Five years ago, AlphaFold 2 solved the protein structure prediction problem, unlocking new avenues of biological research and providing our first major proof point that AI can be a powerful tool to advance science and cure disease. The profound scientific and societal value of this work was even recognized in 2024 with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In this episode, Hannah is joined by John Jumper, one of the most instrumental scientists behind AlphaFold. He shares stories about his Nobel win, the tool's unexpected applications, and the shift in architecture from AlphaFold 2 to the more comprehensive AlphaFold 3.
Learn more about AlphaFold: https://deepmind.google/science/alphafold/
Watch the story behind AlphaFold on the Thinking Game, now available for free: https://youtu.be/d95J8yzvjbQ
___
Timecodes 00:00 Intro 02:06 The Nobel Prize call 06:35 The "Grand Challenge" breakthrough 09:42 Reactions from the community 12:48 Unexpected use cases 16:04 AlphaFold 3 and diffusion models 26:54 Roman aqueducts 33:46 Designing new proteins 40:40 Does AI think? 46:51 Hannah's reflections ___
Thank you to everyone who made this possible, including but not limited to:
Presenter: Professor Hannah Fry Series Producer: Dan Hardoon Editor: Rami Tzabar Commissioner & Producer: Emma Yousif Music composition: Eleni Shaw Audio engineer: Richard Courtice Video editor: Anthony Le Audio engineer: Perry Rogantin Visual identity: Rob Ashley Commissioned by Google DeepMind ___
Subscribe to our channel https://www.youtube.com/@googledeepmind Find us on X https://twitter.com/GoogleDeepMind Follow us on Instagram https://instagram.com/googledeepmind Add us on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/company/deepmind/
