­xkcd thread

[abcdefghij]

This guy also had something to say about computational biology:

AI showing protein structure? A big deal?

It’s a big step. If nothing else, it’s a very difficult problem, and so the fact that a computer can do it is a significant milestone for how good computers are getting. As for practical biological application, as I understand it, the real holy grail is to solve the problem in the other direction: Given a desired shape for the finished protein, come up with an amino acid sequence that will fold into that shape. That would enable the rapid development of all sorts of drugs, because most drugs…