How AI is Accelerating Discovery

August 1, 2024 • by Marc Airhart

AI is transforming how scientists design cancer drugs and vaccines, study star formation and understand the brain.

A woman in a white lab coat and gloves holds up a molecule that has been magnified to the size of her head

Elements of the cover image for this episode were generated using Midjourney and Photoshop’s generative AI tools. Photo-Illustration: Martha Morales


Researchers in fields as diverse as astronomy, chemistry, neuroscience, biotechnology and public health are now using AI tools to look for patterns in their data, write code, find and summarize existing scientific literature, and even design experiments. Someday, scientific discoveries might even be made entirely by AI.

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