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The extraordinary life of Alfred Nobel

The Nobel prizes may be one of the most famous and prestigious awards in the world—but who was the man behind them? As I explain in my lectures about Alfred Nobel, the inventor and entrepreneur has left a lasting legacy ...

Winning the Nobel 'an earthquake', says Ruvkun

US scientist Gary Ruvkun, who on Monday won the Nobel Prize in Medicine with fellow American Victor Ambros for their discovery of microRNA, said winning the honor was like "an earthquake".

Publisher Springer Nature makes stock market debut

Leading academic publisher Springer Nature made its stock market debut Friday, one of the few initial public offerings in Frankfurt this year despite the exchange's strong performance.

2024 Nobels offer glimmer of hope as global crises mount

Next week's Nobel Prize announcements will crown achievements that made the world a better place, a glimmer of optimism amid a spiraling Middle East conflict, war in Ukraine, famine in Sudan and a collapsing climate.

Will AI one day win a Nobel Prize?

Artificial intelligence is already disrupting industries from banking and finance to film and journalism, and scientists are investigating how AI might revolutionize their field—or even win a Nobel Prize.

Researchers unpack sign language's visual advantage

Linguists have long known that sign languages are as grammatically and logically sophisticated as spoken languages—and also make greater use of "iconicity," the property by which some words refer to things by resembling ...

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Records show that churches monitored multilingual gossip in Elizabethan London
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The 'publish or perish' mentality is fueling research paper retractions—and undermining science
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Scientists become a source of hope and information on TikTok, Instagram
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Global crises are multiplying: Here's how science can help our public decision-makers
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Saturday Citations: Football metaphors in physics; vets treat adorable baby rhino's broken leg
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'The data on extreme human aging is rotten from the inside out,' says Ig Nobel winner
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Study looks at funded partnerships between nonprofit organizations and researchers
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Saturday Citations: Permian-Triassic mystery solved; cute baby sighted; the nine-day 2023 seismic event
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Backside breathing and pigeon bombers studies win Ig Nobel prizes
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Studies on pigeon-guided missiles, swimming abilities of dead fish among Ig Nobels winners
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First publication of J.R.R. Tolkien's collected poems offers new insights into author's personality
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This year's $890,000 Balzan Prizes awarded for research on aging, restorative justice, climate crisis
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Saturday Citations: Teen seals photobomb research site; cell phones are safe; serotonin and emotional resilience
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A mural honoring scientists hung in Pfizer's NYC lobby for 60 years. Now it's up for grabs
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US disinformation researcher laments 'incredible witch hunt'
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Researchers propose framework for contextual metadata
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First Nations people are three times more likely to die on the road. Here's how to fix Australia's transport injustice
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Saturday Citations: Corn sweat! Nanoplastics! Plus: Massive objects in your area are dragging spacetime
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Claw machine games are Rio de Janeiro's new public enemy
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Best of Last Week—How humans really killed mammoths, making AI systems smarter, mitochondria fling their DNA

Other news

Evolution
Why do we love carbs? The origins predate agriculture and maybe even our split from Neanderthals
Quantum Physics
New benchmark helps solve the hardest quantum problems
Astrobiology
Could life exist below Mars ice? Study proposes possibilities
Soft Matter
A look into cloudy liquids: New method make the expansion of turbid drops in water visible
Molecular & Computational biology
Discovery of key protein for biosynthesis of plant defense steroids could enhance pest control strategies
Political science
New study reveals a global consensus on what democracy means
Ecology
Biofilms study reveals how multiple bacteria species manage to coexist
Environment
Global CO₂ emissions from forest fires have increased by 60% since 2001, study finds
Astronomy
Astronomers detect ancient lonely quasars with murky origins
Astronomy
Rare ultra-luminous nova spotted in the Small Magellanic Cloud
Condensed Matter
Magnetic octupoles help overcome problems with antiferromagnets
Cell & Microbiology
Identifying the genes that viruses 'steal' from ocean microbes
Plants & Animals
Underestimated female tutors: Zebra finch mothers coach their sons to sing better
Cell & Microbiology
Microbiome studies in humans and zoo animals pave the way for new drug development
Biochemistry
Abiotic organic synthesis research proposes new mechanism for organic condensation
Molecular & Computational biology
Putting out a brain on fire: Researchers map how antibodies bind in rare autoimmune disorder
Quantum Physics
Novel superconducting flux qubit can operate without being surrounded by a magnetic field
Condensed Matter
Insulator-to-metal transition achieved in iridate/manganate heterostructures
Optics & Photonics
Quantum research breakthrough uses synthetic dimensions to efficiently process quantum information
Cell & Microbiology
Mangrove microbes show potential for breaking down plastics

State of the art: Museum takes hi-tech look at Vermeer

This really is state of the art research. Experts at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague are using the latest technology to take a long, hard look at one of their most prized paintings, Johannes Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl ...

Scientists, wildlife DJ, hip-hop archivists create 'BeastBox'

Musicians have long drawn inspiration from nature, but a new online game is taking that connection one step further. "Beastbox" takes sound clips from real wild animals, transforms them into loops, and allows users to mix ...

Unprecedented study of Picasso's bronzes uncovers new details

Musee national Picasso-Paris and the Northwestern University/Art Institute of Chicago Center for Scientific Studies in the Arts (NU-ACCESS) have completed the first major material survey and study of the Musee national Picasso-Paris' ...