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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 '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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Saturday Citations: Tarantulas and their homies; how mosquitoes find you; black holes not mysterious at all

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Planetary Sciences
Unlocking cosmic origins: Researchers trace 70% of meteorites to 3 asteroid families
Astronomy
It's twins! Mystery of famed brown dwarf solved
Other
Walking in short bursts found to consume 20% to 60% more energy than walking continuously for same distance
Condensed Matter
Tesla-inspired method can control the direction of heat flow in graphite crystals
Plants & Animals
Grassland study shows that elevated levels of CO₂ nearly tripled species losses attributed to nitrogen pollution
Astronomy
Astronomer detects eclipses in a candidate cataclysmic variable system
Quantum Physics
New theoretical framework sets limits for the realization of quantum processes in spacetime
Paleontology & Fossils
Fossil unearthed in Brazil is 237-million-year-old sister-group to Dinosauria
General Physics
The neutron lifetime problem—and its possible solution
Planetary Sciences
October's supermoon pairs with a comet for a special nighttime spectacle
Astrobiology
Scientists use Allen Telescope Array to search for radio signals in the TRAPPIST-1 star system
Biochemistry
First mRNA stabilizing substance could aid in development of innovative mRNA therapeutics
Astronomy
Dutch students warn space mission of noisy white dwarfs
Astronomy
Researchers claim to have found the oldest stellar disk in the Milky Way galaxy
Political science
Model reveals why debunking election misinformation often doesn't work
Earth Sciences
Study finds asymmetric warming impacts soil carbon storage more than symmetric warming
Archaeology
Researchers discover hidden tomb beneath Petra's Treasury World Heritage Site
Optics & Photonics
Janus-like metasurface technology shows different optical responses according to the direction of light
Bio & Medicine
Nano-nutrients can blunt effects of soil contamination, boost crop yields
Plants & Animals
The monarch butterfly may not be endangered, but research suggests its migration is

Hopper, de Kooning hit new auction records in New York

Paintings by Edward Hopper and Willem de Kooning sold for nearly $92 million and $69 million respectively in New York on Tuesday, setting new world record auction prices for each artist, Christie's said.

Stephen Hawking's wheelchair sells for $393,000 at auction

A wheelchair used by physicist Stephen Hawking has sold at auction for almost 300,000 pounds ($393,000), while a copy of his doctoral thesis fetched almost 585,000 pounds ($767,000), auctioneer Christie's said Thursday.

New open access database for medieval literature

The new Norse World database will make it easier for researchers to study perceptions of the surrounding world in Medieval Scandinavian literature. The new tool is a digital resource aimed at researchers in fields such as ...

35 top prize winners warn Brexit will damage science

Thirty-five Nobel and top mathematics prize winners have warned British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker that scientific research will suffer a serious setback without a good Brexit ...

Eye disorder may have helped Da Vinci's art: journal

A common eye disorder may help explain Leonardo Da Vinci's talent for three-dimensional representation and the sense of perspective in his mountain landscapes, according to research published in an academic journal.