Adam in the lab: Two views of the robot Credit: Aberystwyth University
Credit: Aberystwyth University

A robot named Adam that can design, implement, interpret and modify its own experiments has uncovered previously unknown functions of several genes involved in yeast metabolism, British scientists have reported (Science 324, 85–89; 2009). To the authors' knowledge, Adam is the first machine to make scientific discoveries on its own. The Adam robot, which consists of a box connected to lab equipment rather than taking a humanoid form, uses an algorithm to select yeast mutants from a sample and hypothesize about their genes. The creators of the machine, led by Ross King of Aberystwyth University, hope that their next robot, Eve, will help uncover new drug candidates.