Nobel prize awarded for study of human evolution using ancient DNA
New ScientistJUL 2022
It’s great that the Nobel committee is willing to expand its reach beyond the traditional categories of medicine, physiology, and chemistry to award a distinguished researcher like Pääbo this award. His work directly provides a window into understanding questions of health and disease by shedding light on the deep history of human ancestry.
Granted, Pääbo's research is fascinating and there is even some application to our struggle to understand COVID. However, the COVID pandemic is the health crisis of our time - without the mRNA vaccines, who knows how much more death and illness there would be right now? Awarding the prize to those who have helped to address death and suffering for millions is long overdue.