Scientists Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson have been awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for developing cryo-electron microscopy which simplifies and improves the imaging of biomolecules.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the award on Wednesday.
Cryo-electron microscopy has enabled scientists to fill in previously blank spaces in research, generating images of everything from proteins that cause antibiotic resistance, to the surface of the Zika virus.
"This method has moved biochemistry into a new era," said the Academy. "Researchers can now freeze biomolecules mid-movement and visualise processes they have never previously seen, which is decisive for both the basic understanding of life's chemistry and for the development of pharmaceuticals."
Scottish-born scientist Richard Henderson used an electron microscope to generate a three-dimensional image of a protein at an atomic resolution, showing the potential of the technology. His breakthrough was further developed by German-born Joachim Frank, while Jacques Dubochet of Switzerland used rapidly frozen water to preserve the natural shape of the biomolecules.
The award comes with a prize of 9 million Swedish krona (Dh4.08 million) prize.
Chemistry is the third of this year's Nobel Prizes after the winners of the medicine and physics awards were announced earlier this week.
The prizes are named after Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, and have been awarded since 1901 for achievements in science, literature and peace, in accordance with his will.
While the chemistry award has sometimes been overshadowed by the towering reputations of physics winners such as Albert Einstein, past laureates include ground-breaking scientists such as radioactivity pioneers Ernest Rutherford and Marie Curie, though she also won the physics prize.
The award passed over one of the highest-profile fields of research, the so-called CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology that earlier this year allowed US scientists to alter genes in a human embryo to correct a disease-causing mutation.
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- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
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The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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