AI is helping to design proteins from scratch
They could treat diseases, test drugs and boost crop yields
Making biofuels is messy, inefficient and expensive. Vast quantities of crops such as maize and soyabeans must be grown, harvested and processed before their energy, accumulated slowly through natural photosynthesis, can be put to use. Nate Ennist of the Institute for Protein Design (IPD) at the University of Washington, in Seattle, thinks that synthetic proteins can boost the rate of return.
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This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Plenty more room at the bottom”
From the July 5th 2025 edition
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