AM 2006 Nobel Prizes
12:00 – 12:30 PM Trivia
12:30 – 1:30 PM Lunch
2:00 – 3:00 PM Breakthroughs in Science 2008
3:00 – 4:00 PM Financial Meltdown 2008 - Discussion
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3. 2006 Nobel Prize winners
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4. • Monday, October 6, 2008 PHYSIOLOGY or MEDICINE
Harald zur Hausen for his discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer Françoise
Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier “for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus”.
• Tuesday, October 7, 2008 PHYSICS
Yoichiro Nambu
for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics and Makoto
Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts
the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature”.
• Wednesday, October 8, 2008 CHEMISTRY
Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie, and Roger Y. Tsien
for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP.
• Monday, October 13, 2008 ECONOMICS
Paul Krugman for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity”.
• Thursday, October 9, 2008 LITERATURE
Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio
author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the
reigning civilization”
• Friday, October 9, 2008 PEACE
Martti Ahtisaari
for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international
conflicts”.
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5. PHYSIOLOGY or MEDICINE
Harald zur Hausen, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Dr. Luc Montagnier
for discovery of viruses, HPV and HIV behind two
devastating illnesses, cervical cancer and AIDS
Harald zur Hausen, 72 Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, 61 Luc Montagnier, 76
Heidelberg, Germany Paris, France Paris, France
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6. HPV and HIV
• Professor zur Hausen discovered HPV as the main cause of cervical cancer. Over
more than a decade of experiments, the scientist successfully isolated DNA from
two strains of HPV in cells taken from cervical tumours.
• It is now known that the sexually-transmitted virus can be detected in 99.7 per cent
of the 500,000 cervical cancers that occur worldwide every year.
• It led to the development of two vaccines against the most dangerous strains,
Gardasil and Cervarix.
• About 33 million people worldwide are living with HIV, and about 2.1 million each
year die of AIDS.
• The role of the virus in causing Aids has been questioned by some scientists like
Peter Duesberg and politicians such as Thabo Mbeki, ex-President of South Africa.
• Professor Barré-Sinoussi and Professor Montagnier discovered HIV in 1983. They
isolated lymph node cells from AIDS patients, and isolated a novel retrovirus that
they named lymphadenopathy-associated virus.
• In 1984, Professor Gallo’s group identified a similar virus, and in 1985 it was
confirmed that both were the same. The virus, which has since been confirmed as
the cause of Aids, was renamed HIV in 1986.
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7. HPV impacts poor worldwide
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8. HPV infection
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9. HIV Life Cycle
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10. CHEMISTRY
Osamu Shimomura, Roger Tsien, Martin Chalfie
for discovery of green fluorescent protein
- an important tool of modern biology”.
Osamu Shimomura, 80, Roger Y. Tsien, 56, Martin Chalfie, 61,
Woods Hole, MA, University of California, Columbia University, NY
Boston University Medical School San Diego, CA
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11. Shimomura’s interest in green
glow of jellyfish
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12. Chafe’s experiment with
C.elegan
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13. GFP: Green Fluorescence Protein
- a molecular tag
• The green fluorescent protein (GFP) is a protein,
comprised of 238 amino acids (26.9 kDa),
originally isolated from the jellyfish.
consists of 238 amino acids, linked
• This protein folds up into the shape of a beer can.
Inside the beer can structure the amino acids 65,
66 and 67 form the chemical group that absorbs
UV and blue light, and fl uoresces green.
• GFP allows scientists to view and
understand the inner workings of cells
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14. PHYSICS
Makoto Kobayashi, Toshihide Maskawa and Yoichiro Nambu,
for their work exploring the hidden symmetries among
elementary particles -- the deepest constituents of nature”
Makoto Kobayashi, 64 Toshihide Maskawa, 68 Yoichiro Nambu, 87
Tsukuba, Japan Kyoto Sangyo University, University of Chicago, IL
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15. The standard model
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16. Symmetry in
fundamental Physics
The basic theory for
elementary particles
describes three
different principles of
symmetry:
Mirror symmetry P
Charge symmetry, C
Time symmetry, T
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17. Broken (hidden) Symmetry
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19. 2008 Science Breakthroughs
• 1. Reprogramming Cells. By inserting genes that turn back a cell's developmental clock,
researchers are gaining insights into disease and the biology of how a cell decides its fate.
