discoveries

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

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150K 'Dead' Penguins Might Just Be Chilling Elsewhere

They may have only abandoned their colony: expert

(Newser) - Troubled by the apparent deaths of 150,000 penguins since a Rhode Island-sized iceberg crashed into Antarctica in 2010? Good news: There might be an alternative explanation for their disappearance. No one has actually found the bodies of 150,000 Adélie penguins that vanished from a colony at Cape...

'Moral Symbols' at Work Can Keep Bad Bosses in Line

'Righteous' quotations, religious items can help workers avoid unethical requests

(Newser) - Could the whole subprime mess have been avoided if bankers had some inspirational Gandhi quotes laying around? That's the question the Chicago Tribune asks after reviewing a study that shows employees who display "moral symbols"—an "ethically righteous quote" or religious item like rosary beads—are...

Messy Kitchens May Tempt Us to Overeat
 Messy Kitchens May 
 Tempt Us to Overeat 
NEW STUDY
Feb 16, 2016 8:40 AM CST

Messy Kitchens May Tempt Us to Overeat

Study suggests you may not want to leave that sink full of dishes

(Newser) - Research has already suggested that people in neat work environments are more likely to opt for a healthy snack than people in cluttered ones. "Messy rooms are, sort of, enabling people to break free from what's expected of them," one researcher from that 2013 study tells NPR...

Author Claims Shakespeare Had Secret 'Bastard' Son

William Davenant would go on to become the poet laureate of England

(Newser) - William Shakespeare wasn't necessarily a doting husband: In his will, he famously left his wife Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children, his "second best bed." Now a new biography of the Bard of Avon suggests the playwright had a son with a married tavern mistress,...

Newly Found $20M Diamond Is Size of a Credit Card

404.2-carat diamond thought to be 27th largest ever found

(Newser) - One of the largest diamonds ever recorded has been pulled from the ground in Angola. Australia's Lucapa Diamond Company announced Monday that a 404.2-carat white diamond, about the length of a credit card, had been discovered. The find came at a 1,148 square-mile site that has since...

Ancient Flower Species Found Trapped in Amber

Perfect specimen could be up to 45M years old

(Newser) - A beautiful and probably deadly plant preserved in amber for years has turned out to be a species completely new to science. The new species, which has been named Strychnos electri, was identified from two tiny flowers perfectly preserved in amber found in a mine in the Dominican Republic. It...

Luxury Cells Uncovered After Deadly Prison Riot

Mexican prison had saunas and a bar

(Newser) - Vast luxuries such as saunas, a bar, food stands, and appliances were discovered by authorities entering a prison in northern Mexico to investigate a riot that killed 49 inmates . Nuevo Leon state authorities said in a statement Sunday that the cells inside Monterrey's Topo Chico prison were outfitted with...

Heartburn Meds May Include Scary Health Risk
 Heartburn Meds May 
 Raise Risk of Dementia 
new study
Feb 15, 2016 7:00 PM CST

Heartburn Meds May Raise Risk of Dementia

Study raises concerns about proton-pump inhibitor drugs

(Newser) - Certain heartburn drugs have already been linked to heath woes including heart disease and kidney disease. Now a study in JAMA Neurology says those drugs—proton-pump inhibitors like Prilosec, Prevacid, and Nexium—may also boost the chance of dementia, UPI reports. Analyzing a German health insurer's data on nearly...

Cougars Increasingly Making Meals of Dogs, Cats

California pet owners warned to take precautions

(Newser) - Wildlife officials in California have a disturbing revelation for pet owners: Most mountain lions in the region seem to have acquired a taste for dogs and cats. As the San Francisco Chronicle reports, that insight comes from an analysis of the stomach contents of mountain lions legally killed last year....

For the Obese, Objects Are Closer Than They Appear

The obese see distances as at least 10% greater than those of average weight

(Newser) - The very weight we carry can change our perception of the space around us, reports the Guardian , with obese people seeing distances as being at least 10% greater than those of average weight do, report researchers from Colorado State University Fort Collins. In the journal Acta Psychologica they report that...

