Optimization algorithms seek to find the minimum values of mathematical functions in engineering. It's how engineers evaluate design trade-offs, assess control systems and how people find patterns in data.

One practical way to solve a difficult optimization problem is to first reduce it to a related but much simpler problem, then gradually add complexity back in, solving each new problem in turn and using its solution as a guide to solving the next one.

If only someone could find a way to characterize optimization theoretically. You know, optimize it.

In an interview of wealthy Norwegian business elites, mothers talked freely about their everyday lives - and why being wealthy enough to not have to work is important to many of them. 

Among the 13 families chronicled  by sociologist Helene Aarseth from the University of Oslo in Tidsskrift for kjønnsforskning (Journal of Gender Research), nine of the women were full-time mothers or had a small part-time job which did not interfere with their ability to be home with the children when they returned from school. Prior to leaving the workplace, almost all the wealthy mothers had a prestigious education within law or economics.

Geologists have discovered hidden magnetic messages from the early solar system in meteorites measured using the PEEM-Beamline at the BESSY II synchrotron located in The Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB). 

The information captures the dying moments of the magnetic field during core solidification on a meteorite parent body, providing a sneak preview of the fate of Earth's own magnetic field as its core continues to freeze.

Phthalates are chemicals that increase the softness and flexibility of plastic.  Due to concerns about potential health problems, the US government has permanently banned three types of phthalates (DEHP, DBP, BBP)1 in any amount greater than 0.1 percent for each phthalate in children's toys and for some child care items used for toddlers ages 3 and under.

Manufacturers have been turning to alternative plasticizers, which are different phthalates, but outside the ordinary approval process little is known about the toxicity of the replacements or whether they can enter the air infants breathe for 12 to 14 hours per day at potentially harmful levels.

Since infants breathe in far more air given their low body weights than adults, Ying Xu and Yirui Liang

Scientists have found the balance necessary to aid healing with high-tech hydrogel.

Hydrogels are used as a scaffold upon which cells can build tissue. The new hydrogel overcomes a host of issues that have kept them from reaching their potential to treat injuries and forming new vasculature to treat heart attack, stroke and ischemic tissue diseases.

Dust from soil erosion due to wind can affect human health, traffic, and, on a larger scale, climate. Investigators compared different models that quantify how the wind energy spreads over an herbaceous surface using data from the Sahel region of Africa, where estimates of dust emissions remain uncertain.

They found that the modeling tools give results in reasonable agreement, indicating that vegetation can decrease the amount of dust emitted from soil erosion by 6% to 26% in mass compared with bare soil.