• 2. Seeing Exoplanets. Astronomers searching for planets circling other stars may have been
getting impatient with their progress toward their ultimate goal.
• 3. Cancer Genes. New studies are revealing the entire genetic landscape of specific human
cancers, providing new avenues for diagnosis and treatment.
• 4. New High-Temperature Superconductors. Physicists discovered a second family of
high-temperature superconductors. The advance deepened the biggest mystery in condensed-
matter physics.
• 5. Watching Proteins at Work. After studying proteins for more than a century, biochemists
pushed the boundaries of watching the molecules in action--and received surprises at every turn.
• 6. Water to Burn. Renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, have plenty going
for them. But there is no good way to store excess electricity on an industrial scale. Researchers
reported this year that they've developed a new catalyst that could begin to change that picture.
• 7. The Video Embryo. Scientists observed the ballet in unprecedented detail, recording and
analyzing movies that traced the movements of the roughly 16,000 cells that make up the
zebrafish embryo by the end of its first day of development.
• 8. Fat of a Different Color. Researchers finally uncovered the mysterious roots of so-called
brown fat. Hardly blubber, the energy-using tissue turns out to be one step away from muscle.
• 9. Proton's Mass 'Predicted’. Starting from a theoretical description of its innards, physicists
precisely calculated the mass of the proton and other particles made of quarks and gluons.
• 10. Sequencing Bonanza. New genome-sequencing technologies that are much faster and
cheaper than the approach used to decipher the first human genome are driving a boom in
sequencing.
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20. A planet 100 light years away is about 1015
kilometers from Earth.
A cell spans only about 10-5 meter.
Thus, the two breakthroughs of the year
represent a difference of 1023 in scale ..
--- a breathtaking illustration of the
tremendous reach of science.
- Bruce Alberts, Editor-in-Chief of Science
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21. 10. Sequencing Bonanza
New genome-sequencing technologies are much faster and cheaper, and are
driving a boom in sequencing.
454 Sequencing is a massively-parallel sequencing-by-
synthesis (SBS) technology which grows fluorescently labeled
DNA on microscopic beads, and can sequence 100 megabases
of raw DNA sequence per 4.5-hour run.
Illumina's technology sequences DNA at a fater rate in
massively parallel reactions on glass plates.
Pacific Biosciences, provided an exciting glimpse of even faster
sequencing.
Costs continue to drop; one company boasts that genomes for
$5000 are in reach.
This year, researchers produced the mitochondrial genomes of
extinct cave bears and of a Neandertal, and 70% of the genome
of a woolly mammoth, first genomes of an Asian, an African,
and a cancer patient.
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22. 9. Proton’s Mass Predicted
lattice quantum chromodynamics
• The numbers aren't new; experimenters have been able to weigh the proton
for nearly a century. But starting from a theoretical description, physicists
precisely calculated the mass of the proton and other particles made of
quarks and gluons.
• In simplest terms, the proton comprises three quarks with gluons zipping
between them to convey the strong force.
• The new results show that physicists can at last make accurate calculations
of the ultracomplex strong force that binds quarks.
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23. 8. Fat of a Different Color
mysterious roots of brown fat
• Anatomists first noted the distinction
between two fat types more than 400
years ago.
• White fat is a quilt. It is the energy-
caching padding that vexes doctors and
dieters.
• Brown fat is an electric blanket. It burns
to generate heat that warms the body.
• Brown adipose tissue is, surprisingly,
more related to skeletal muscle than
to white adipose tissue.
