A breakthrough in protein folding hailed as a milestone for science

A breakthrough in predicting the structures of proteins, achieved by an artificial-intelligence system, was hailed this year as a landmark for science, as the solution to a decades-old biological puzzle demonstrated the power of AI to advance fundamental research with major implications for medicine and biology.

The challenge of determining how proteins, the molecular machines of life, fold into their complex three-dimensional shapes from their chemical sequences had long been one of the grand unsolved problems in biology, with profound importance because a protein's structure determines its function.

An AI system developed to tackle the problem achieved a level of accuracy in predicting protein structures that experts regarded as a breakthrough, effectively solving a challenge that had resisted researchers for half a century and astonishing the scientific community.

The achievement carried enormous potential significance. The ability to predict protein structures rapidly and accurately promised to accelerate research into diseases and the development of drugs, to aid the understanding of fundamental biological processes, and to open new avenues across the life sciences.

The breakthrough was also a striking demonstration of the growing power of artificial intelligence to contribute to scientific discovery, tackling complex problems and achieving results beyond the reach of traditional methods, and foreshadowing a broader transformation in how science is done.

The solution to the protein-folding problem was celebrated as one of the most significant scientific advances of the year and a milestone in the application of AI to research. Its implications for medicine, biology and the broader scientific enterprise were far-reaching, and it stood as a vivid example of the potential of artificial intelligence to accelerate human understanding and to help address some of the great challenges in science.