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Ben Bernanke, Philip Dybvig and Douglas Diamond, recipients of the 2022 Nobel prize in economic sciences.Credit: The Brookings Institution, Washington University, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Economics Nobel: why banks fail
Economists Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig have been awarded the 2022 economics Nobel prize, formally known as The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. The three laureates’ research explains why banks exist in the form they do and why the banking system is inherently unstable. “The simplicity of their mathematical argument is a thing of beauty, and the work has important policy implications,” says economist Atif Mian.
Pakistan floods boost call for climate justice
Record rains this summer put one-third of Pakistan underwater, killing around 1,300 people and causing widespread devastation that has affected 33 million people. The disaster has highlighted the question of whether rich countries should provide funding to address the loss and damage inflicted by climate change on the people who have contributed least to emissions — a key issue at the next United Nations climate conference, COP27, in November. Pakistan has contributed only 0.8% to total global greenhouse-gas emissions but faces damages estimated to be more than 10% of its gross domestic product. Researchers have reiterated calls for Pakistan’s government to heed scientific advice against building in flood zones and pursuing infrastructure projects that hinder natural drainage.
Mars microbes might have done themselves in
Ancient Mars might have been capable of nurturing hydrogen-eating, methane-producing microbes. Although similar creatures helped to make the environment on Earth more conducive to life, they would have done the opposite on Mars. Computer models show that methane produced by Martian microbial life would have cooled the planet and made it uninhabitable. Life “might actually commonly cause its own demise”, says lead author Boris Sauterey. He admits the results are “a bit gloomy”, but interesting nonetheless. “They challenge us to rethink the way a biosphere and its planet interact.”
Reference: Nature Astronomy paper
Features & opinion
Why research helps hospitals to flourish
Research can improve patient care in hospitals, says immunologist Luiz Vicente Rizzo, research director at one of Latin America’s leading hospitals: the Teaching and Research Institute of the Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital in São Paulo, Brazil. He explains how researchers at ‘the Einstein’ work hand-in-hand with medical professionals, to the benefit of both. “Doctors who do research keep up to date with what’s new in their field,” he says. “As a consequence, they can offer the most modern treatments, even if not yet widely available.”
Read more in Nature Spotlight: Research hospitals, an editorially independent supplement.
Can God be proved mathematically?
From logician Kurt Gödel’s effort to use logic to prove God exists, to Pascal’s wager — you might as well believe, if only to avoid a hypothetical hell — some mathematicians have tried to grapple with spiritual matters. This short history of the attempts (spoiler alert) doesn’t settle things once and for all, but it has a good time trying.
Scientific American | 7 min read (free registration might be required)
Where I work
Chao-Yang Lu is a quantum physicist at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, China.Credit: Dave Tacon for Nature
Quantum physicist Chao-Yang Lu develops quantum computers — here, he is looking through the control electronics that ‘phase lock’ photons so that they arrive in the computer together. “We are now up to 130 photons,” says Lu. “In 2020, our computer was the first worldwide to demonstrate ‘quantum advantage’: it completed a calculation in 200 seconds that would take a conventional supercomputer more than 2 billion years.” (Nature | 3 min read) (Dave Tacon for Nature)
