Two US Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize For Medicine

Two US scientists have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for uncovering the secrets of the human sense of smell. The way the brain recognises and remembers thousands of different odours has long baffled scientists. Professor Richard Axel, of Columbia University, and Professor Linda Buck, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, cracked the problem. The Nobel Prize, the most prestigious in medicine, is worth $1.3m. The scientists discovered a large gene family, made up of 1,000 different genes that control production of specialised protein receptors.