NEWSWORTHY
Scientists based in Antarctica welcomed the winter solstice by plunging into icy waters Thursday as part of a "mad tradition" heralding the return of brighter days after weeks of darkness. In temperatures of minus 22 degrees Celsius (minus 7.6 degrees Fahrenheit), staff at Australia's Casey ...
How scientists succumb to corruption and cook results
It starts with a dash of temptation. Stir in some rationalization and deception. The final and key ingredient is: stupid systems with perverse incentives.
More than a quarter of Earth's land surface will become "significantly" drier even if humanity manages to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, the goal espoused in the Paris Agreement, scientists said on Monday. But if we contain average warming to 1.5 degrees (2.7 ...
Russian academics slam FSB security chief for comments on Stalin's purges
A group of Russian scientists have sounded the alarm over what they said were attempts by the head of the security service to openly justify Stalin's mass purges, the first such attempt in decades. In an open letter published by Kommersant broadsheet, more than 30 ...
Researcher soars to second most popular job for Japanese boys
Researcher is now the second most popular job among Japanese boys, a nationwide survey of 1,100 elementary school and preschool children said Friday. Soccer player remained the top job for the seventh consecutive year, followed by police officer or detective, according to the annual survey ...
Science Council of Japan considers overturning long-held opposition to military research
The nation's largest and most powerful group of scientists has started discussing lifting its decades-old ban on defense-related research as the government seeks more collaboration with civilians in the development of weapons technology. The move comes as the Defense Ministry, under the "proactive peace" policy ...
One small 'chirp' for mankind: Scientists hear gravitational waves, proving Einstein prediction
In an announcement that electrified the world of astronomy, scientists said Thursday that they have finally detected gravitational waves, the ripples in the fabric of space-time that Einstein predicted a century ago. Astronomers hailed the finding as an achievement of historic proportions, one that opens ...
'Anthropocene' epoch mulled over Earth's human imprint but starting date eludes
The indelible imprint left by human beings on Earth has become so clear that it justifies naming a new geological epoch after mankind, experts said on Thursday. The dawn of the "Anthropocene" would signal the end of the Holocene epoch, considered to have begun 11,700 ...
An international body of chemistry and physics is set to announce in late January whether a Japanese or joint U.S.-Russian team will be handed the naming rights for atomic element 113, a new synthetic provisionally named ununtrium, Japanese scientists said Saturday. The U.S.-Russia team first ...
February's milky rain in Pacific Northwest laid to dry lake bed, not eruption in Japan
Scientists have finally solved the mystery of a milky rain that coated cars and raised eyebrows across a wide swath of the Pacific Northwest this February, researchers said on Tuesday. A multidisciplinary Washington State University team said they had determined that dust from the dry ...
Coldest case? Spain cave yields 430,000-year-old murder mystery
This 430,000-year-old case may be the world's oldest murder mystery. Scientists on Wednesday said a fossilized skull discovered deep inside a Spanish cave shows telltale signs of homicide: two fractures inflicted by the same weapon. The skull, belonging to a primitive member of the Neanderthal lineage, ...
Japanese, American, French researchers receive 2015 Japan Prize
Japanese flood control expert Yutaka Takahashi, and American and French gene therapy scientists received the 2015 Japan Prize at a ceremony in the presence of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko in Tokyo on Thursday. The Japan Prize Foundation awards the annual prize to those who ...
