College of Sciences

In December, The Conversation hosted a webinar on AI’s revolutionary role in drug discovery and development. Science and technology editor Eric Smalley interviewed Jeffrey Skolnick, Regents' Professor and eminent scholar in computational systems biology at Georgia Institute of Technology, and Benjamin P. Brown, assistant professor of pharmacology at Vanderbilt University. Skolnick has developed AI-based approaches to predict protein structure and function that may help with drug discovery and finding off-label uses of existing drugs. Brown’s lab works on creating new computer models that make drug discovery faster and more reliable.

While it often gets written off as being distracted or not paying attention, daydreaming is actually a sign of an active and imaginative mind. In fact, a 2017 study found that daydreamers are generally smarter than their focused peers. “People with efficient brains may have too much brain capacity to stop their minds from wandering,” said Eric Schumacher, the Georgia Tech psychology professor who co-authored the study.

People who daydream frequently have things running through their heads, whether they are thinking through ideas or picturing possible outcomes. Letting the mind wander allows unexpected connections to form. To an outside observer, they may seem checked out of reality. However, other highly intellectual people know that they're truly deeply engaged, just not with what's going on right in front of them.