Paper Podcast

(German episode) In this second part with Reinhard Genzel (Nobel Prize winner in Physics 2020), the central topics are astronomy method engineering and physics. Reinhard Genzel explains about radiointerferometry, quantum noise, and the largest telescopes on Earth with bendable mirror optics. How to reach 10,000x in sensitivity in science? On the side, we discuss funding and team leadership for such large (astronomical) projects. We speak about team composition and leadership, also for female scientists and for the big questions in the future. 

Link to the paper: ⁠https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201730838 ⁠

Astronomy and Astrophysics (2017): First light for GRAVITY: Phase referencing optical interferometry for the Very Large Telescope Interferometer

Photographs on the cover: Courtesy and thanks for supporting the Paper Podcast to © Nobel Foundation. Photographs by Bernhard Ludewig and Clément Morin.

Walter Gilbert studied physics, and then revolutionized biochemistry for us. He gifted us the methods of early DNA sequencing, the protein-DNA interaction elucidation for the lac operon to now be used extensively when we manipulate bacterial expression systems, and worked with James (Jim) Watson in the lab a lot, running radioactive experiments with stop clocks. I loved talking to him very much. He told me about these early radioactive labelling experiments, how phosphate buffers impaired the first experimental runs, what he likes about science, how he and Maxam figured out how to sequence DNA using chemical modifications in a few days.

Link to some favorite papers: 

PNAS (1977): A new method for sequencing DNA.Link: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.74.2.560

Science (1981): DNA Sequencing and Gene StructureLink: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01116186 

Nature (1985): Detection in vivo of protein-DNA interactions within the lac operon of Escherichia coliLink: https://doi.org/10.1038/313795a0 

Nature (1986): Origin of life: The RNA worldLink: https://doi.org/10.1038/319618a0

(German episode) Reinhard Genzel won the Nobel Prize in 2020 for the discovery of Sagittarius A*, the black hole in the center of our galaxy. Reinhard shares a story of becoming scientist and his work Charles Towns, the godfather of lasers and masers. The first laser is now still exhibited at the Max Planck Institutes in Garching (by Munich, Germany). Reinhard is one group leader there and uses infrared and submillimeter astronomy to investigate the universe. With us in this episode, Reinhard investigates not only questions about the universe but also political questions about the current U.S. and our role as a good society on Earth.  

Link to one favorite review: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.aa.25.090187.002113 

Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics (1987): Physical conditions, dynamics, and mass distribution in the center of the galaxy

Photographs on the cover: Courtesy and thanks for supporting the Paper Podcast to © Nobel Foundation. Photographs by Bernhard Ludewig and Clément Morin.

Mario R. Capecchi won the Nobel Prize in 2007 for his work on the first knockout mice. Today, we widely take knockout mice and his methods for gene targeting for granted. They have become the standard for functional genetics and preclinical assessments. In this episode, Mario shares his view on giving the brain something to do. We talk about his early work on protein translation of viruses, about mice, and about HOX genes and their relationship to - soon - giving anxiety to pigs.

Link to one favorite paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2021.10.007 

Photographs on the cover: Courtesy with thanks for supporting the Paper Podcast to © Nobel Foundation. Photographers: Ulla Montan and Clément Morin.

Klaus Blaum ist Direktor am Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik in Heidelberg. Seine Arbeitsgruppe hält Rekorde in den präzisesten Messungen von Kernmassen und der Elektronenmasse. In dieser Episode stellt uns Klaus zwei Publikationen vor, welche die Grenzen des Standardmodells austesten. Kombiniert man präzise bekannte Isotopenmassen mit genau gemessenen Frequenzverschiebungen eines bestimmten elektronischen Übergangs zwischen zwei Isotopen, lässt sich ein sogenannter King-Plot erstellen. Für Calcium und Ytterbium wurden dabei signifikante Abweichungen vom erwarteten linearen Zusammenhang gefunden. Diese Nichtlinearitäten konnte das Team um Blaum auf kleinste Deformationen der Atomkerne zurückführen, sowie auf einen möglichen zweiten Beitrag einer neuen, fünften Kraft. Dies könnte dem Standardmodell möglicherweise ein neues Boson hinzufügen und neue Einblicke in Dunkle Materie und ihre Wechselwirkungen ermöglichen. 

