Proteins made using machine learning successfully bind snake toxins — plus, Earth’s temperature breaks a significant climate threshold for the first time.

Each year, snake bites kill upwards of 100,000 people and permanently disable hundreds of thousands more, according to estimates from the World Health Organization. Promising new science, enabled by state-of-the-art technology, could help quell the threat.

A study by this year's Nobel Laureate in Chemistry reveals a possible game-changer in snakebite treatment. Researchers have created new proteins that neutralize lethal toxins found in snake venom, potentially offering a safer and more effective alternative to traditional antivenoms.

The AI-designed proteins could form the basis of a new generation of therapies for snakebites — which kill an estimated 100,000 people each year and are still treated much as they were a century ago.

It has been a few years since AI began successfully tackling the challenge of predicting the three-dimensional structure of proteins, complex molecules that are essential for all life. Next-generation tools are now available,