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The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2024

The diversity of life testifies to proteins’ amazing capacity as chemical tools. They control and drive all the chemi­cal reactions that together are the basis of life. Proteins also function as hormones, signal substances, antibodies and the building blocks of different tissues.

“One of the discoveries being recognised this year concerns the construction of spectacular proteins. The other is about fulfilling a 50-year-old dream: predicting protein structures from their amino acid sequences. Both of these discoveries open up vast possibilities,” says Heiner Linke, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.

Proteins generally consist of 20 different amino acids, which can be described as life’s building blocks. In 2003, David Baker succeeded…

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2024

They used physics to find patterns in information: Many people have experienced how computers can translate between languages, interpret images and even conduct reasonable conversations. What is perhaps less well known is that this type of technology has long been important for research, including the sorting and analysis of vast amounts of data. The development of machine learning has exploded over the past fifteen to twenty years and utilises a structure called an artificial neural network. Nowadays, when we talk about artificial intelligence, this is often the type of technology we mean.

Although computers cannot think, machines can now mimic functions such as memory and learning. This year’s laureates in physics have helped make this…

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2024

The information stored within our chromosomes can be likened to an instruction manual for all cells in our body. Every cell contains the same chromosomes, so every cell contains exactly the same set of genes and exactly the same set of instructions. Yet, different cell types, such as muscle and nerve cells, have very distinct characteristics. How do these differences arise? The answer lies in gene regulation, which allows each cell to select only the relevant instructions. This ensures that only the correct set of genes is active in each cell type.

Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun were interested in how different cell types develop. They discovered microRNA, a new class of tiny…

First map of every neuron in an adult fly brain | UKRI

The first wiring diagram of every neuron in an adult fly brain and the 50 million connections between them has been produced for a fruit fly.

This landmark achievement has been conducted by a large international collaboration of scientists, called the FlyWire Consortium, including researchers from:

• the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology

• Princeton University