IT IS A recurring joke amongst chemists that the Nobel prize for chemistry is, as a rule, awarded for developments in biology. Latest examples embrace awards for the gene-editing instrument CRISPR, in 2020; directed evolution of enzymes and antibodies, in 2018; and DNA restore mechanisms, in 2015. Some could view this yr’s prize, which awarded work designing and predicting the construction of proteins, as a continuation of that pattern. However the primary message lies elsewhere: among the finest brains in chemistry don’t solely make molecules, they make pc fashions too.
