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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

Ecology
Study: Smaller, more specific academic journals hold more sway over conservation policy
Astronomy
A near-Earth microquasar emerges as a source of powerful radiation
Astronomy
Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer helps researchers determine shape of black hole corona
Ecology
Environmental DNA and epidemics in wood frogs: Collaboration examines eDNA's precision in population size estimation
Economics & Business
Philosopher finds glitch in worldwide patent laws
Biotechnology
More efficient phenotypic screening method can simultaneously test multiple drugs
Astronomy
Astronomers detect ancient lonely quasars with murky origins
Ecology
Pioneering robot system enables 24/7 monitoring of honeybee behavior
Quantum Physics
Harnessing diamond imperfections opens a new frontier in quantum sensor development
Cell & Microbiology
DNA-binding C2H2 zinc finger proteins also regulate RNA processing, researchers discover
Cell & Microbiology
Catching prey with grappling hooks and cannons: The unusual weapons arsenal of a predatory marine bacterium
Astronomy
Rare ultra-luminous nova spotted in the Small Magellanic Cloud
Earth Sciences
Incorporating effects of sea spray into models to improve hurricane intensity forecasting
Analytical Chemistry
Visible light energy yields two-for-one deal when added to carbon dioxide recycling process
Quantum Physics
New benchmark helps solve the hardest quantum problems
Evolution
Why do we love carbs? The origins predate agriculture and maybe even our split from Neanderthals
Soft Matter
A look into cloudy liquids: New method makes the expansion of turbid drops in water visible
Ecology
Biofilms study reveals how multiple bacteria species manage to coexist
Political science
New study reveals a global consensus on what democracy means
Environment
Global CO₂ emissions from forest fires have increased by 60% since 2001, study finds

Female horse riders want better bra support

Three quarters of female horse riders want bras that better support them, partly for the sake of their health and partly to avoid embarrassment, according to new research.

Sharing is caring, but is privacy theft?

Open Science (OS) is a movement toward increased sharing among scientists of their data, their materials, their computer code, their papers, and their peer reviews. The ultimate goal of this movement is to boost collaborative ...

It's not how you play the game, but how the dice were made

Whether at a casino playing craps or engaging with family in a simple board game at home, rolling the dice introduces a bit of chance or "luck" into every game. We expect dice to be fair, where every number has equal probability ...

On unconscious bias in science

Science is never truly objective. Charles Darwin and his failed theory on the Parallel Roads of Glen Roy can provide an excellent role model, writes Jaboury Ghazoul.