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Science (from Latin scientia 'knowledge') is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
The earliest roots of science can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in around 3000 to 1200 BCE. Their contributions to mathematics, astronomy, and medicine entered and shaped 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. 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 that consist of the natural sciences (e.g., biology, chemistry, and physics), which study nature in the broadest sense; 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 deal with symbols governed by rules. There is disagreement, however, on whether the formal sciences actually constitute a science as they do not rely on empirical evidence. Disciplines that use existing scientific knowledge for practical purposes, such as engineering and medicine, are described as applied sciences.
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 development of commercial products, armaments, health care, public infrastructure, and environmental protection. (Full article...)
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Wolfgang Ernst Pauli (April 25, 1900 – December 15, 1958) was an Austrian physicist noted for his work on the theory of spin, and in particular the discovery of the Exclusion principle, which underpins the whole of chemistry and quantum mechanics.
He seldom published papers, preferring lengthy correspondences with colleagues (such as Bohr and Heisenberg, with whom he had close friendships.) Many of his ideas and results were never published and appeared only in his letters, which were often copied and circulated by their recipients. Pauli was apparently unconcerned that much of his work thus went uncredited.
More did you know...
- ...that in recent years Mediterranean alcoholic beverages (pictured) have been subject of intense scientific study?
- ...that the supermassive black hole at the center of the quasar OJ287 has been measured as weighing 18 billion times the mass of the Sun, six times heavier than the previous record holder?
- ...that the origins of Castle Lake (pictured) in California date to the Pleistocene Era (more than 10,000 years ago) when a glacier carved a basin in the location of the current lake?
- ...that 2002's Hurricane Elida was the first hurricane to be observed by the MERIS sensor aboard the ESA's satellite Envisat?
- ...that for a pure wave motion in fluid dynamics, the Stokes drift velocity is the average velocity when following a specific fluid parcel as it travels with the fluid flow?
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Science News
- 1 March 2022 – Ozone depletion and climate change
- Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology report that smoke from the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season has damaged the ozone layer, delaying its recovery by about a decade. (The Guardian)
- 11 February 2022 – Koala conservation
- The Australian Government officially lists the koala as an endangered species due to a combination of factors including drought, bushfires, disease and habitat loss. (The Guardian)
- 9 February 2022 – COVID-19 pandemic
- Sweden scraps almost all pandemic restrictions, essentially declaring the pandemic as "over". The move is condemned by scientists in Sweden and abroad, who warn the pandemic still persists and continues to represent serious dangers. (Reuters)
- 7 January 2022 – Discoveries of exoplanets
- Researchers from the University of Bern announce the discovery of TOI-2257 b, an eccentric exoplanet that orbits near a red dwarf. (Phys.org)
- 14 December 2021 – Living With a Star
- Scientists announce that NASA's Parker Solar Probe became the first ever spacecraft to enter the stellar corona of the Sun during a flyby in April. (The Guardian)
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