Just when they believed they were passed over for this year's Nobel Prize in chemistry, two scientists from Google's DeepMind AI research team got the call -- mere minutes before they were announced as honorees.

Sir Demis Hassabis, the chief executive and co-founder of the artificial intelligence giant Google DeepMind, won the Nobel Prize for chemistry for his work on the AI programme AlphaFold. The programme can accurately predict the 3D shape and structure of proteins and help scientists try to treat medical conditions such as Parkinson’s.