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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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'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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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

Other news

Planetary Sciences
Distant planet may host volcanic moon like Jupiter's Io
Cell & Microbiology
From chaos to structure: How a bunch of seemingly disorganized cells go on to form a robust embryo
Plants & Animals
European forest plants are migrating westwards: Research suggests nitrogen is the main cause
Earth Sciences
Microscopic marine organisms can create parachute-like mucus structures that stall CO₂ absorption from atmosphere
Molecular & Computational biology
AI-driven approach challenges traditional views on protein structure
Environment
Climate change can alter methane emission and uptake in the Amazon
Nanophysics
A new plasma-based technological design boosts graphene production by more than 22%
Analytical Chemistry
Innovative approach to catalytic alkane activation offers new chemical pathways
Earth Sciences
Loss of lake ice has wide-ranging environmental and societal consequences, analysis suggests
Evolution
Playing songs to Darwin's finches helps confirm link between environmental change and emergence of new species
Earth Sciences
Catastrophically warm predictions are more plausible than previously thought, say climate scientists
Planetary Sciences
How did magma oceans evolve on early Earth and Mars? Iron chemistry and primordial atmospheres offer clues
Nanophysics
Novel visible light communication encryption technology uses chiral nanoparticles
Astronomy
A sharper view of the Milky Way with Gaia and machine learning
Condensed Matter
Theoretical study demonstrates existence of giant photocaloric effects in ferroelectric perovskites
Analytical Chemistry
Spectroscopy study determines how catalysts remove dangerous nitrogen oxides
Earth Sciences
Declines in plant resilience threaten carbon storage in the Arctic
Cell & Microbiology
Scientists explore whether smaller chromosomes lead to more segregation errors during egg cell division
Environment
Scientists track and analyze lofted embers that cause spot fires
Archaeology
Advanced technology discovered under Neolithic dwelling in Denmark

Best of Last Year: The top Phys.org articles of 2020

It was a good year for research of all kinds as a team of geophysicists at the University of Maryland detected unexpected widespread structures near Earth's core. The structures were revealed as the researchers analyzed thousands ...

Japan's symbol of year nods to no-lockdown virus strategy

A written character that evokes everything people in Japan were urged to avoid this year—crowds, confined spaces and close contact with others—was on Monday voted the country's top linguistic symbol of 2020.

Johns Hopkins: Census records show founder owned slaves

Johns Hopkins University, whose researchers have been at the forefront of the global response to COVID-19, announced on Wednesday that its founder owned slaves during the 19th century, a revelation for the Baltimore-based ...

Nobel ceremonies go low-key this year because of coronavirus

The pomp and ceremony of the Nobel prize ceremonies have been reined in this year amid measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus. There will be no glitzy banquet honoring winners in Stockholm or Oslo as the global pandemic ...

Colorado student, scientist named Time's 'Kid of the Year'

A 15-year-old Colorado high school student and young scientist who has used artificial intelligence and created apps to tackle contaminated drinking water, cyberbullying, opioid addiction and other social problems has been ...

California monolith pops up after finds in Utah, Romania

Days after the discovery and swift disappearance of two shining metal monoliths half a world apart, another towering structure has popped up and then quickly vanished, this time from the pinnacle of a trail in California.