Last update:

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 ...

More news

Other
Records show that churches monitored multilingual gossip in Elizabethan London
Other
The 'publish or perish' mentality is fueling research paper retractions—and undermining science
Other
Scientists become a source of hope and information on TikTok, Instagram
Other
Global crises are multiplying: Here's how science can help our public decision-makers
Other
Saturday Citations: Football metaphors in physics; vets treat adorable baby rhino's broken leg
Other
'The data on extreme human aging is rotten from the inside out,' says Ig Nobel winner
Other
Study looks at funded partnerships between nonprofit organizations and researchers
Other
Saturday Citations: Permian-Triassic mystery solved; cute baby sighted; the nine-day 2023 seismic event
Other
Backside breathing and pigeon bombers studies win Ig Nobel prizes
Other
Studies on pigeon-guided missiles, swimming abilities of dead fish among Ig Nobels winners
Other
First publication of J.R.R. Tolkien's collected poems offers new insights into author's personality
Other
This year's $890,000 Balzan Prizes awarded for research on aging, restorative justice, climate crisis
Other
Saturday Citations: Teen seals photobomb research site; cell phones are safe; serotonin and emotional resilience
Other
A mural honoring scientists hung in Pfizer's NYC lobby for 60 years. Now it's up for grabs
Other
US disinformation researcher laments 'incredible witch hunt'
Other
Researchers propose framework for contextual metadata
Other
First Nations people are three times more likely to die on the road. Here's how to fix Australia's transport injustice
Other
Saturday Citations: Corn sweat! Nanoplastics! Plus: Massive objects in your area are dragging spacetime
Other
Claw machine games are Rio de Janeiro's new public enemy
Other
Best of Last Week—How humans really killed mammoths, making AI systems smarter, mitochondria fling their DNA

Other news

Archaeology
'Getting high' in Paleolithic hunting: Elevated positions enhance javelin accuracy but reduce atlatl efficiency
Earth Sciences
Understanding landslides: A new model for predicting motion
Nanophysics
Adaptive ferroelectric materials show promise for energy-efficient supercomputing
Quantum Physics
Hybrid quantum error correction technique integrates continuous and discrete variables
Plants & Animals
Aquaculture uses far more wild fish than previously estimated, study finds
Astronomy
Hubble captures intricacies of R Aquarii, a symbiotic binary star roughly 700 light-years from Earth
Earth Sciences
Plate tectonics drive compositional evolution of the upper mantle, study finds
Optics & Photonics
Researchers reveal quantum advantage that could advance future sensing devices
Plants & Animals
Are you tasty to mosquitoes? Study offers clues into when and why they bite
Molecular & Computational biology
Protein interactions: Who is partying with whom and who is ruining the party?
Planetary Sciences
Audible storm waves could turbocharge Earth's radiation belts
Cell & Microbiology
The making of the gut—studies connect genetics and physics in embryonic development
Nanomaterials
The corners where atoms meet may provide a path to new materials for extreme conditions
Cell & Microbiology
'Vegetarian' salmon might lead the way to better health for humans and fish
Nanophysics
Diamond bonding technique could improve both quantum and conventional electronics
Plants & Animals
Genome sequencing could unlock answers to yellow jacket behavior
Environment
Trace gas measurements could advance carbon cycle predictions
Quantum Physics
New theoretical framework sets limits for the realization of quantum processes in spacetime
Astronomy
Using gamma-ray bursts to probe origin of star formation excess discovered by Webb
Plants & Animals
Global north's growing appetite for farmed salmon imperils communities' access to local fish, study warns

Women winners of scientific Nobels throughout history

US scientist Frances Arnold became the fifth women to win a chemistry Nobel on Wednesday, the day after Canada's Donna Strickland became just the third woman—and first in 55 years—to clinch the physics award.

New research aims to help catch child killers

Violent crimes against children are especially abhorrent. New research from North Carolina State University will help law enforcement learn more from juvenile and infant remains in order to help bring perpetrators to justice.

DNA tests bring together French son of GI and US half-brother

A Frenchman who spent his whole adult life searching for his American father, a soldier who fought in Europe during World War Two, said he was "bowled over" after coming face-to-face with a previously unknown half-brother ...