John Paul Letters Show 'Intense' Friendship With Married Woman

32-year correspondence includes 'deeply personal' notes, pics

(Newser) - Photos and more than 350 "intense" letters from Pope John Paul II to a married woman he corresponded with for more than three decades have been found at the National Library of Poland, Deutsche Welle reports, via a BBC documentary. The notes and images—often showing the pontiff, who...

14 Years Later, They Found Her Purse

Julie Curry's lost bag turns up in the ceiling of a bank in Oklahoma

(Newser) - In a case of better late than never, a purse that went missing more than a decade ago has been found in the ceiling of a bank in Oklahoma City. Now the bag is headed back to its owner, Julie Curry, who now lives in Cherokee, Kan., KFOR reports. Curry'...

$900M in Meth Found in Bra Inserts

Australian police make huge bust

(Newser) - In one of the biggest drug busts in Australian history, law enforcement agencies discovered $1.26 billion Australian dollars ($900 million US) worth of methylamphetamine hidden in imported boxes of silicone bra inserts and art supplies, officials say. Four Hong Kong passport holders were arrested in Sydney last month over...

Flights From London to New York May Get Longer

Thanks to climate change, say researchers

(Newser) - Planning a round trip from New York to London in the not-too-distant future? The good news: Getting to Heathrow may be quicker than ever at about five hours. The bad news: The flight back to the Big Apple could drag on for more than seven hours, making the overall trip...

Name That President? Americans Have Weird Answers

71% of those surveyed think we were once led by President Alexander Hamilton

(Newser) - Alexander Hamilton was many things—a bastard from the Caribbean, the founder of the Bank of New York, the father of the US Coast Guard, and the first Secretary of the Treasury, to name a few. But the man who died in a duel against Aaron Burr at the age...

Today&#39;s Pot Is Much Stronger Than 1995&#39;s

 Today's Pot Is Much 
 Stronger Than 1995's 
in case you missed it
Feb 13, 2016 3:49 PM CST

Today's Pot Is Much Stronger Than 1995's

THC levels have jumped from 4% in 1995 to 12% in 2014

(Newser) - Smoking marijuana just isn't the same today as it was 20 years ago—and not only because it's now legal in some states. A study in Biological Psychiatry finds marijuana potency is on the rise. Researchers analyzed some 38,600 samples of illegal marijuana—including plant material, hashish,...

Sharks May Help Make Human Tooth Loss History

Scientists figure out how sharks keep regenerating their teeth

(Newser) - Good news for soda lovers: Scientists appear to be one step closer to being able to regenerate teeth in humans. A study in Developmental Biology explains how sharks and other marine life are able to regrow teeth continuously throughout their lives. Until now, that process had been "poorly understood...

Smiles Really Are Contagious
 Smiles Really Are Contagious 
NEW STUDY
Feb 13, 2016 9:37 AM CST

Smiles Really Are Contagious

...and so are frowns

(Newser) - Smiles—and frowns—are so contagious that they can jump from person to person in a fraction of a second, according to researchers studying the human brain's amazing ability to read expressions. In a paper published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences , researchers say that when we see...

Mouse Found Dead in 155-Year-Old Trap

 Mouse Found Dead 
 in 155-Year-Old Trap 
in case you missed it
Feb 13, 2016 7:47 AM CST

Mouse Found Dead in 155-Year-Old Trap

Rodent got caught in Victorian mousetrap on display in museum

(Newser) - When Colin Pullinger & Sons patented its "Perpetual Mouse Trap" in 1861, the company boasted the device would "last a lifetime"—and it wasn't kidding. One of the antiquated models on display at the University of Reading's Museum of English Rural Life ended up trapping...

Holy Einstein! 5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including a prescient Fitbit and a guy who remembered his name after 3 decades

(Newser) - A huge find in the cosmos and potent pot make the list:
  • Gravitational Waves Exist, Guys : Albert Einstein predicted them in 1916, and they were just confirmed—100 years later. Scientists say gravitational waves have been detected, produced by "two colliding black holes that merged to form a single
...

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