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Researchers Have Used AI to Discover 8.9 Million Fun New Drug Combinations

Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas
Universal Pictures

Raoul Duke’s briefcase has nothing on the latest adventures of wackadoodle researchers and their utilization of groundbreaking artificial intelligence. That’s because said researchers have used said AI to discover 8.9 million new chemical combinations that can result in good ol’ recreational narcotics.

And yes, that bellowing sound you just heard was Hunter S. Thompson reanimating himself from ashes back into human form like the reversal of Thanos’ finger snap in “Avengers: Endgame.”

Researchers at Vancouver’s University of British Columbia and other universities have trained a computer to predict the molecular structure of new drugs.

“There is an entire world of chemical ‘dark matter’ just beyond our fingertips right now. I think there is a huge opportunity for the right AI tools to shine a light on this unknown chemical world,” says Dr. Michael Skinnider in a press release. He completed the research as a doctoral student at UBC.

Don’t gloss over that last part, either. This Skinnider dude told his medical advisors, “I’m going to use AI to find millions of potential drug compounds” and his advisors were like, “Ok?”

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Needless to say, Skinnider hasn’t actually discovered 8.9 million new drugs, but rather stable chemical compounds among which some may result in fun new uppers, downers, or anything in-between.

As for their effects, Skinnider is gonna have to get busy sniffing, eating, or shooting his new discoveries to find out what’s what. Or if this were pre-2005, he could’ve just given Hunter S. Thompson a call.

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