(Press-News.org) What makes a brilliant scientist? Who are the people behind the greatest discoveries of our time? Connecting art and science, photographer Herlinde Koelbl seeks the answers in this English translation of the German book Fascination of Science, an indelible collection of portraits of and interviews with sixty pioneering scientists of the twenty-first century. Koelbl's approach is intimate and accessible, and her highly personal interviews with her subjects reveal the forces (as well as the personal quirks) that motivate the scientists' work; for example, one wakes up at 3 am because her mind is calm then, another says his best ideas come to him in the shower. These glimpses into the scientists' lives and thinking add untold texture in this up-to-the-minute survey of the activities and progress that are currently taking place in the broad field of the natural sciences.
Koelbl's interview subjects include Nobel Prize winners Dan Shechtman, Frances Arnold, Carolyn Bertozzi, and cover scientific fields from astronomy, biochemistry, and quantum physics to stem-cell research and AI. Beautifully bringing together art, science, and the written word, Fascination of Science is an inspiring read that shows how creativity, obsession, persistence, and passion drive the pioneering researchers of our time.
Herlinde Koelbl is a German photographic artist, author, and documentary filmmaker. She has published more than a dozen photography books, including Jewish Portraits, Targets, and Angela Merkel Portraits 1991–2021. She has received numerous awards for her work, including the Dr. Erich Salomon Prize in 2001. You can learn more about her at www.herlindekoelbl.com.
“True to its title, this is a fascinating collection of interviews. Herlinde Koelbl's insightful questions and the candid responses of her subjects offer a matchless window into the personal histories and thinking of some of the world's most successful scientists."
-- John P. Holdren, Research Professor, Harvard University; President Obama's Science Advisor, January 2009 to January 2017
Contact: Head of UK and EU Publicity, Katie Lewis, The MIT Press, (lewisk@mit.edu)
END
Fascination of Science: 60 Encounters with Pioneering Researchers of Our Time
An intimate collection of portraits of internationally renowned scientists and Nobel Prize winners, paired with interviews and personal stories
2023-07-31
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Team identifies key driver of cancer cell death pathway that activates immune cells
2023-07-31
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists have identified a protein that plays a pivotal role in the action of several emerging cancer therapies. The researchers say the discovery will likely aid efforts to fine-tune the use of immunotherapies against several challenging cancers. They report their findings in the journal Cancer Research.
“Most anticancer drugs cause cancer cells to shrivel up and die in a controlled process known as apoptosis. But apoptosis does not usually strongly activate immune cells,” said David Shapiro, a professor ...
Scrambler therapy may offer lasting relief for chronic pain, review paper suggests
2023-07-31
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A new review paper co-authored by two Johns Hopkins pain experts suggests that scrambler therapy, a noninvasive pain treatment, can yield significant relief for approximately 80%–90% of patients with chronic pain, and it may be more effective than another noninvasive therapy: transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). The write-up was published online July 13 in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Scrambler therapy, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2009, administers electrical stimulation through the skin via electrodes placed in areas of the body above and below where chronic pain is felt. The goal is to capture the nerve endings ...
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai receives $11.5 million grant renewal to study the impact of psychosocial stress on cardiovascular disease
2023-07-31
New York, NY (July 31, 2023)—Psychosocial stress profoundly affects people’s lives globally, not least because it can be a critical risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Thanks to an $11.5 million award renewal from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health, distinguished researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and elsewhere aim to gain a deeper understanding of how stress influences cardiovascular health.
“To address residual cardiovascular risk in patients, our research program aims to bolster our mechanistic understanding ...
Way cool: UVA professor developing ‘freeze ray’ technology for the Air Force
2023-07-31
You know that freeze-ray gun that “Batman” villain Mr. Freeze uses to “ice” his enemies? A University of Virginia professor thinks he may have figured out how to make one in real life.
The discovery – which, unexpectedly, relies on heat-generating plasma – is not meant for weaponry, however. Mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Patrick Hopkins wants to create on-demand surface cooling for electronics inside spacecraft and high-altitude jets.
“That’s the primary problem right now,” Hopkins said. “A lot of electronics on board heat up, but they have no way to cool down.”
The U.S. Air Force likes the prospect of a freeze ...
Bees likely evolved from ancient supercontinent, earlier than suspected
2023-07-31
PULLMAN, Wash. –The origin of bees is tens of millions of years older than most previous estimates, a new study shows.
A team led by Washington State University researchers traced the bee genealogy back more than 120 million years to an ancient supercontinent, Gondwana, which included today’s continents of Africa and South America.
In a study that proposes a new evolutionary history of bees, the researchers found evidence that bees originated earlier, diversified faster and spread wider than many scientists previously suspected. They published their findings in the journal Current ...
Routinely drinking alcohol may raise blood pressure even in adults without hypertension
2023-07-31
Research Highlights:
An analysis of data from seven studies involving more than 19,000 adults in the United States, Korea and Japan found a clear association between increases in systolic (top-number) blood pressure and the number of alcoholic beverages consumed daily.
