{"id":40247,"date":"2024-12-12T11:06:27","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T17:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/?p=40247"},"modified":"2024-12-12T11:06:27","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T17:06:27","slug":"nobel-prizes-embrace-ai-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/2024\/12\/12\/nobel-prizes-embrace-ai-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Nobel Prizes Embrace AI Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"

You’re going to want to sit down for this one. The 2024 Nobel Prize committee just did something unprecedented\u2013that is, two groups of AI researchers took home the respective Physics and Chemistry awards. And no, this isn’t science fiction; it’s a watershed moment that’s going to forever change how we make scientific discoveries.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let me tell you about the brilliant minds in science who just made history in Physics by winning the <\/span>Nobel Prize<\/span><\/a> for <\/span>\u201cfoundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.\u201d<\/span><\/i> In simple terms, they discovered patterns in how information forms using physics.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back in the 1980s, when computers were basically glorified calculators,<\/span> John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton<\/span><\/a> were already thinking way ahead of their time. Hopfield looked at how atoms act as tiny magnets and thought, “<\/span>Hey, we could use this to make computers learn<\/span><\/i>.” Pretty wild, right? He created networks that could actually remember and fix broken patterns\u2014something your brain does naturally, but for computers, this was revolutionary.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then there’s Hinton (aka the “<\/span>Godfather of AI<\/span><\/a>,” and yes, he’s earned that title). He took Hopfield’s ideas and supercharged them with his Boltzmann machine. So, every time your phone recognizes your face or your car spots a stop sign, you’re seeing the descendants of their work in action. Not bad for something that started with a guy looking at magnets.<\/span><\/p>\n

The laureates\u2019 work has already been of the greatest benefit. In physics we use artificial neural networks in a vast range of areas, such as developing new materials with specific properties<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

– Ellen Moons, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics.<\/span><\/p>\n

But here’s where it gets really interesting. Over in the<\/span> Chemistry<\/span><\/a> department, something equally amazing was happening. David Baker was busy designing entirely new proteins\u2014you know, those tiny molecular machines that keep all of us alive. Meanwhile, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper tackled a problem that had been driving scientists crazy for 50 years: predicting how proteins fold. As everyone who has taken ABS (or Molecular and Cellular Biology) at IMSA knows\u2014protein folding is a big deal. It\u2019s one of the greatest achievements of humankind that we can now predict protein structures and even design our own proteins. These molecules are impossibly complex, and understanding their structure is crucial for everything\u2014including why some diseases occur, how antibiotic resistance develops, or why certain microbes can break down plastic. Fun fact\u2014my SIR lab has been researching various aspects of just one protein for the last 30+ years!<\/span><\/p>\n

Before Hassabis and Jumper’s AI system,<\/span> AlphaFold2<\/span><\/a>, figuring out a single protein structure could take years. Now? It takes <\/span>hours<\/span><\/i>. Let that sink in. Here’s a real-world example that’ll blow your mind: A scientist working on a critical cellular signaling protein spent years trying to understand its structure.<\/span> AlphaFold2<\/span><\/a> solved it in hours. That’s not just faster\u2013it’s like jumping from a horse-drawn carriage to a supersonic jet. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences<\/span><\/a> awarded the<\/span> Nobel Prize<\/span><\/a> in Chemistry 2024 with one half to David Baker <\/span>\u201cfor computational protein design\u201d<\/span><\/i> and the other half jointly to Demis Hassabis and John Jumper <\/span>\u201cfor protein structure prediction.\u201d <\/span><\/i>The trio brilliantly cracked the code for proteins\u2019 astonishing structures. <\/span><\/p>\n

The best part? This doesn’t just impact the lives of scientists. Every new drug being developed, every breakthrough in understanding diseases, every advancement in creating sustainable materials\u2014they’re all being accelerated by these discoveries. Your future healthcare, the food you eat, even solutions to climate change could come from these innovations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Twenty years ago, people would have laughed if you’d said AI researchers would win Nobel Prizes in both Physics and Chemistry. Now? We’re watching it happen.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You’re going to want to sit down for this one. The 2024 Nobel Prize committee just did something unprecedented\u2013that is, two groups of AI researchers…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":925,"featured_media":40248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2724,1],"tags":[2849,4025,3455,2902],"coauthors":[4238],"class_list":["post-40247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-worldnews","tag-ai","tag-chemistry","tag-nobel-prize","tag-physics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/925"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40247"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40290,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40247\/revisions\/40290"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40247"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=40247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}