discoveries

Read the latest news stories about recent scientific discoveries on Newser.com

Stories 201 - 220 | << Prev   Next >>

NASA Needs Your Help Unraveling Cosmic Mysteries

Agency calls for citizen scientists to catalog pulses of gamma rays as discoveries continue

(Newser) - NASA needs your help to identify massive explosions in space. The space agency is calling on citizen scientists to become "burst chasers" by joining a project to interpret gamma-ray bursts across the universe and "decode what the universe is saying," according to a release . Huge amounts of...

Archaeological Dig May 'Change the History' of Brazil

Scientists find relics that push back the time of first inhabitants by about 1.4K years

(Newser) - Archaeologists weren't too surprised when they began unearthing relics from a dig in northeastern Brazil. They were stunned, however, to keep finding relics the deeper they dug in the coastal city of Sao Luis, reports AFP . In all, they've unearthed four layers representing different eras of human habitation,...

Wearing Hearing Aids Could Be a Lifesaver
Wearing Hearing Aids
Could Be a Lifesaver
NEW STUDY
Jan 13, 2024 7:45 AM CST

Wearing Hearing Aids Could Be a Lifesaver

Study found the devices could reduce risk of early death by 24%

(Newser) - People with hearing loss overwhelmingly opt not to wear hearing aids, but a new study makes a strong case for scheduling a trip to the ENT. While the benefits hearing aids can contribute to long-term health have long been established, research now suggests that people who wear them are more...

Louisa May Alcott May Have Had Another Pen Name

Literary scholar Max Chapnick believes he's uncovered another Alcott pseudonym: EH Gould

(Newser) - Louisa May Alcott was a lot like her Little Women character Jo in that she, too, wrote stories to support her family. Before Little Women was published in two parts in 1868 and '69, the poor Alcott wrote melodramatic thrillers under the pen names AM Barnard, Tribulation Periwinkle, and...

This Modern-Looking Reptile Skin Is Nearly 300M Years Old
This Skin Is Nearly
300M Years Old
NEW STUDY
Jan 12, 2024 9:21 AM CST

This Skin Is Nearly 300M Years Old

Fossilized sample predating the dinosaurs represents oldest epidermis ever found

(Newser) - It looks a lot like crocodile skin, with a pebblelike texture someone might desire for a purse. But for the small sample size, you'd never guess it's 289 million years old, dating to the late Paleozoic Era, when many species were just beginning to venture from water to...

'Lost Valley of Cities' Found in Amazon

'Imagine that you discovered another civilization like the Maya'

(Newser) - After many years of research, French archaeologist Stéphen Rostain can deliver a very satisfying "I told you so" to people who told him there was no point in searching for ancient civilizations in the Amazon rainforest. Rostain and fellow researchers say they have discovered a "lost valley...

Ancient DNA Provides 'Quantum Leap' in Understanding of MS

Herders who migrated to Europe 5K years ago brought increased risk of disease, researchers say

(Newser) - Around 5,000 years ago, a people called the Yamnaya swept into northwestern Europe on horseback, bringing their wagons, cattle, and sheep—along with genes that researchers believe are responsible for higher rates of multiple sclerosis in the region today. In a study published in the journal Nature , researchers say...

Scientists Say They Know What Killed Off Giganto
Scientists Say They Know
What Killed Off Giganto
new study
Jan 10, 2024 1:25 PM CST

Scientists Say They Know What Killed Off Giganto

Study says the largest great ape to ever live went extinct because of climate change

(Newser) - The largest primate to ever live roamed southeastern Asia for more than a million years—but left behind plenty of mystery. Despite 85 years of searching, the fossil record for Gigantopithecus blacki—or giganto—is made up of just four jawbones and 2,000 teeth, and scientists didn't know...

Medieval Cemetery Points to Mysterious, Wealthy Group

Excavation in Wales uncovers imported goods, evidence of feasting, dozens of burials

(Newser) - A medieval cemetery unearthed a stone's throw from airport runways in Cardiff, Wales, points to a mysterious, high-status community that may have obtained items from another continent an estimated 1,500 years ago. Artifacts including a tiny vessel of fine glass thought to have been imported from France's...

Scientists Find Way to Sneak Alzheimer's Drug Into Brain

Researchers able to slip meds through temporary gap in the blood-brain barrier

(Newser) - Scientists have found a way to help Alzheimer's drugs seep inside the brain faster—by temporarily breaching its protective shield. The novel experiment was a first attempt in just three patients. But in spots in the brain where the new technology took aim, researchers say it enhanced removal of...

