Inside every cell, chemical reactions are constantly underway, like a tiny kitchen where protein chefs whip up essential compounds. But seeing exactly how a chef prepares a dish is tricky when you're surrounded by a crowd of other molecules. Scientists have now found a way to peek into the heart of the action: the powerful classical computer Fugaku takes on the entire 'kitchen'—thousands of surrounding atoms — while the quantum computer Reimei focuses solely on the 'chef's hands'—the active site of the protein where the reaction occurs.
This alliance of two different machines has made it possible, for the first time, to accurately compute a chemical reaction in a real protein, taking its environment into account. Previously, you had to either simplify the surroundings, sacrificing accuracy, or wait years for the calculations to finish. Now, the quantum part delivers fine details, while the classical part quickly churns through everything else.
This method paves the way for precise modeling of complex biomolecular reactions. In the future, it could speed up drug discovery and help explain why some proteins work while others break down.
The Fugaku supercomputer performs over 400 quadrillion operations per second: that's like every person on Earth doing 50 million calculations at the same time.