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Science is a neutral, rigorous, systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
The earliest written records of identifiable predecessors to modern science come from Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia from around 3000 to 1200 BCE. Their contributions to mathematics, astronomy, and medicine entered and shaped the Greek natural philosophy of classical antiquity, whereby formal attempts were made to provide explanations of events in the physical world based on natural causes. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, knowledge of Greek conceptions of the world deteriorated in Western Europe during the early centuries (400 to 1000 CE) of the Middle Ages, but was preserved in the Muslim world during the Islamic Golden Age and later by the efforts of Byzantine Greek scholars who brought Greek manuscripts from the dying Byzantine Empire to Western Europe in the Renaissance.
The recovery and assimilation of Greek works and Islamic inquiries into Western Europe from the 10th to 13th century revived "natural philosophy", which was later transformed by the Scientific Revolution that began in the 16th century as new ideas and discoveries departed from previous Greek conceptions and traditions. The scientific method soon played a greater role in knowledge creation and it was not until the 19th century that many of the institutional and professional features of science began to take shape, along with the changing of "natural philosophy" to "natural science".
Modern science is typically divided into three major branches: natural sciences (e.g., biology, chemistry, and physics), which study the physical world; the social sciences (e.g., economics, psychology, and sociology), which study individuals and societies; and the formal sciences (e.g., logic, mathematics, and theoretical computer science), which study formal systems, governed by axioms and rules. There is disagreement whether the formal sciences are science disciplines, because they do not rely on empirical evidence. Applied sciences are disciplines that use scientific knowledge for practical purposes, such as in engineering and medicine.
New knowledge in science is advanced by research from scientists who are motivated by curiosity about the world and a desire to solve problems. Contemporary scientific research is highly collaborative and is usually done by teams in academic and research institutions, government agencies, and companies. The practical impact of their work has led to the emergence of science policies that seek to influence the scientific enterprise by prioritizing the ethical and moral development of commercial products, armaments, health care, public infrastructure, and environmental protection. (Full article...)
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- ...that the endangered golden lion tamarin (pictured) has a long, but not prehensile, tail?
- ...that the Witch's hat is the common name of a colourful orange-red toadstool?
- ...that Grandi's series 1 − 1 + 1 − 1 + • • • is divergent and appears to equal 0, yet in some sense "sums" to 1⁄2 — a paradox once linked to the creation ex nihilo of the universe?
- ...that Derek Freeman was an anthropologist whose refutation of Margaret Mead's work "ignited controversy of a scale, visibility, and ferocity never before seen in anthropology"?
- ...that the New Year's Eve snowstorm of 1963/1964 dropped over 17 inches of snow at Huntsville, Alabama, simultaneously setting new snowfall records for any day, week, or month in their history?
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Science News
- 30 May 2023 – Discoveries of exoplanets
- Indian scientists from the Physical Research Laboratory discover TOI 4603b, an exoplanet with a mass that is 13 times that of Jupiter. (The Hindu)
- 24 May 2023 –
- In a medical first, a paralyzed man is able to walk naturally through the use of electronic brain implants implanted by Swiss scientists. (BBC News)
- 3 May 2023 –
- Researchers announce the successful extraction of ancient DNA from a 20,000 year old elk-tooth pendant found in Denisova Cave. (Reuters)
- 5 April 2023 – Discoveries of exoplanets
- Scientists discover bursts of radiation in radio wavelengths on the exoplanet YZ Ceti b, which is part of the YZ Ceti system. The studies are published in the Nature Astronomy journal. (The Jerusalem Post)
- 1 April 2023 –
- Professor Alan Jamieson of the University of Western Australia's Minderoo-UWA Deep Sea Research Centre announces that his team has captured footage of a snailfish species, Pseudoliparis belyaevi, swimming at 8,336 metres (27,349 ft) in the Izu–Ogasawara Trench off Japan's southern coast. This is the lowest depth recorded for any fish, and closest to the estimated maximum depth possible for fish to survive. (BBC News)
- 27 March 2023 –
- Scientists discover lunar water samples in tiny glass beads from the Moon in studies published by the Nature Geoscience journal. (ABC News)