7 results

• CuriousTwo molecules can look like mirror images and behave like different drugs.Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work that made it possible to favor one molecular mirror image over another. That matters because biology can treat two nearly identical molecules very differently.
• CuriousA cubic kilometre of Antarctic ice helped win a Nobel Prize.Francis Halzen won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics for turning Antarctic ice into a detector for high-energy neutrinos. The remarkable part is not only the particle. It is that a place most people see as empty became a new kind of telescope.
• ExplainedWhat is chirality? Start with your hands, then shrink the idea to a molecule.Chiral molecules come in mirror-image forms that cannot be perfectly superimposed, much like left and right hands. That simple geometric property helps explain why smells, enzymes and medicines can respond differently to molecules with the same formula.
• PeopleA question about algae ended up giving scientists a light switch for the brain.Peter Hegemann, Georg Nagel and Karl Deisseroth won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries that made optogenetics possible: using light-sensitive proteins to control selected nerve cells.
• ExplainedWhat is optogenetics? Think of it as a remote control for selected neurons.Optogenetics combines genes and light to control selected cells, especially neurons, with unusual precision. It lets researchers test what specific brain circuits actually do rather than only watching them become active.
• CuriousA planet may have been born from the ashes of its own dead star.Astronomers say a planet candidate around white dwarf HS 0209+0832 appears to have formed from material expelled when its star died. If confirmed, it would be the first known example of a planet forming around a white dwarf.
• CuriousMars has a blue sunrise and cliffs scientists have waited years to reach.NASA’s Curiosity rover has photographed wind-carved cliffs called yardangs in unusually vivid morning light. The image is beautiful, but the geology is the more interesting story: these rocks may preserve a missing chapter in Mount Sharp’s history.