October 2026 · a lab for learning
Each prize gets a fact sheet where every sentence has a source, a small model you can run on a laptop, and a short video; most stop and ask you to guess before they tell you.
Educational demos made to show an open-source tool. Not research, and not for any lab or clinical use. The models are teaching toys.
Every video here is made with showtime, an open-source video studio for coding agents →
Physiology or Medicine 2026
Play · 2:21 · stops at 3 questions
The story in one line
In 1999 Francis Crick wrote that light would be the ideal signal for switching neurons, then called the idea “rather far-fetched”.
On 5 October 2026 the prize went to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel “for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics” (press release).
Physics 2026
Play · 2:37 · stops at 3 questions
The story in one line
About 65 billion neutrinos from the Sun pass through your little fingernail every second, and almost none of them touch anything. So how do you catch one?
On 6 October 2026 the prize went to Francis Halzen “for decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin” (press release).
Try the toy modelsWhy a cubic kilometre, the Earth as a shield, and a toy telescope with a spacing slider. Guess first, then see.
Replay a real 6 PeV event in 3D18,135 flashes of light from IceCube's public data, 8 December 2016.
Chemistry 2026
Play · 2:30
The story in one line
Many molecules come in two mirror forms, like your hands, and life uses only one. How can a reaction choose a hand?
On 7 October 2026 the prize went to Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai “for the discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis” (press release).
Try the toy modelsKagan's curve, a molecule that copies its own hand, and a race between two mirror forms. Guess first, then see.
The Chemistry folderSourced facts, pictures, and three toy models you can run in seconds on a laptop.
Literature 2026
Play · 2:29
The story in one line
Sappho wrote an estimated 9,000 to 10,000 lines. About 650 survive, and only one poem is certainly complete.
On 8 October 2026 the prize went to the Canadian author Anne Carson “for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature” (press release).
Try the pageLost plays on ink shelves, a torn papyrus, one Greek stanza through six translators, and 22 chapbooks in any order. Guess first, then see.
The Literature folderSourced facts, public-domain Greek with its editions, and four small experiments you can rerun in seconds on a laptop.
Peace 2026
Play · 2:35
The story in one line
In 1998, at the Rwanda tribunal, she was one of three judges who found that rape and sexual violence can be genocide.
On 9 October 2026 the prize went to Navi Pillay “for her efforts to promote peace and international law” (press release).
Try the pageWhat share of conflict endings were an agreement or a ceasefire, and how many agreements were still quiet five years on? Guess first, then see the open data.
The Peace folderSourced facts, the court record from the judgments, and two small experiments on open UCDP data you can rerun in seconds on a laptop.
Economics 2026
Play · 2:48
The story in one line
If households look ahead, a change in their spending should come only with news, and news cannot be forecast: so Hall asked whether anything forecasts it.
On 12 October 2026 the prize in economic sciences went to Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford “for microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation” (press release).
Try the pageHow much of next quarter's spending can the past predict, and what happens in the lab when a cost shock hits? Guess first, then see.
The Economics folderSourced facts, a textbook model and a test on public national accounts you can rerun in under a minute on a laptop.
A prize joins the lab once it is announced and its facts are sourced.
Light-gated ion channels and optogenetics: a light-and-heat toy model, a heat budget, a page and a video.
Neutrinos from space and IceCube: a toy telescope, why a cubic kilometre, a real 6 PeV event in 3D, a page and a video.
Mirror-image molecules: Kagan's curve, a molecule that copies its own hand, a race between two mirror forms, a page and a video.
Anne Carson and the classical tradition: how much survives, a torn papyrus, one poem through six translators, her books by the forms they name, a page and a video.
Navi Pillay and international law: the court record of her cases, how armed conflicts end, whether peace agreements hold, a page and a video.
Hall, Woodford and the lab with three equations: a textbook model of rates and inflation, Hall's test on US national accounts, a page and a video.