As the year closes, a new set of aspiring scientists will be awarded at the Nobel prize ceremony on December 10th. 

First off: John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton won this year’s physics prize for “foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.” Drs Hinton and Hopfield have been innovating the field of AI since the early 1980s, when appropriate computer models to utilize their research did not exist yet. Dr. Hopfield pioneered what is now known as the Hopfield neural network. This type of neural network is generally used to learn how to recognize patterns in data. Dr. Hinton researched how one could use a form of algorithm called “backpropagation” to train neural networks. This method utilized different layers of learning technology to send signals between different neural networks, increasing efficiency. 

David Baker was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “for computational protein design” this year. Using Rosetta, a complex computer program capable of modeling the complex folds in proteins, he found an artificially-folding chain of amino acids that was able to be synthesized. The program, now called Rosetta Commons, assists biochemists around the world with creating new vaccines and identifying toxic substances.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for “the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation”. These two scientists discovered microRNA back in the 1980s at MIT while studying a species of roundworm. They found out that one of its genes created a small RNA fragment that didn’t create any proteins, but instead inhibited the function of other genes. These miRNA fragments account for some of the traits found in the human body.