Swiss Science Prizes for Biologists and Physicists
Published: Thursday, Sep 7th 2023, 07:40
Updated At: Friday, Oct 13th 2023, 14:12
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The Swiss National Fund has announced the recipients of the 2023 Marcel Benoist and Latsis Prizes. The Marcel Benoist Prize, worth 250,000 Swiss Francs, is considered the Swiss Nobel Prize and has been awarded to biologist Ted Turlings for his discovery of plant communication. The Latsis Prize, worth 100,000 Swiss Francs, has been awarded to Ukrainian physics professor Lesya Shchutska for her research in particle physics. Turlings' work at the University of Neuchâtel has revealed how plants attract insects to defend themselves, which has had a major impact on environmental sciences and opened up new possibilities for pesticide-free pest control in agriculture. His discovery was made in 1990, when he showed that plants defend themselves against pests by producing scents that attract their predators. Specifically, a substance in the saliva of the pests triggers the production of aromatic compounds, which attract parasitic wasps that lay their eggs in the pests. The wasp larvae then consume the pests from the inside. Shchutska's work in the field of "new physics" has been praised for its brilliance. Her research has paved the way for the discovery of missing particles. The joint ceremony for the Latsis and Marcel Benoist Prizes will take place in October in the presence of Swiss Federal Councilor Guy Parmelin.nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
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