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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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Scientists become a source of hope and information on TikTok, Instagram
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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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Planetary Sciences
'Killer electrons': Lightning storms play cosmic pinball with space weather
Quantum Physics
Google's sycamore quantum chip beats classical computers running random circuit sampling
Optics & Photonics
Researchers develop a laser that produces the strongest ultra-short laser pulses to date
Earth Sciences
Ancient climate analysis reveals unknown global processes
Ecology
AI empowers iNaturalist to map California plants with unprecedented precision
Ecology
Full moon hazard: 50% rise in wildlife vehicle collisions during moonlit nights
Evolution
Evolution in real time: Scientists predict—and witness—evolution in a 30-year marine snail experiment
Ecology
Hidden in the teeth: DNA study finds these 19th century lions preyed on humans and giraffes
Condensed Matter
Physicists reveal nonlinear transport induced by quantum geometry in planar altermagnets
Plants & Animals
One-third of European plant species could be in trouble due to declining seed disperser populations
Plants & Animals
Bat data study reveals conservation priorities in San Diego County
Astrobiology
How did the building blocks of life arrive on Earth? Zinc fingerprints in meteorites offer clues
Social Sciences
Analysis of approximately 75 million publications finds those employing AI are more likely to be a 'hit paper'
General Physics
Study proposes that proteins can compartmentalize and form droplets inside cells
Nanophysics
Engineering perovskite materials at the atomic level paves way for new lasers, LEDs
Molecular & Computational biology
Targeting 'undruggable' diseases: Researchers reveal new levels of detail in targeted protein degradation
Plasma Physics
Researchers uncover role of plasma waves in mysterious heating of sun's corona
Other
New study reveals key players in global transshipment, boosting seafood transparency
Plants & Animals
Gazing at your dog can connect your brains, research suggests
Space Exploration
'Party atmosphere': Skygazers treated to another aurora show

Shifting Brexit date gives map-makers a headache

In or out? The repeated delays to Brexit are a nightmare for map makers and guidebook printers who have to decide how to depict Britain's relationship with the European Union.

Researchers prove Leonardo Da Vinci was ambidextrous

Researchers at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence have proved what was suspected for a long time: that Renaissance genius Leonardo Da Vinci was able to write, draw and paint with both hands.

New methods to find clothes that fit

Have you ever entered a fitting room and discovered that the clothes did not fit well at all? A new doctoral thesis at the Swedish School of Textiles at the University of Borås shows that there are tools for both the product ...

Duke University pays $112M to settle faked-research lawsuit

Duke University will pay $112 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit after federal prosecutors said a research technician's fake data landed millions of dollars in federal grants, the school and the government said Monday.

Physicist Marcelo Gleiser: 'Science does not kill God'

The annual Templeton Prize, which recognizes outstanding contributions to "affirming life's spiritual dimension," was awarded Tuesday to Brazilian Marcelo Gleiser—a theoretical physicist dedicated to demonstrating science ...