Prizewinning

Coscientist, an AI developed by Carnegie Mellon University, has autonomously mastered and executed complex Nobel Prize-winning chemical reactions, demonstrating significant potential in enhancing scientific discovery and experimental precision. Its ability to control laboratory robotics marks a major leap in AI-assisted research. Credit: SciTechDaily.comAn AI-based system succeeds in planning and carrying out real-world chemistry experiments, showing the potential to help human scientists make more discoveries, faster.In…

John Goodenough, who shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work developing the lithium-ion battery that transformed technology with rechargeable power for devices ranging from cellphones, computers, and pacemakers to electric cars, has died at 100, the University of Texas announced Monday.Goodenough died Sunday at an assisted living facility in Austin, the university announced. No cause of death was given. Goodenough was a faculty member at Texas for nearly 40 years. Goodenough was the oldest person to receive…

Artist’s impression of the trampoline-shaped sensor. The laser beam that passes through the middle of the trampoline membrane creating the overtone vibrations inside the material. Credit: SciencebrushPhysicists at Delft University of Technology have developed a new technology on a microchip by combining two Nobel Prize-winning methods for the first time. The microchip is capable of accurately measuring distances in materials, which could have applications in areas such as underwater measurement and medical imaging.The new…

Kenzaburo Oe, a giant of Japanese writing and winner of the Nobel prize in literature, has died aged 88.Spanning fiction and essays, Oe’s work tackled a wide range of subjects from militarism and nuclear disarmament to innocence and trauma, and he became an outspoken champion for the voiceless in the face of what he regarded as his country’s failures. Regarded by some in Japan as distinctly western, Oe’s style was often likened to William Faulkner; in his own words, in his writing he would “start from my personal matters…

NEW YORK —  Ned Rorem, the prolific Pulitzer- and Grammy-winning musician known for his vast output of compositions and for his barbed and sometimes scandalous prose, died Friday at 99.The news was confirmed by a publicist for his longtime music publisher, Boosey & Hawkes, who said he died of natural causes at his home on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The handsome, energetic artist produced a thousand-work catalog ranging from symphonies and operas to solo instrumental, chamber and vocal music, in addition to 16…

Various artworks of robots, drawn by AI. Image created by the author (using Stable Diffusion).People consider creativity to be inherently human. However, artificial intelligence (AI) has reached the stage where it can be creative as well.A recent competition attracted anger from artists after it awarded a prize to an artwork created by an AI model known as Midjourney. And such software is now freely available thanks… Various artworks of robots, drawn by AI. Image created by the author (using Stable Diffusion).People…

The first work of fiction by American poet and Nobel laureate Louise Glück is to be published in the UK later this year.Marigold and Rose: A Fiction is a “prose narrative” about the twins of the title, and follows them in the first year of their life as they “begin to piece together the world as they move between Mother’s stories of ‘Long, long ago’ and Father’s ‘Once upon a time’”.The book, which is just 64 pages long and will be released in October, is an “investigation of the great mystery of language and of time…

A mind-controlling fungus that hijacks the free will of insects has been caught on camera, exploding out of its zombie-like victim.The eye-catching photograph is the winner of this year's image competition by BMC Ecology & Evolution, which is in its second year of showcasing the remarkable ways animals and plants interact in the natural world.The prize-winning snap of the fly-infecting fungus is a freaky reminder that those natural relationships are not always friendly. Sometimes, they can result in one party sucking…

The process of turning water, carbon dioxide, and sunlight into oxygen and energy helps plants to grow naturally – and it's a process that scientists are looking to harness and adapt in order to produce food, fuel, and more besides.  In a new study, scientists outline an experimental artificial photosynthesis technique, which deploys a two-step electrocatalytic process to turn carbon dioxide, water, and electricity generated by solar panels into acetate (the main component of vinegar). This acetate can then be harnessed…

The first thing the Japanese American author Ruth Ozeki did the morning after winning the Women’s prize for fiction was meditate. “A very short one,” she says when we meet at her hotel later. She was so convinced she wasn’t going to win (Meg Mason and Elif Shafak were the frontrunners) she had planned “a full schedule” for the day. “Not that I’m complaining,” she laughs. Coolly elegant in black, despite the heatwave, the 66-year-old writer has the sort of glow not often seen in post-award ceremony interviews.Ozeki can…