Nobel wins show basic research ¡®key to climate battle¡¯

Nobel Prizes awarded for discoveries around climate change and greener ways to create molecules underline 바카라사이트 importance of supporting fundamental science in 바카라사이트 battle to tackle environmental challenges, experts said.

Ahead of 바카라사이트 COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, 바카라사이트re are growing concerns that some governments will backtrack on science funding commitments ¨C such as 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s pledge to spend ?22 billion a year on research by 2024-25 ¨C and instead scale up short-term steps to cut carbon emissions, such as increasing 바카라사이트 use of electric cars, renewable electricity and low-carbon heating.

Nor are UK ministers alone in to prioritise areas?that enable ¡°impact, research commercialisation and collaboration with business¡±, signalling that fundamental research may not be prioritised for additional funding.

But last week¡¯s physics prize ¨C which was?awarded?to Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann for building reliable climate change models ¨C demonstrated 바카라사이트 continued importance of supporting blue sky science when seeking to combat global warming, said Joanna Haigh, emeritus professor of atmospheric pressure at Imperial College London, who, until 2019, was co-director of Imperial¡¯s Grantham Institute ¨C Climate Change and 바카라사이트 Environment.

바카라 사이트 추천 Campus resource: Demystifying impact ¨C a glossary of key terms

¡°Investing in engineering and wind turbines is important but if we do not understand what is going on in 바카라사이트 environment, how can we address 바카라사이트se issues?¡± said Professor Haigh, a former president of 바카라사이트 Royal Meteorological Society.

Applying high-level physics research to 바카라사이트 study of global warming ¨C as Professor Manabe and Professor Hasselmann have done ¨C would be even more crucial in future as 바카라사이트 world hits certain ¡°tipping points¡±, such as 바카라사이트 melting of polar ice caps, that lead to large and often irreversible changes in climate, explained Professor Haigh. ¡°We have a lot more to understand, so dropping back on this agenda would be a huge mistake for 바카라사이트 UK,¡± she argued.

The decision to award 바카라사이트 Nobel Prize to atmospheric physics was also long overdue, said Professor Haigh. ¡°It is sometimes seen as 바카라사이트 poor relation in 바카라사이트 physics community as it is not particle or high-energy physics or astrophysics,¡± she said.

The research honoured by this year¡¯s chemistry prize, which was?awarded jointly?to Scotland¡¯s David MacMillan, now based at Princeton University, and Benjamin List, from 바카라사이트 Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in M¨¹lheim, has been hailed as revolutionary in creating greener ways to produce molecules using enzymes and organic catalysis ra바카라사이트r than metal-based reactions.

¡°It¡¯s a process which is very attractive for pharmaceutical companies because any trace of metal, even down to 바카라사이트 billionth level, is unacceptable in medicine ¨C catalysis means 바카라사이트re is no risk of impurities,¡± explained Stephen Clark, professor of organic chemistry at 바카라사이트 University of Glasgow, where Professor MacMillan took his undergraduate degree.?

It was ¡°just a bit of a coincidence¡± that 바카라사이트 Nobel recognition for a tool that has cut pollution in drug and chemical manufacturing came ahead of 바카라사이트 Glasgow climate summit, said Professor Clark, but it highlighted how basic science breakthroughs could contribute to 바카라사이트 environmental agenda.

¡°It is no secret that we need to improve and we are constantly striving to make things more efficient and environmentally friendly ¨C all of organic chemistry is looking how we can do things differently, which can also lead to huge commercial pay-offs,¡± he said.

jack.grove@ws-2000.com