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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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Records show that churches monitored multilingual gossip in Elizabethan London
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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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Evolution
City microbes surviving on disinfectants, research reveals
General Physics
China's underground lab seeks answer to deep scientific riddle
Archaeology
'Getting high' in Paleolithic hunting: Elevated positions enhance javelin accuracy but reduce atlatl efficiency
Other
Walking in short bursts found to consume 20% to 60% more energy than walking continuously for same distance
Biotechnology
mRNA vaccines for disease outbreaks can be synthesized in less time with new technique
Astronomy
Using gamma-ray bursts to probe origin of star formation excess discovered by Webb
Evolution
Explosive pollen wars: Plants fight for pollen-space on pollinators
Planetary Sciences
Unlocking cosmic origins: Researchers trace 70% of meteorites to 3 asteroid families
Astronomy
It's twins! Mystery of famed brown dwarf solved
Paleontology & Fossils
Fossil unearthed in Brazil is 237-million-year-old sister-group to Dinosauria
Plants & Animals
Electrophysiology study shows how ant toxin causes extreme pain
Quantum Physics
New theoretical framework sets limits for the realization of quantum processes in spacetime
Astronomy
Astronomer detects eclipses in a candidate cataclysmic variable system
Astronomy
Hubble captures intricacies of R Aquarii, a symbiotic binary star roughly 700 light-years from Earth
Environment
Deep learning illuminates past and future atmospheric blocking events
Nanophysics
Adaptive ferroelectric materials show promise for energy-efficient supercomputing
Plants & Animals
Aquaculture uses far more wild fish than previously estimated, study finds
Quantum Physics
Hybrid quantum error correction technique integrates continuous and discrete variables
Plants & Animals
Are you tasty to mosquitoes? Study offers clues into when and why they bite
General Physics
The neutron lifetime problem—and its possible solution

The misleading evidence that fooled scientists for decades

There are surprisingly few proven facts in science. Instead, scientists often talk about how much evidence there is for their theories. The more evidence, the stronger the theory and the more accepted it becomes.

Mixing science and politics

The inaugural March for Science, held last year in Washington, D.C., and other cities across the world, celebrated science and its role in our everyday lives. In addition, many participants expressed frustration with U.S. ...

Researchers test FIFA World Cup game balls in the laboratory

The official ball for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia has received Empa's stamp of approval after numerous rigorous tests. Some goalkeepers had been critical of its flight characteristics, but the reason for this may lie ...