Even people who drank one alcoholic beverage per day showed a link to higher blood pressure when compared to non-drinkers, reinforcing the American Heart Association’s advice to limit alcohol intake and to not start drinking alcohol if you do not already.
Embargoed until ...
This disease can be caused by a food allergy and prevent children from eating. A new study may show how to treat it
2023-07-31
A new study from Tulane University has identified a new treatment for a chronic immune system disease that can prevent children from eating.
Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is triggered by food allergies or airborne allergens which causes a type of white blood cell, eosinophils, to build up in the lining of the esophagus. This causes the esophagus to shorten and the esophageal wall to thicken, making swallowing difficult and causing food to get stuck in the throat.
The disease occurs in an estimated 1 in 2,000 adults but more frequently affects children (1 in 1,500) where symptoms can be harder to diagnose and pose greater risks as difficulty feeding can lead to malnutrition, weight loss and ...
Oxycodone prescriptions after delivery not linked to longer-term opioid use compared to codeine prescriptions
2023-07-31
Postpartum prescriptions for oxycodone were not associated with increased risk of longer-term opioid use compared to codeine prescriptions, according to new research published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.221351.
Over the last 10 years, there has been a shift to fewer codeine prescriptions and an increase in prescriptions for stronger opioids, such as hydrocodone, hydromorphone and oxycodone for patients postpartum.
“This occurred in part ...
Novel vaccine may hold key to prevent or reduce the impact of Alzheimer’s disease
2023-07-30
Research Highlights:
A novel vaccine that targets a protein involved in Alzheimer’s disease helped eliminate toxic cells in mice with the condition.
After vaccination, the mice had fewer amyloid plaques and less inflammation in brain tissue and showed improvement in behavior and awareness.
Embargoed until 12 p.m. CT/1 p.m. ET, Sunday, July 30, 2023
BOSTON, July 30, 2023 — A novel vaccine that targets inflamed brain cells associated with Alzheimer’s disease may hold the key to potentially preventing or modifying the course of the disease, according to preliminary research presented at the American Heart Association’s Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Scientific ...
To spread or slide? Scientists uncover how foams are spread on surfaces
2023-07-29
Tokyo, Japan – Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have uncovered the physics behind how foams are spread on surfaces. Balls of foam placed on a flat substrate were scraped across with a plate and observed. They identified different patterns which strongly depend on the scraping speed, governed by competing physical phenomena. Their findings apply to all kinds of soft materials that need to be spread evenly on surfaces, from mayonnaise on bread to insulation on walls.
Whether ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
The most effective diabetes drugs don't reach enough patients yet
Breast cancer risk in younger women may be influenced by hormone therapy
Strategies for staying smoke-free after rehab
Commentary questions the potential benefit of levothyroxine treatment of mild hypothyroidism during pregnancy
Study projects over 14 million preventable deaths by 2030 if USAID defunding continues
New study reveals 33% gap in transplant access for UK’s poorest children
Dysregulated epigenetic memory in early embryos offers new clues to the inheritance of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
IVF and IUI pregnancy rates remain stable across Europe, despite an increasing uptake of single embryo transfer
It takes a village: Chimpanzee babies do better when their moms have social connections
From lab to market: how renewable polymers could transform medicine
Striking increase in obesity observed among youth between 2011 and 2023
No evidence that medications trigger microscopic colitis in older adults
NYUAD researchers find link between brain growth and mental health disorders
Aging-related inflammation is not universal across human populations, new study finds
University of Oregon to create national children’s mental health center with $11 million federal grant
Rare achievement: UTA undergrad publishes research
Fact or fiction? The ADHD info dilemma
Genetic ancestry linked to risk of severe dengue
Genomes reveal the Norwegian lemming as one of the youngest mammal species
Early birds get the burn: Monash study finds early bedtimes associated with more physical activity
Groundbreaking analysis provides day-by-day insight into prehistoric plankton’s capacity for change
Southern Ocean saltier, hotter and losing ice fast as decades-long trend unexpectedly reverses
Human fishing reshaped Caribbean reef food webs, 7000-year old exposed fossilized reefs reveal
Killer whales, kind gestures: Orcas offer food to humans in the wild
Hurricane ecology research reveals critical vulnerabilities of coastal ecosystems
Montana State geologist’s Antarctic research focuses on accumulations of rare earth elements
Groundbreaking cancer therapy clinical trial with US Department of Energy’s accelerator-produced actinium-225 set to begin this summer
Tens of thousands of heart attacks and strokes could be avoided each year if cholesterol-lowering drugs were used according to guidelines
Leading cancer and metabolic disease expert Michael Karin joins Sanford Burnham Prebys
Low-intensity brain stimulation may restore neuron health in Alzheimer's disease
[Press-News.org] Fascination of Science: 60 Encounters with Pioneering Researchers of Our TimeAn intimate collection of portraits of internationally renowned scientists and Nobel Prize winners, paired with interviews and personal stories