Physical Review Letters (2025): Probing New Bosons and Nuclear Structure with Ytterbium Isotope Shifts

Link to the paper: ⁠https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.063002 

Physical Review Letters (2025): Nonlinear Calcium King Plot Constrains New Bosons and Nuclear Properties

Link to the paper: ⁠https://doi.org10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.233002

Today, we talk about the algorithm and quantum chemical calculations behind the molecule with half-Möbius topology as Part 2 (for Part 1, see last episode). Samuele Piccinelli - PhD student at EPFL and IBM Zurich - discusses with us his path into physics and his intuition on quantum algorithmic design. He introduced SqDRIFT, the algorithm used to probe the unique electronic structure of the half-Möbius molecule, and shares his general notions on computational quantum chemistry and the possible directions of future advancements in the field.

Science (2026): A molecule with half-Möbius topology

Link to the paper: ⁠https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aea3321

bioRxiv (2026): Quantum chemistry with provable convergence via randomized sample-based Krylov quantum diagonalization

Link to the paper: ⁠https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2508.02578⁠

Further links: https://quantum.cloud.ibm.com/learning/en/courses/quantum-diagonalization-algorithms/skqd

Recently, a molecule with new electronic structure was constructed, atom-by-atom using atomic force methodology. Igor Rončević is the first author behind this recent Science paper and shares with us how the molecule's electronic properties can be understood, what Möbius and half-Möbius topology mean, why the molecule bends, and how he can actually flip between topologies of the molecule. It is a very interesting and kind conversation for every chemists and physicists to listen into :)

Science (2026): A molecule with half-Möbius topology

Link to the paper: ⁠https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aea3321

Do we know what is in the ocean? In 2002, Stephen Giovannoni with his team discovered and cultured an extremely abundant and small proteobacterium, Candidatus pelagibacter, and with this we knew: We previously did not know about a quarter of the plankton in our oceans. Candidatus pelagibacter constitutes 25% of the global plankton population, is cheeto-shaped, and is hunted by an army of specialized SAR-11 viruses. Stephen Giovannoni discusses his love for cultivating rare bacteria, his high-throughput cultivation facility, and heartfelt advice on writing, finding collaboration and finding our paths.

Nature (2002): Cultivation of the ubiquitous SAR11 marine bacterioplankton clade

Link to the paper: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature00917   

Annual Reviews (2017): SAR11 Bacteria: The Most Abundant Plankton in the Oceans

Link to the paper: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-marine-010814-015934 

Nature (2013): Abundant SAR11 viruses in the ocean

Link to the paper: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11921 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology (2017): Three-Dimensional Structure of the Ultraoligotrophic Marine Bacterium “Candidatus Pelagibacter ubique”

Link to the paper: https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.02807-16

This episode was recorded on 12th Sept. 2025. This marks Bill DeGrado's 70th birthday. Many thanks for what you did from the whole field! :)

Bill DeGrado is one of the early protein designers who defined the field and coined the terms. His papers describe the first de novo designs, starting from helices to ion channels to catalytic centers. This episode is a kind mix of experiences shared as chemist and structural biologist. We talk about crystals, machine learning tools, and that life gives us both lemons and lemonade.

Link to the paper: ⁠https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06528⁠

Nature (2008): Structural basis for the function and inhibition of an influenza virus proton channel

Link to the paper: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.170562411

PNAS (2017): XFEL structures of the influenza M2 proton channel: Room temperature water networks and insights into proton conduction

Link to the paper: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.2464850

Science (1989): Protein Design, A Minimalist Approach

Link to the paper: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.270.5238.935

Nature (1995): Protein Design: A Hierarchical Approach

Rolf Thauer ist Gründungsdirektor des Max-Planck Instituts für terrestrische Mikrobiologie. Über seine Karriere klärte er zahlreiche Stoffwechselwege in anaeroben Bakterien und Archaeen (die damals noch nicht einmal so hießen) auf. Er erzählt uns über die Zufallsentdeckung das Feld der Nickelbiochemie, und Enzymen für Methanproduktion aus Wasserstoff. Dieses können wir dann in die normalen Erdgaspipelines hineinschleusen. 

Nach ihm sind unter anderem das Thauer Limit (ein theoretisches Limit, wieviel Wasserstoff ein Bakterium produzieren kann), sowie mehrere Mikroorganismen wie Thauera selenatis und Methanobrevibacter thaueri benannt, und die gesamte Gattung Thauera.

Link zum Paper: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-micro-091014-104344 

Annual Reviews (2015): My Lifelong Passion for Biochemistry and Anaerobic Microorganisms

Link zum Paper: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00403508

Archive of Microbiology (1979): Nickel, cobalt, and molybdenum requirement for growth of Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum