Science & contrast · News English
A Nobel Prize for mirror-image molecules
Two chemists helped explain how reactions can favour one molecular form.
Read the story, check the words, then answer the questions and speak.
When a mirror image matters
Why can two similar molecular forms have different importance?
1On 7 October, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai. Their discoveries help explain how chemical reactions can favour one of two mirror-image forms of a molecule.
2Think about your hands. They look similar, but your left hand is not exactly the same as your right hand. Some molecules also come in two mirrored forms. Although the forms are similar, they can behave differently when they interact with living things. This difference matters when chemists develop medicines.
3Kagan made an important advance in 1986. He showed how a reaction could produce a larger excess of one mirrored form than researchers had expected. Soai later developed a reaction that could favour just one form. The Academy says he achieved that result in 2003.
4These discoveries helped chemists understand a long-standing puzzle about the chemistry of life. They also became important for designing reactions used to manufacture medicines. The award recognises research developed over many years, rather than a new medicine released today. The two scientists will share the prize equally.
Original teaching summary. Models and practice sentences are learning examples, not news quotations.
Word help · Three useful words
Read the meanings and examples. Choose one word to use in your own sentence.
mirror image
a reversed form like a reflection
Your hands are like mirror images.
favour
to make one result more likely than another
The conditions favour one outcome.
excess
an amount greater than another or than needed
There is an excess of water.
Check your reading · Three questions
Choose one answer for every question, then check. You can change an answer and check again.
Useful English: although and however
Although joins contrasting ideas in one sentence: Although the task is difficult, I want to try. However can connect separate sentences: The task is difficult. However, I want to try. Do not write although … but in the same pair of clauses. These are learning examples.
Talk about a difficult subject you enjoy. Use although once, and explain why you keep learning.
Model and help
Model: Although science can be difficult, I enjoy learning about it. Experiments may take years. However, their results can help us understand important problems.
Speak: your ideas
Talk about a difficult subject you enjoy. Use although once, and explain why you keep learning. Speak for 30 seconds.
Labelled model answer
Although science can be difficult, I enjoy learning about it. Experiments may take years. However, their results can help us understand important problems.
This is an illustrative learning example, not a news quotation.
Alone: repeat without the model. Tutor: ask one follow-up question.
Mastery check · Three questions
Choose one answer for every question, then check. You can change an answer and check again.
Sources and reporting date
Official announcement: 7 October 2026 at 09:48 UTC.
- Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences: Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2026
Official announcement: 7 October 2026 at 09:48 UTC. - Photograph source and credit
Background laboratory photograph, 9 August 2023; not the laureates or their experiments. Resized for display.