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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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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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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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New study reveals key players in global transshipment, boosting seafood transparency
Astrobiology
How did the building blocks of life arrive on Earth? Zinc fingerprints in meteorites offer clues
Molecular & Computational biology
Targeting 'undruggable' diseases: Researchers reveal new levels of detail in targeted protein degradation
Evolution
Evolution in real time: Scientists predict—and witness—evolution in a 30-year marine snail experiment
Social Sciences
Analysis of approximately 75 million publications finds those employing AI are more likely to be a 'hit paper'
Nanophysics
Engineering perovskite materials at the atomic level paves way for new lasers, LEDs
Plasma Physics
Researchers uncover role of plasma waves in mysterious heating of sun's corona
Astrobiology
Mars analog stations investigate lichen biodiversity during simulated missions
Earth Sciences
Novel algorithms detect precursory scale increase to help forecast big quakes
Condensed Matter
Physicists reveal nonlinear transport induced by quantum geometry in planar altermagnets
Ecology
Hidden in the teeth: DNA study finds these 19th century lions preyed on humans and giraffes
Plants & Animals
Bat data study reveals conservation priorities in San Diego County
Plants & Animals
Mountain chickadees songs provide real-time evidence for Darwin's character displacement theory
Plants & Animals
Gazing at your dog can connect your brains, research suggests
Ecology
Eastern Pacific study highlights severe cold-water bleaching as an additional threat to deep reef ecosystems
Materials Science
New plant-based glitter shows no harm to soil organisms
Plants & Animals
One-third of European plant species could be in trouble due to declining seed disperser populations
Space Exploration
'Party atmosphere': Skygazers treated to another aurora show
Cell & Microbiology
Scientists discover how innate immunity envelops bacteria
Earth Sciences
Machine learning could improve extreme weather warnings

New algorithm examines crime-scene bullets segment by segment

On the morning of March 22, 1915, residents of the small town of West Shelby, New York, awoke to a horrific scene. A woman clad only in a bloodied nightgown lay shot to death in the snow on the doorstep of an immigrant farmhand, ...

Q&A: What's next for the Tokyo Olympics as virus spreads?

The spreading virus from China has been reported in more than 60 countries and puts the Tokyo Olympics at risk. The Olympics are to open on July 24—less than five months away. The Paralympics follow on Aug. 25.

To 11 million Brazilians, the Earth is flat

Sitting by a model of the Earth shaped like a pancake, Brazilian restaurant-owner Ricardo lets out an exaggerated laugh: "'Hahaha!' That's how people react when you tell them the Earth is flat," he says.