discoveries

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

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Study Shows Sarcasm Can Actually Be Good for You
Sarcasm Makes You
More Creative
new study
Nov 21, 2015 1:40 PM CST

Sarcasm Makes You More Creative

No matter whether you are the deliverer or the recipient, study says

(Newser) - A study has found that sarcasm—which has gotten a bad rap—can actually boost creativity and cognitive functioning in both the user and receiver, Scientific American reports. Researchers assigned volunteers to take part in simulated dialogues that were either sarcastic, sincere, or neutral, then gave them tasks to test...

You Probably Need to Wash Your Sheets Right Now
 You Probably Need 
 to Wash Your 
 Sheets Right Now 
in case you missed it
Nov 21, 2015 12:00 PM CST

You Probably Need to Wash Your Sheets Right Now

Here are some good, and also gross, reasons why

(Newser) - No one likes washing and changing their sheets, but what's the bare minimum you can get away with when freshening up your linens? University of Washington professor Dr. Marilyn Roberts tells Yahoo people should wash their sheets once per week "as long as there's no bodily secretions...

Healthy Foods Aren't Necessarily Healthy for Everyone

Researchers say it could change the way we think about dieting

(Newser) - Like many people, one middle-age woman in an Israeli study just couldn't seem to find a diet that worked. The problem: The seemingly healthy tomatoes she was eating multiple times per week were actually causing her blood sugar levels to spike. The New Zealand Herald reports the researchers from...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including a monster diamond and a way to gauge brain power with raisins

(Newser) - A new jolt in the java world and an antibiotic meltdown make the list:
  • Here's How Often Happy Couples Have Sex : Couples who constantly "Netflix and chill" aren't necessarily happier. In fact, having sex once a week is just about perfect, according to a study of surveys
...

Scientists Find Tropical Forest—in the Arctic

It would have thrived near the equator 380M years ago

(Newser) - Bet you didn't know there was a tropical forest in the Arctic. That's what scientists say they've uncovered in Svalbard, Norway, though the remnants of the forest are actually 380 million years old and fossilized. Back when the early trees—a type dubbed Protolepidodendropsis pulchra—were alive...

Parasitic Worm May Make Women More Fertile

Women infected have an average of 2 more kids than others

(Newser) - A roundworm infection is bad news for a number of reasons, but it's possibly a bonus if you're trying to get pregnant. In a nine-year study that one fertility scientist says raises the possibility of "novel fertility-enhancing drugs," researchers analyzed 986 Tsimane indigenous women in Bolivia,...

Skull of 'Real' Winnie-the-Pooh Resurfaces

It's on display in London

(Newser) - You can now feast your eyes on the real-life inspiration for Winnie-the-Pooh—or her skull anyway. Winnie, a female black bear named after the Canadian city of Winnipeg, was a star attraction at London Zoo in the 1920s and a favorite of Christopher Robin, who named his own teddy bear...

New Superbug Prompts Warnings of 'Post-Antibiotic Era'

Mutation defeats drugs of last resort

(Newser) - Less than 90 years after Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, the world is on the verge of returning to an era without antibiotics, scientists warn. Researchers have discovered bacteria in China that can defeat even the "antibiotic of last resort," reports the BBC , which describes the development as the...

How to Predict Your Child's Intelligence With a Raisin

'It could be the simplest test of childhood aptitude ever invented'

(Newser) - Raisins: They're not just for making inferior cookies anymore. Researchers claim they can predict how well an 8-year-old will do in school using nothing but a raisin and cup when the child is a toddler, according to a press release from the University of Warwick. The Telegraph says the...

More Mexicans Now Exiting the US, Not Entering
More Mexicans Now Exiting the US, Not Entering
new report
Nov 19, 2015 2:07 PM CST

More Mexicans Now Exiting the US, Not Entering

Pew report has some interesting numbers

(Newser) - This may come as a surprise to anyone calling for a border fence: There are actually more Mexicans exiting the US than arriving here, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis. Between 2009 and 2014, an estimated 870,000 Mexican nationals came to the US from Mexico—but a...

The Mice Have Spoken: Taste Is an Illusion

Scientists turn sense of taste on and off by manipulating brain cells: study

(Newser) - That bitter tincture a bunch of mice in a Columbia University lab recently gagged on could have been sweet nectar, or even just plain water. Why they took issue with the taste: For a study published in the journal Nature , scientists fiddled with their brain cells to make them think...

Mammogram Reader of the Future: Pigeons?

An animal behaviorist puts them to the test

(Newser) - Human radiologists, look out. Pigeons turn out to be expert mammogram readers after very little training, at least according to a study published this week in PLoS ONE . Using 16 pigeons in a chamber with a touchscreen, scientists trained them to peck at one of two colored buttons to correspond...

In the Presence of Women, Guys Stuff Their Faces

Women, meanwhile, feel more rushed when eating with men

(Newser) - In what is likely an attempt to "show off," men eat more in the presence of women than in front of other men, according to new research out of Cornell University . In fact, in the study published this month in the journal Evolutionary Psychological Science , researchers say that...

Second-Largest Diamond in History Is Found

Only a gem among the British Crown Jewels is bigger

(Newser) - Canadian mining outfit Lucara Diamond has just uncovered the world's second-largest diamond—and the biggest one found in more than a century. Found in the south lobe of the Karowe mine in central Botswana, the Type IIa stone is 1,111 carats and just slightly smaller than a tennis...

Best Way to Take Temperature Not the Most Pleasant

But if you want to be sure about the numbers, rectal is the way to go

(Newser) - In what STAT describes as an "exhaustive" 24-page report, there's one type of thermometer that rises above the rest when it comes to gauging body temperature. Rectal thermometers remain the "gold standard" for getting the most accurate reading, HealthDay News reports, even though "it's no...

Study: Fires Seem to Observe Religion, the Workweek

Australian researchers find weekly pattern to global wildfires

(Newser) - And on the seventh day, the wildfires rested. That’s what Australian researchers discovered after using NASA satellite images to track global fires—both naturally occurring and human-caused—from 2001 to 2013 as part of a new study . They found that there are fewer fires on Sundays—the Christian day...

Find the Drunkest City in Your State

Dubuque, Iowa, is drunkest with 30.8% heavy or binge drinkers

(Newser) - This could be a helpful tool for those looking to party: Wall St. 24/7 has determined the drunkest city in each state, based on the percentage of adult residents who binge drink (consume four to five drinks per sitting) or are heavy drinkers (consume at least eight drinks per week...

Thousands of Texans Have Tried to Give Selves Abortions

Among at-home methods: booze, drugs, 'getting hit or punched in the abdomen'

(Newser) - "It was the worst cramping I've ever had and probably one of the worst pains I've gone through. And … there's always that slight uncertainty of ... I don't really know what I'm doing." This interview with a 24-year-old Texas woman, part of a...

Here's How Often Happy Couples Have Sex

Once a week is ideal; additional sex has no effect on happiness: study

(Newser) - Couples who constantly " Netflix and chill " aren't necessarily happier. In fact, having sex once a week is just about perfect. That's the takeaway from a new study, based on surveys of more than 30,000 Americans gathered over 40 years, published in the journal Social Psychological ...

What Women Really Want— at Least in a Sperm Donor

Women tend to go for smart, shy, calm men when choosing biological dad

(Newser) - What women really want in a man could be vastly different depending on the scenario—i.e., lustful attraction at a bar versus calculated decision-making at a sperm bank. So a team of economists at Queensland University of Technology set out to examine sperm donor preferences among women online and...

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