Speakers: Marvin Miller Philip Sowders
Philip Sowders will summarize the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton "for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial and neural networks'.
Marvin Miller will summarize the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun 'for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation.'
Marvin Miller is a retired psychiatrist. He is a member of the American Psychiatric Association. He is also a past president of the Indianapolis Psychiatric Society.
Philip Sowders is has been a chemist, psychologist, senior behavioral health consultant, director of Autism Services, Founder/Partner, clinical director Franklin Family Services, Psychologist. He is a member of the International Centre for Leadership Results, Open Minds Physics Review, and Phi Kappa Sigma Fraternity.
Program: 2024 Nobel Prizes in Medicine and Physics
Speakers: A Marvin Miller, MD; and Philip Sowders, PhD; both STC members
Introduced By: Rick Whitener
Attendance: NESC: 92; Zoom: 18
Guest(s): Jeff Magner, Missy Dille, Bob Schortle, Constance Daniels, Charles Joray, Bob Alcorn, Jeanette Jefferis
Scribe: Benny Ko
Editor: Ed Nitka
Talk’s Zoom recording found at: https://www.scientechclubvideos.org/zoom/09152025.mp4
Marvin Miller, MD, is a retired psychiatrist. He is a member of the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. Miller is also a past president of the Indianapolis Psychiatric Society.
Talk Title: A Nobel Prize for a Hidden World
The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for discovering microRNA (miRNA), tiny RNA molecules that play a crucial role in regulating gene expression after transcription, especially as shown in the C. elegans worm, where small pieces of RNA, the lin-4 microRNA, silence the messenger RNA lin-14 during the worm's larval development. The observation reveals that what was once regarded as "junk RNA" contains key regulatory information. The discoveries overturned the dogma that genes are controlled mainly at transcription.
Ruvkun discovered let-7 in 2000, a highly conserved microRNA across most living organisms, that plays a crucial role in regulating developmental timing of cells and controls cell differentiation, metabolism, and cell proliferation.
Together, their research uncovered a previously unknown and vital method for controlling which genes are active in different cell types, transforming our understanding of how development, cancer, immune response, and diseases like Alzheimer’s are regulated at the molecular level. It also opens the potential for the development of new diagnostic tests and RNA-based therapeutics. Dr. Miller mentioned work regarding the role of miRNA in Alzheimer’s disease by IU distinguished professor Debornoy Lahiri, Ph.D.
Philip Sowders, PhD, is a chemist, psychologist, senior behavioral health consultant, director of Autism Services, founder and partner, and clinical director at Franklin Family Services. He is a member of the International Centre for Leadership Results, Open Minds Physics Review, Phi Kappa Sigma Fraternity.
Talk Title: Inventions behind Artificial Intelligence
The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton for pioneering artificial neural networks foundational to modern AI. AI was once suggested by Alan Turing as a machine that yields answers indistinguishable from those of a human. The current design of artificial intelligence is therefore modeled after the human neural network of neurons and synapses.
Hopfield demonstrated how memories can be stored in a network where the nodes are equivalent to atoms with spin (magnets). The network will save images with the lowest energy. The network works to find an image like the one it was fed. An analogy to our neural system would be that of a child's understanding of what a cat is. By first being shown a black and white cat, the child recognizes a calico cat is also a cat because it has the same form as the other cat.
Hinton used a different network called the Boltzmann machine. This is basically a multi-layered neural network. Each neuron is individually weighted according to its received input data, and each is in turn connected to all other neurons of the same layer as well as the neurons of all the other layers. As a result of the immense number of calculations involved, the output data of a Boltzmann Machine can be used to identify, recognize, classify, manipulate, and create new images but still retain a relationship with the input data.
Both approaches are fundamental developments in AI. Today, AI is widely used in various tasks and applications. The laureates are also concerned with AI being misused and becoming a threat to human values.
