Science Breakthroughs Finalists Interviews 2026
Congratulations to all 2026 Finalists!
We’re pleased to congratulate our 2026 Science Breakthrough of the Year Finalists for the categories Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Engineering & Technology, Social Sciences & Humanities and Art & Science!
To explore the inspiration and goals behind the chosen projects and learn more about the impact of this breakthrough research on both the scientific community and society at large, we interviewed the Finalists from each category.
Discover the highlights and challenges of each Finalist’s journey–along with surprising facts and valuable advice–in the following interviews.
This page is being continually updated. If you can't find the interview you're looking for, please check again at a later date.
Brian Hie - Breaking the Wall of AI-Engineered Phages
Frank G. Holz - Breaking the Wall of Vision Loss by a Retina Implant
Georg Schett - Breaking the Wall of Autoimmune Diseases
Giacomo Valle - Breaking the Wall of Lost Touch and Movement
Gregory Corder - Breaking the Wall of Non-Addictive Pain Relief
Juan Manuel Iglesias Artola - Breaking the Wall of Invisible Lipid Transport in Cells
Mark Brönstrup - Breaking the Wall of Deadly Bacterial Infections
Monther Abu-Remaileh - Breaking the Wall of Lysosomal Brain Disease
Paula Cohen - Breaking the Wall of Reversible Male Contraception
Zhiyong Lou - Breaking the Wall of Viral Infection and Defense
Andrea Alù - Breaking the Wall of Light-Matter Interactions
David Awschalom - Breaking the Wall of Quantum with Molecules & Proteins
Konrad Meister - Breaking the Wall of Ice Making
Markus Arndt - Breaking the Wall of Quantum Interferometry
Michelle Simmons - Breaking the Wall of Quantum Simulation: Quantum Twins
Ming Joo Koh - Breaking the Wall of Sugar Synthesis for Sustainability
Peter Richard Schreiner - Breaking the Wall of Chemical Energy Storage
Sylvain Gigan - Breaking the Wall of Biological Opacity
Victor Mougel - Breaking the Wall of Bio-Inspired Rare Earth Recovery
Xiangfeng Duan - Breaking the Wall of Quantum Materials Design
Amir Safavi-Naeini - Breaking the Wall of Optical Amplification
Dangyuan Lei - Breaking the Wall of Printing Transparent Materials
Hong Chen - Breaking the Wall of Artificial Hibernation
Mahmoud Jalali Mehrabad - Breaking the Wall of the Photonics Yield Crisis
Mohammad Samizadeh Nikoo - Breaking the Wall of Terahertz Electronics
Shiming Zhang - Breaking the Wall of Living Electronics
Stephen Wallace - Breaking the Wall of Plastic-to-Medicine Conversion
Xingjun Wang - Breaking the Wall of Full-Spectrum Communication
Yu Huang - Breaking the Wall of Cost-Effective Hydrogen fuel Cells
Zetian Mi - Breaking the Wall of Distributed Ammonia Synthesis
Divyangana Rakesh - Breaking the Wall of Inequality in the Brain
Erik Brynjolfsson - Breaking the Wall of the Turing Trap
Gasper Begus - Breaking the Wall of Hidden Whale Vowels
Federico Zimmerman - Breaking the Wall of Rising Polarization
Jessica Jewell - Breaking the Wall of Apolitical Climate Futures
Katrien Beuls - Breaking the Wall of Human-like Language in Machines
Kobi Hackenburg - Breaking the Wall of AI Political Persuasion
Sander van der Linden - Breaking the Wall of Cognitive Immunity
Saumitra Jha - Breaking the Wall of the Ethnic Growth Trap
Ufuk Akcigit - Breaking the Wall of Germany's Invisible Divide
Alice Bucknell - Breaking the Wall of Planetary Simulation
Clemens Wenger - Breaking the Wall of Quantum Music
Eduardo Reck Miranda - Breaking the Wall of Quantum Computing for Creativity
Entangled Others - Breaking the Wall of the Intangible
Ioana Vreme Moser - Breaking the Wall of Computation with Fluidics
Isidora Correa - Breaking the Wall of Lithium Recovery with Bacteria
Marina Otero Verzier - Breaking the Wall of Computation Compost
Marco Donnarumma - Breaking the Wall of Silence: I Am Your Body
Rachel Armstrong - Breaking the Wall of Obligate Consumption
Amelia Fiske - Breaking the Wall of Algorithmic Injustice
Anam Shahil-Feroz - Breaking the Wall of Preeclampsia Care with Remote Monitoring
Manali Mukherjee - Breaking the Wall of Long COVID Denial