News & Views |
Featured
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Books & Arts |
Philosophy: Creative resilience
Michael Shermer sifts through a study of the science of randomness and our responses to it.
- Michael Shermer
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Books & Arts |
In Retrospect: The Origin of Life
Clifford P. Brangwynne and Anthony A. Hyman celebrate the first book to plausibly suggest how life began.
- Tony Hyman
- & Cliff Brangwynne
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News |
Snapshots explore Einstein’s unusual brain
Photos reveal unique features of genius’s cerebral cortex.
- Mo Costandi
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Books & Arts |
Books in brief
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Books & Arts |
Computer science: Virtually there
John Gilbey applauds a call for the digital to join the physical, biological and social in science.
- John Gilbey
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Editorial |
Save scientific sites
The push to conserve cultural-heritage sites must not leave out areas of interest to science.
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Obituary |
Edward Donnall Thomas (1920–2012)
Immunologist who won Nobel prize for bone-marrow transplants.
- Rainer Storb
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News |
Mixed reviews for US Clean Water Act
Forty-year-old environmental law has spurred progress in water quality, but problems remain.
- Richard A. Lovett
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News |
Drought hastened Maya decline
A prolonged dry period contributed to civilization's collapse.
- Helen Shen
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News & Views |
50 & 100 Years Ago
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Books & Arts |
Books in brief
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Comment |
The birth of X-ray crystallography
A century ago this week, physicist Lawrence Bragg announced an equation that revolutionized fields from mineralogy to biology, writes John Meurig Thomas.
- John Meurig Thomas
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News & Views |
50 & 100 Years Ago
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Books & Arts |
Books in brief
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Books & Arts |
History: Realms of gold
Jennifer Rampling relishes a masterful take on the age-old allure of alchemy.
- Jennifer Rampling
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Books & Arts |
Geography: Going all the way
Andrew Robinson follows the feet, wheels, ships and space stations that have circled the globe.
- Andrew Robinson
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News Feature |
Science in the developing world: Eritrea's shattered science
An impoverished African nation was making promising strides in medicine — before the government clamped down on its foreign partnerships.
- Shanta Barley
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News |
Ancient tsunami devastated Lake Geneva shoreline
Sediments suggest wave was triggered by massive rock fall, highlighting risk to modern lakeside communities.
- Jessica Marshall
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News & Views |
50 & 100 years ago
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Autumn Books |
Medical history: Stemming the red tide
Lab luminaries jostle with consumptive cultural icons in a vivid history of tuberculosis, finds Stefan H. E. Kaufmann.
- Stefan H. E. Kaufmann
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Autumn Books |
Mathematics: A fractal life
Mark Buchanan enjoys the quirky memoir of a mathematical rebel — the late Benoît Mandelbrot.
- Mark Buchanan
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Autumn Books |
Pseudoscience: A fringe too far
David Morrison finds contemporary echoes in a history of 'science wars', from Velikovsky to Lysenko and beyond.
- David Morrison
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Autumn Books |
Planetary science: The search for Earth's twin
Sara Seager enjoys a frank and vivid account of planet hunting.
- Sara Seager
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Autumn Books |
New in paperback
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Comment |
Why symmetry matters
Mario Livio celebrates the guiding light for modern physics.
- Mario Livio
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News |
The DNA of Aztec conquest
Genetic evidence tracks missing inhabitants of Mexican city.
- Brian Switek
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News |
Edit-a-thon gets women scientists into Wikipedia
Royal Society hosts event to redress online encyclopaedia's gender imbalance.
- Ed Yong
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Books & Arts |
Books in brief
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News & Views |
50 & 100 years ago
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Books & Arts |
Biophysics: Tales from the canopy
Sandra Knapp considers how the laws of physics influence the function of leaves in myriad ways.
- Sandra Knapp
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News & Views |
50 & 100 years ago
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Books & Arts |
Books in brief
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Books & Arts |
Psychiatry: The dispossessed
Amy Maxmen views a prizewinning film that shines a light into the dark corners of US psychiatric care.
- Amy Maxmen
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News & Views |
50 & 100 years ago
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News & Views |
50 & 100 years ago
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Books & Arts |
Biography: The scientist within
Richard Holmes celebrates today's revival of science biography, a tradition spanning 300 years.
- Richard Holmes
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News & Views |
50 & 100 years ago
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News & Views |
50 & 100 years ago
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Books & Arts |
History: Darwin the eroticist
William Bynum applauds a life of physician and scientific poet Erasmus Darwin, Charles's intriguing grandfather.
- William Bynum
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News |
A Turkish origin for Indo-European languages
Disease-mapping methods add geographical history to language family tree.
- Alyssa Joyce
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World View |
Sometimes science must give way to religion
The Higgs boson, and its role in providing a rational explanation for the Universe, is only part of the story, says Daniel Sarewitz.
- Daniel Sarewitz
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News & Views |
50 & 100 years ago
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News |
Exxon Valdez laid to rest
The Oriental Nicety (née Exxon Valdez), born in 1986 in San Diego, California, has died after a long struggle with bad publicity.
- Shanta Barley