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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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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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Saturday Citations: Tarantulas and their homies; how mosquitoes find you; black holes not mysterious at all
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World's second largest diamond found in Botswana
Mathematics
New research analyzes 'Finnegans Wake' for novel spacing between punctuation marks
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Saturday Citations: Citizen scientists observe fast thing; controlling rat populations; clearing nanoplastic from water
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Study sheds light on creative thinking
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Flood of 'junk': How AI is changing scientific publishing

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Earth Sciences
Researchers link El Niño to accelerated ice loss in tropics
Evolution
New seed fossil sheds light on wind dispersal in plants
Cell & Microbiology
Cryo-electron microscopy provides new insights into the cell's repair system
Biochemistry
Scientists discover novel series of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro inhibitors for potential new COVID-19 treatments
General Physics
Nobel Prize in physics awarded to 2 scientists for discoveries that enabled machine learning
Earth Sciences
Research suggests Earth's oldest continental crust is disintegrating
Archaeology
Experimental archaeology sheds light on skill and technique in Bronze Age spear combat
General Physics
Detecting Planck-scale dark matter by leveraging quantum interference
Archaeology
Tunisian snail remains provide insights on a possible 7700-year-old local food tradition
General Physics
Physics team uncovers a quantum Mpemba effect with a host of 'cool' implications
Nanomaterials
New insights into bubble interference could enhance electrode design
Plants & Animals
Study suggests elephants remember zookeepers after many years
Environment
New research shows legal challenges to climate action on the rise
Molecular & Computational biology
Nanopore technique shows transport mechanism of chaperone proteins at the single-molecule level
Earth Sciences
New global database of dams and reservoirs could transform water management
Molecular & Computational biology
Key molecule in wound healing identified through mapping of long non-coding RNA molecules
Biochemistry
Researchers design a drug capable of acting simultaneously against three different therapeutic targets
Archaeology
With advanced scanning technique, confiscated Iron Age Iranian swords proven to be pastiches
Astrobiology
Ryugu sample analyses show asteroids may have delivered compounds needed to start life on Earth
Plants & Animals
Documenting the impact of a fungal outbreak on a forest over half a century

Protecting family treasures during hurricane season

When preparing for what could be a busy hurricane season, LSU Archival Expert Ed Benoit warns planning ahead is critical. When responding to a natural disaster gathering precious items and documents can be low on the priority ...

Destiny of science modeled and explained in new study

What is the common thread among mRNA vaccines, genomic drugs, NASA's mission to the moon and the harnessing of nuclear power? They all have been products of science convergence, where knowledge from multiple scientific disciplines ...

How will humans survive a global catastrophe?

One suggested way to save humankind in the event of a deadly pandemic or other extreme global catastrophe is establishing a safe refuge—on an island or in such far-out places as the moon or under water—where a portion ...

Addressing racial gaps in NIH grant funding

In 2020, a commentary published in Cell urged the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to address long-standing funding disparities between Black and white researchers. According to a 2011 study, Black applicants were 10 percentage ...