See the world in vertical: Top photos by AP photojournalists

Sept. 30 - Oct. 7, 2026

AP Mobile Scroll: a selection of standout vertical images published by The Associated Press in the last week.

Models wear creations as part of the Chanel Womenswear Spring Summer 2027 collection presented in Paris, France, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

A woman pulls a trolley while walking at an old neighbourhood in southern Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

South Korea's Kim Hong-yul, known as Hongten, competes against Japan's Shigeyuki Nakarai, known as Shigekix, during the B-Boys breaking final battle at the Asian Games in Tokoname, Japan, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

An Air Force Academy cadet crowd surfs before an NCAA college football game against Navy, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026, at Air Force Academy, Colo. (Michael G. Seamans/The Gazette via AP)

A stag bellows during the rutting season in Bushy Park, London, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Beth Howard sits in the area reserved for people opposed to the death penalty outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the planned execution of Christa Pike, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

People admire a light installation behind the early medieval seven-branched candelabrum, dating from around the year 1000, during a light festival at the Cathedral in Essen, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

President Donald Trump is pictured in the reflection of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles' sunglasses as Trump speaks to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House before departing, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)

Simone Biles, multiple Olympic and World champion gymnast, and wife of Indianapolis Colts safety Jonathan Owens (38) stands on the side of the field before an NFL football game between Indianapolis Colts and Washington Commanders in London, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Scientists Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai won the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for untangling mysterious mirror images in molecules, a discovery that has been used to develop countless drugs and transformed modern medicine.

Many molecules come in versions that look alike but are not exactly identical, like right and left hands. Kagan, who is from France, and Soai, from Japan, found ways to make chemistry pick a side, designing reactions to produce the desired mirror image.

“The medicines we have today would not be possible without this chemistry,” said Rigoberto Hernandez, president of the American Chemical Society.

Soai was shopping at a neighborhood supermarket when he heard he had won.

“I’m very excited to receive the very nice news,” Soai told the Nobel committee and journalists by phone. “Of course, this is one of the most exciting days in my life.”

Mirror images of the same molecule can have different properties. For example, one version of the chemical carvone smells like mint, while the other has a whiff of caraway, a spice often used in rye bread.

The alternate versions can also behave differently when interacting with other chemicals. When designing drugs to treat diseases, scientists want to be choosy about which mirror image they get. They want the version of a molecule to treat a cold, not one that will make the sniffles worse.

The Nobel committee described Kagan and Soai’s work as a feat never previously achieved by anyone “other than life itself.”

“It might be difficult to say that this drug, or that drug, was developed using this,” said Peter Somfai, a member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry. “I would say all of them, because we use this as a tool, we use this as an understanding, how to develop catalysts, how they function.”

In the 1980s, Kagan’s work showed there might be a way to design reactions to produce one form of a molecule over the other. Years later, Soai perfected the process. He created the first-ever chemical reaction to efficiently produce only one of a molecule’s mirror images, in what’s now known as the Soai reaction.

“This is probably the coolest experiment in organic chemistry,” Somfai said.

Even life prefers one mirror image over the other. DNA twists to the right, and the proteins in human bodies are made of mostly left-handed building blocks.

In addition to developing better medicines or perfumes, deciphering the mirror images of molecules can help scientists understand the chemical architecture of life, said chemist Holden Thorp, editor-in-chief of the journal Science.

Kagan, 95, is affiliated with the Université Paris-Sud in Orsay, France. Soai, 76, is affiliated with the Tokyo University of Science.

Neither of the universities immediately responded to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the winner in Stockholm.

Last year, three scientists won the chemistry Nobel for their development of new molecular structures that can trap vast quantities of gas inside, laying the groundwork to potentially suck greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere or harvest moisture from desert environments.

This year's prizes began with the Nobel for medicine, awarded Monday to three scientists whose work led to a tool that uses light to help unravel how the brain works. The physics award announced Tuesday recognized a scientist's efforts to demystify a rare group of neutrinos.

The literature prize is set to be awarded Thursday. After Friday’s peace prize is awarded, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced Monday.

The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million), whether for an individual, a small group of laureates or an organization.

This story has been corrected to correct that Kagan, not Soai, is 95.

Ramakrishnan reported from New York. Dazio reported from Berlin. Associated Press journalists Alexa St. John in Detroit, Catherine Gaschka in Paris and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

AP Nobel Prizes: https://apnews.com/hub/nobel-prizes

Japanese chemist Kenso Soai, who won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, leaves home for a press conference, in Shiki, Saitama prefecture, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (Kyodo News via AP)

Japanese scientist Kenso Soai, winner of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, leaves home for a press conference, in Shiki, Saitama prefecture, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (Kyodo News via AP)

Portraits of Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai are shown on the screen as they are awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, on Oct. 7, 2026. Photo: (Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency via AP)

Portraits of Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai are shown on the screen as they are awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, on Oct. 7, 2026. Photo: (Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency via AP)

FILE - A close-up view of a Nobel Prize medal at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., Dec. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)