Gananath Obeyesekere, an anthropologist whose long career and wide-ranging social insights — which drew on Hindu texts, Freudian psychoanalysis and Christian mysticism, among many other ideas — made him a leading intellectual figure in both his native Sri Lanka and the rarefied world of Western academia, died on Tuesday at his home in Colombo, Sri … Read more
Dolphins whistle. Whales sing. Fish croak, chirp, grunt, hum and growl. But in the chatter of the sea, one voice has been missing — until now. Sharks have long been seen as the silent killers of the water. But scientists at the University of Auckland in New Zealand recently recorded a rig shark, or Mustelus … Read more
From ancient star streams to the innards of white dwarfs, the Gaia space telescope has seen it all. On Thursday, mission specialists at the European Space Agency will send Gaia, which is low on fuel, into orbit around the sun, and switch it off after more than a decade of service to the world’s astronomers. … Read more
Just hours after opening its new program for American researchers called Safe Place For Science in reaction to Trump administration policies, Aix Marseille University received its first application. Since then, the university in the south of France known for its science programs, has received about a dozen applications per day from what the school considers … Read more
The French government’s claim that a scientist was denied entry into the United States because of an opinion he expressed about the Trump administration is “blatantly false,” a U.S. official has said. Even as the authorities in France continued to call the case a concerning violation of academic freedom, the U.S. official, Tricia McLaughlin, who … Read more
Americans are making too many solo dinner reservations. That was one takeaway from the annual World Happiness Report, which was released on Thursday and showed that the United States had dipped to its lowest slot in the country rankings — 24th — after being ranked as high as 11th in 2012, the first year of … Read more
When she spotted the mako shark in the Hauraki Gulf off New Zealand, Rochelle Constantine, a marine ecologist at the University of Auckland, was concerned. The animal had a curious orangey-brown mass perched on top of its head. “At first, I was like, ‘Is it a buoy?’” Dr. Constantine said. “‘Is it entangled in fishing … Read more
A French scientist was prevented from entering the United States this month because of an opinion he expressed about the Trump administration’s policies on academic research, according to the French government. Philippe Baptiste, France’s minister for higher education and research, described the move as worrying. “Freedom of opinion, free research and academic freedom are values … Read more
South Africa will not remove scientists from a remote base in Antarctica after investigating allegations that one of them physically assaulted and sexually harassed other researchers at the outpost, the country’s environment department said on Tuesday. “There were no incidents that required any of the nine overwintering team members to be brought back to Cape … Read more
For decades, the native iguanas of Fiji and Tonga have presented an evolutionary mystery. Every other living iguana species dwells in the Americas, from the Southwestern United States to the Caribbean and parts of South America. So how could a handful of reptilian transplants have ended up on two islands in the South Pacific, over … Read more