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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

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Nanomaterials
New fabrication strategy enhances graphene aerogel sensitivity and durability for human-machine interfaces
Astronomy
First results from the Axion Dark-Matter Birefringent Cavity experiment establish a new technique for axion search
Cell & Microbiology
Researchers find new role for protein in combating age-related diseases
Environment
Global study reveals people, including those most affected by climate change, do not understand climate justice
Optics & Photonics
Image-guided computational holographic wavefront shaping: Fast, versatile solutions for complex imaging challenges
Plants & Animals
Scientists create new overwintering sites for monarch butterflies on a warming planet
Evolution
Extremely well-preserved fossil sawfly sheds new light on co-evolution of insects and toxic plants
Nanophysics
Fast-responding colorimetric sensor for real-time monitoring has expanded color gamut
Cell & Microbiology
Scientists show how sperm and egg come together like a key in a lock
Plants & Animals
Cats associate human words with images, experiment suggests
Astronomy
Astronomers detect ancient lonely quasars with murky origins
Economics & Business
Philosopher finds glitch in worldwide patent laws
Astronomy
Rare ultra-luminous nova spotted in the Small Magellanic Cloud
Astronomy
'Old' star could provide new insights into star evolution
Planetary Sciences
Second exoplanet detected orbiting an early G-type star
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
Study: Smaller, more specific academic journals hold more sway over conservation policy
Quantum Physics
New benchmark helps solve the hardest quantum problems
Quantum Physics
Harnessing diamond imperfections opens a new frontier in quantum sensor development

Research on big ears, crocodile gambling wins Ig Nobels

Scientists who discovered that old men really do have big ears, that playing the didgeridoo helps relieve sleep apnea and that handling crocodiles can influence gambling decisions are among this year's recipients of the Ig ...

Transparency in peer review

In 1832, the Royal Society moved from using committee minutes to written peer review reports for determining what was published in Philosophical Transactions. This was conveyed by Frederick Augustus, The Duke of Sussex in ...

New book a call for solidarity between humans and nonhumans

In our relationship with nonhumans we decided the fate of our humanity. That is the premise of a new book by Rice professor and acclaimed object-oriented philosopher Timothy Morton. Humankind: Solidarity With Non-Human People ...

Barbers, hair salons market cosmetic surgery on Instagram

A new study shows the majority of providers advertising aesthetic surgery services on Instagram are not board certified-plastic surgeons, so patients who respond to the ads are putting themselves at risk. Social media has ...