Origami

1. How did an AI win a Nobel Prize for origami?
2. Not paper. Proteins. A protein is a strip that folds into a shape, and the shape decides what it does.
3. Guessing the shape from the strip took scientists years. One protein, one PhD.
4. In 2020, DeepMind's AlphaFold learned the fold. By 2022 it had folded two hundred million. Nearly every protein known.
5. In 2024, its makers won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
6. Which fifty-year problem should AI fold next?

04, overhaul). AlphaFold told in a paper world. A square sheet folds itself into a crane in the first two seconds; then "not paper, proteins": a paper strip takes on residue colours and folds into its shape, a small paper piece docks into it (the shape is the job), calendar pages fly off while a YEAR counter runs and a graduation cap lands on the strip (one protein, one PhD). A green crane folds the strip in a blink (2020), two hundred million paper structures cover the hills (2022), a gold paper medal comes down (2024). A fresh flat strip drops in for the ask.