Anthropic opens Claude Science beta for research labs

Anthropic launched Claude Science, a specialized AI platform for scientific research, on Tuesday, June 30, 2026. The new desktop application, now available in a public beta for macOS and Linux, is designed to consolidate the disparate tools and databases researchers use into a single, AI-driven workbench.

The platform aims to accelerate scientific discovery, particularly in fields like drug discovery, by automating repetitive analysis and complex computational workflows. It allows scientists to analyze large datasets, review literature, interpret biological data, manage experiments, and generate hypotheses using plain language commands. A key feature is its ability to handle and visualize 3D protein structures, a critical component of modern pharmaceutical research.

Claude Science is not a new AI model but an application built on Anthropic's existing Claude models, such as Opus 4.8. Its innovation lies in its integrated environment, which connects to over 60 scientific databases and includes pre-configured skills for specialized areas including genomics, proteomics, structural biology, and cheminformatics. A central coordinating AI agent manages these tools and can orchestrate...