Pulse / Stay informed
News
Scientific and technical advances, in context.
In focus
AlphaFold 2 — AI Solves the Protein Folding Problem
In November 2020, DeepMind's AlphaFold 2 achieves a median GDT score of 92.4 at the CASP14 competition. A fundamental problem of biology — predicting the 3D structure of a protein from its sequence — is declared "solved" after 50 years of research. In 2022, the structures of 200 million proteins are released for free.
Read the articleLatest articles
Apollo 11 — Humanity Walks on the Moon
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set the lunar module Eagle down on the Sea of Tranquility as Houston counts off the 30 seconds preceding the mandatory abort call. The first human step on another world, Apollo 11 mobilizes 400,000 people, $25 billion and a 74 KB computer to accomplish the most complex engineering project of the 20th century.
ARPANET — The Birth of the Internet
On October 29, 1969, the first message is sent between two computers over ARPANET. ARPA's network connects 4 American universities through packet switching — laying the foundations of a network that today connects 5.4 billion users.
The Benz Patent-Motorwagen — The First Automobile
On January 29, 1886, Carl Benz patented the Patent-Motorwagen (patent DRP 37435), the first vehicle designed from the outset to be powered by an internal combustion engine. Its 0.75 hp single cylinder reached 16 km/h — the automobile was born.