• The discoveries could lead toward anti-
obesity treatments that melt away bad
white fat, either by firing up existing fat-
burning brown cells in the body or by
transplanting new ones.
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24. 7. The video embryo
Biodiversity: New understanding of how species arise.
• The dance of cells as a fertilized egg becomes
an organism is at the center of developmental
biology.
• Scientists recorded movies that traced the
movements of roughly 16,000 cells that make
up the zebrafish embryo by the end of its first
day of development.
• A movie of a well-known mutant strain of fish
revealed for the first time exactly what goes
wrong as the embryo develops.
• The zebrafish movies are freely available on the
internet.
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25. 6. Water to Burn
The utilization of solar energy on a large
scale requires its storage
• There is no good way to store excess electricity on an industrial
scale.
• Solar energy can be used electricity to split water into hydrogen
and oxygen (as in photosynthesis) using a catalyst. Hydrogen can
then be burned or fed to fuel cells that recombine it with oxygen
to produce electricity.
• Researchers have known for decades that precious metals such as
platinum will split water. But platinum's rarity and high cost make
it impractical for large-scale use.
• A new catalyst, a mixture of cobalt and phosphorous is reported
to be capable of splitting water - it works too slowly for
industrial use -- but just getting a cheap and abundant metal to
do the job is a crucial development.
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26. 5. Watching Proteins at work
Conformational selection, rather than induced-fit motion, thus suffices to
explain the molecular recognition dynamics of ubiquitin.
Induced fit assumes an initial
interaction between a protein and
its binding partner, followed by
conformational changes that act to
optimize the interaction.
In conformational selection a weakly
populated, higher-energy
conformation interacts with the
binding partner, stabilizing the
complex.
Relative populations of
conformations are indicated by
size. In the structural ensemble,
different conformations may
interact with distinct protein-
binding partners.
The energy diagram depicted is the
simplest case; binding partners
may have affinity for a number of
protein sub-states that would
further modify the structural
energy landscape.
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27. 4. New High-T superconductor
a second family of superconductors that carry
electricity without resistance at high temperatures
Japanese scientists reported the first material, fluorine-doped
lanthanum iron arsenic oxide (LaFeAsO(1-x)Fx), superconducting up
to a critical temperature of 26 kelvin
Within 3 months, four groups in China had replaced the lanthanum
with elements such as praseodymium and samarium and driven the
temperature for resistance-free flow up to 55 kelvin.
Others have since found compounds with different crystal
structures and have bumped the critical temperature up to 56
kelvin.
The record is 138 kelvin for members of the other family of
high-temperature superconductors, the copper-and-oxygen,
or cuprate, compounds discovered in 1986.
The iron-based materials have created a stir, in part because they
might help solve the enduring mystery of how the cuprates work.
The question is whether the two families work the same way. So
far, evidence points in both directions.
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28. 3. Cancer Genes
The expanding catalog of cancer genes
reveals an exciting but sobering complexity
• Tumor cells are typically riddled with genetic mistakes that
disrupt key cell pathways, removing the brakes on cell division.
• By sequencing hundreds or thousands of genes, researchers
fingered dozens of mutations, both known and new. Leading the
list in 2008 were reports on pancreatic cancer and glioblastoma,
the deadliest cancers.
• A new cancer gene called IDH1 appeared in a sizable 12% of
samples from glioma brain tumors. A separate glioma study
revealed hints as to why some patients' tumors develop drug
resistance. Other studies winnowed out abnormal DNA in lung
adenocarcinoma tumors and acute myeloid leukemia.
• Treatments that target biological pathways are a better bet than
silver bullet drugs aimed at a single gene.
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29. 2. Seeing Exoplanets
Astronomers have seen exoplanets for the first time ...
about 6 of them, but not earth-like
• Previously for the past 13 years, astronomers
reported indirect detection of more than 300
exoplanets using ground-based telescopes to
monitor the subtle wobble a planet
gravitationally induces in its star.
