It seems that chemists are using genetic algorithms, too:

link
Designing new enzymes is a difficult task, but what researchers can do is make thousands of trillions of RNA molecules, with the hope that one or a few of them can catalyze the appropriate reactions.

What's especially weird about this case is that the subject of this particular enzime is genetics!

Now if we could make trillions of little perl interpreters and turn them loose on a problem...

—John