Reflections of the 2026 Nobel Prizes

Last week I enjoyed following the Nobel Prize announcements in Physiology or Medicine, Physics, and Chemistry. Reading the popular accounts behind the science is enjoyable, as they are well-written and accessible. Here are a few things I found interesting.I found the Physics prize a bit surprising. On the one hand, the creativity and vision needed to construct the IceCube neutrino observatory is beautiful and impressive. They have clearly detected high-energy neutrinos, and there is potential for some important astrophysical discoveries. On the other hand, the key word is potential. This prize seems in contrast to earlier prizes for gravitational wave detectors (2017) and for observations of cosmic neutrinos (2002, 2015). For example, the latter solved fundamental issues in our understanding of neutrinos. But perhaps I am missing something.A fun cultural side to the Physiology or Medicine prize to Karl Deisseroth is that there is a beautiful novel, Transcendent Kingdom, that centres…