• Published last month, the most secure--and
surely the most stunning--are three objects
orbiting a star called HR 8799, 128 light-
years from Earth -- 5 to 10 times the mass of
Jupiter, orbit 24 to 68 times farther from their
star than Earth orbits from the sun.
• Another group reported detecting a planet of
roughly three Jupiter masses orbiting the star
Fomalhaut, one of the brightest stars in the
sky.
• Imaging Earth-like exoplanets in Earth-like
orbits is probably still decades and
certainly billions of dollars away.
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30. 1. Programming Cells
Astronomers have seen exoplanets for the first time ...
about 6 of them, but not earth-like
• Previously for the past 13 years, astronomers reported indirect detection of more than 300 exoplanets using
ground-based telescopes to monitor the subtle wobble a planet gravitationally induces in its star.
• http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/322/5
909/1766b
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31. 2008 Financial Meltdown
The most-memorable year for the financial world since the Great Depression
People wait in line to enter a job fair in New Bernard Prinstein waits on line with other job
York in April. The national unemployment seekers at the Internal Revenue Service Career
rate is now at 6.3 percent. Open House on Oct. 28 in New York.
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32. Big Banks fail
IndyMac Bank - second largest bank failure ever in the US
Hundreds of nervous customers waiting in line in July to get into an IndyMac Bank..
.. withdrew $1.9 billion.
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33. $700 Billion Bailout
Demonstrators protest next to a statue of George Washington at the Federal Hall
National Memorial on Wall Street against the $700 billion Wall Street bail-out in front of
the New York Stock Exchange in New York on Sept. 25.
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34. Lehman Brothers is gone
Barclays Capital logos are seen on the former Lehman Brothers building on Sept. 23. in New
York. Lehman sold its North American banking business to Barclays and its Japanese and
Australian units to Nomura.
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35. Auto Makers Bailout
Chrysler Chief Executive Officer Bob Nardelli arrives outside the Dirksen Senate Office Building on
Capitol Hill in Washington, in a Jeep Electric Vehicle on Dec. 4, prior to testifying on a rescue package.
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36. The worst predictions that were made about 2008
1. A very powerful and durable rally is in the works. But it may need another couple of days to lift off.
Hold the fort and keep the faith! -- Richard Band, editor, Profitable Investing Letter, Mar. 27, 2008
2. AIG (NYSE:AIG - News) could have huge gains in the second quarter. -- Bijan Moazami, analyst,
Friedman, Billings, Ramsey, May 9, 2008.
3. I think this is a case where Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are fundamentally sound. They're not in
danger of going under I think they are in good shape going forward. -- Barney Frank (D-Mass.),
House Financial Services Committee chairman, July 14, 2008
4. The market is in the process of correcting itself. -- President George W. Bush, in a Mar. 14, 2008
speech
5. No! No! No! Bear Stearns is not in trouble. -- Jim Cramer, CNBC commentator, Mar. 11, 2008
6. Existing-Home Sales to Trend Up in 2008 -- Headline of a National Association of Realtors press
release, Dec. 9, 2007
7. I think you'll see (oil prices at) $150 a barrel by the end of the year -- T. Boone Pickens, June 20,
2008
8. I expect there will be some failures. I don't anticipate any serious problems of that sort among the
large internationally active banks that make up a very substantial part of our banking system. --
Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman, Feb. 28, 2008
9. In today's regulatory environment, it's virtually impossible to violate rules. -- Bernard Madoff,
money manager, Oct. 20, 2007
10. A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win, the title of a book by
conservative commentator Shelby Steele, published on Dec. 4, 2007.
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37. Jobs Graduates seek
• In the past decade, more than half of the graduates of Yale, Princeton, and Harvard who did not
go directly to professional schools chose a career in the finance industry or in management
consulting.
• That will change. Many more of our most talented young people may decide to tackle the
urgent problems in energy, environment, health, and education.
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