French scientist Henri B Kagan and Japan's Kenso Soai have been awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for offering a solution to the chemical mystery of life's asymmetry.
French and Japanese scientists awarded Nobel chemistry prize
Portraits of Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai are shown on the screen as they are awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm
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Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency via AP
The scientists discovered how nature only makes the correct version of a molecule, rather than its mirror image Similarly to hands, amino acids exist as two mirrored variants, but only one of them is found in the body's cells.
Researchers have long wondered how that process unfolds, and, according to the jury, the two scientists' discoveries have 'enabled chemists to drive chemical reactions that lead to. It's a significant discovery for the developmet of pharmaceuticals.
Their award comes after the physics prize, and ahead of the most highly anticipated award - the peace prize - which is due on Friday.