IT’s Nobel Prize season, the time of year that forces us to question our life choices. We watch people, their hair turned silver by hard work and possibly stubbornness, receive accolades for the research that they were doing when they were in their late 20s to early 40s. Consciously or subconsciously, we begin to compare that to what we were doing during those years — or what we plan to do in the coming years. A brief mental meander, and we realise why we are not the ones getting Nobel prizes. On Monday, 71-one-year-old Yoshinori Ohsumi received the Nobel prize for medicine. He discovered autophagy in cells, the process by which cells degrade and recycle their constituents. This discovery, published in 1992, more than two decades ago, has transformed our understanding of cell behaviour. Ohsumi joins a list of some of the world’s greatest thinkers. In the time-honoured tradition of elite clubs, it is populated by mostly men from the US, UK, Germany and France. (So far, 15 black peopl...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.