North Dakota Coal Miners Unearth an Ice Age Surprise

They find a 7-foot-long mammoth tusk, part of one of the state's most complete specimens

(Newser) - Coal miners in North Dakota found something wholly unexpected among the rocks they scooped up and unloaded into a pile—a 7-foot-long tusk of an Ice Age mammoth dead for tens of thousands of years. The rare find over Memorial Day weekend occurred at the Freedom Mine near Beulah, and...

On Climate Studies, Meet the 'Worst-Worst-Case Scenario'

Renowned scientist's new study warns that a feared acceleration of warming is already underway

(Newser) - As the world puts to bed the hottest year on record, the Washington Post calls attention to a study suggesting we haven't seen anything yet. The paper by renowned climate scientist James Hansen—the New York Times notes that it was Hansen's testimony before Congress 35 years ago...

Hypochondriacs Actually Do Have Something to Worry About

Study finds they're at greater risk of dying from illness, perhaps because of chronic stress

(Newser) - Hypochondriacs worry constantly about their health, even when nothing is actually wrong. Now, a new study suggests they do, in fact, have reason to worry—and it might be because all that worrying is making them ill. The Swedish study in JAMA Psychiatry found that people diagnosed with hypochondriasis—more...

Dad, Daughter Discover Shipwreck While Fishing
Dad, Daughter Discover
Shipwreck While Fishing
in case you missed it
Dec 23, 2023 4:30 PM CST

Dad, Daughter Discover Shipwreck While Fishing

Vessel is believed to be one that was lost in 1871

(Newser) - A Wisconsin man and his 6-year-old daughter may have discovered an 1871 shipwreck while fishing off Green Island in Lake Michigan over the summer. Tim Wollak tells WLUK his daughter, Henley, first spotted something strange on the sonar and thought it was a Green Bay octopus. But to Wollak, it...

Your Snacking Habits Really Do Add Up
Your Snacking Habits
Really Do Add Up
in case you missed it
Dec 23, 2023 11:00 AM CST

Your Snacking Habits Really Do Add Up

Study finds Americans eat roughly a meal's worth of calories in snacks each day

(Newser) - Those snacks you're grabbing between meals add up, or so says a new study out of the Ohio State University. A survey of nearly 24,000 Americans over age 30 indicates our snacking clocks in at an average 400 to 500 calories a day—or between 19.5% and...

Most Dogs Have Brown Eyes for a Reason
Most Dogs Have Brown
Eyes for a Reason
new study
Dec 22, 2023 2:23 PM CST

Most Dogs Have Brown Eyes for a Reason

Humans think dark-eyed dogs are friendlier and influenced their evolution, study suggests

(Newser) - A new study claims to have answered the question of why most dogs have brown eyes, reports the Guardian . In a new paper at Royal Society Open Science , researchers in Japan make the case that humans view dark-eyed dogs as friendlier, even if subconsciously. In comparison, their wild wolf cousins...

10 of the Year&#39;s Most Fascinating Discoveries
12 of the Year's
Most Fascinating
Discoveries
best of 2023
Dec 22, 2023 12:00 PM CST

12 of the Year's Most Fascinating Discoveries

Yes, one involves a metal detector

(Newser) - If buried treasure is unearthed anywhere, or a shipwreck is discovered, rest assured: We're on it. We have yet to meet an incredible find that didn't wow us, and these 12 are among the year's most-read:

We Now Know What Causes Morning Sickness
We Now Know What
Causes Morning Sickness
in case you missed it
Dec 17, 2023 7:15 AM CST

We Now Know What Causes Morning Sickness

Scientists point to hormone GDF15, a discovery that raises hopes for a possible cure

(Newser) - Pregnant women may soon no longer have to dread that gestational malady known as morning sickness, a condition marked by nausea and throwing up, usually at its worst in the first trimester. In new research published Wednesday in the journal Nature , scientists say they're now focusing on one particular...

Prospects of Life on This Moon 'Are Getting Better and Better'

Scientists find evidence of hydrogen cyanide, needed to form amino acids, on Enceladus

(Newser) - Scientists previously discovered the six essential ingredients of life spewing from Enceladus , one of Saturn's 146 moons, which is considered to have one of the best chances of hosting life of any known planetary body in the solar system besides Earth. Now, they've discovered evidence of a poisonous...

&#39;Cats Eat a Lot More Than We Thought&#39;
'Cats Eat a Lot More
Than We Thought'
NEW STUDY
Dec 13, 2023 1:50 PM CST

'Cats Eat a Lot More Than We Thought'

Hundreds of endangered species are on the menu for free-roaming cats, researchers say

(Newser) - Cats are far from finicky eaters when it comes to wildlife, researchers say. According to a study published in Nature , cats are "indiscriminate predators and eat essentially any type of animal that they can capture at some life stage or can scavenge." Researchers say cats worldwide—feral cats...

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