They found the guards that stop the immune system attacking the body.
Shared by three people
In plain words
Your immune system kills germs. Something has to stop it from killing you too. Sakaguchi found a kind of guard cell, the regulatory T cell. Brunkow and Ramsdell found the gene, FOXP3, that those guards need.
Why it matters
When the guards fail, the body attacks itself. That is what happens in diseases like type 1 diabetes. Doctors are now testing ways to boost the guards, or to turn them down to fight cancer.
The official reason
"for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance"
They made quantum weirdness happen in a chip you can hold.
Shared by three people
In plain words
Quantum rules usually only show up in tiny things like atoms. In the 1980s these three built a circuit big enough to see. It still followed quantum rules. It could even pass through a wall it should not get through.
Why it matters
That kind of circuit is the base of many of today's quantum computers.
The official reason
"for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit"
Machado is a Venezuelan opposition leader. She has pushed for fair votes for over twenty years, even after being banned from running and forced into hiding.
Why it matters
The prize puts world attention on Venezuela's elections and on people who keep working for democracy under threat.
The official reason
"for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy"
Why some economies keep growing: new ideas, and the old giving way.
Half to Mokyr, half shared by Aghion and Howitt
In plain words
Mokyr, a historian, showed what let growth keep going after the Industrial Revolution: science and know-how feeding each other. Aghion and Howitt built the math of creative destruction, where new firms and products push out old ones.
Why it matters
Growth is not automatic. It needs openness to new ideas and room for change, and it can stall when those are lost.
The official reason
"for having explained innovation-driven economic growth"