discoveries

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

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'Obesity Gene' May Have an Off Switch

Scientists discover how faulty gene makes people fat

(Newser) - Fighting obesity is a lot more complicated than simply eating less and exercising more, according to researchers who have made a major breakthrough in studying the FTO "obesity gene." The gene was linked to obesity years ago , and scientists say they've now figured out how it works,...

Long Work Hours Massively Raise Stroke Risk
Bad News for Those Who Work 55+ Hours a Week
NEW STUDY
Aug 20, 2015 3:37 AM CDT

Bad News for Those Who Work 55+ Hours a Week

Stroke risk goes up the more you work, researchers say

(Newser) - If you're putting in more than 55 hours a week at work, the chances are good that you're working toward having a stroke, researchers say. A study involving more than 600,000 people found that people who work that many hours have a 33% higher stroke risk and...

Drought Is Causing California to Sink Fast

Some areas of Central Valley dropping 2 inches a month

(Newser) - Vast areas of California's Central Valley are sinking faster than in the past as massive amounts of groundwater are pumped during the historic drought, state officials say, citing new research by NASA scientists. The data shows the ground is sinking nearly 2 inches each month in some places, putting...

Study Overturns Long-Held Belief on Hummingbirds

They don't drink the way researchers have thought for 200 years

(Newser) - Hummingbirds beat their wings approximately 50 times per second, but that's nothing compared to how fast they can drink. A study out of the University of Connecticut debunks nearly 200 years of scientific thinking on how hummingbirds accomplish that task, with results showing the tiny birds can sip up...

Treasure Hunters Find $4.5M in Gold Coins Off Beach

Some people have the best jobs

(Newser) - Three-hundred years to the day after a hurricane sank 11 treasure-laden ships off the Florida coast, treasure hunters found 350 gold coins worth an estimated $4.5 million, Florida Today reports. Brent Brisben , captain of the salvage ship that found the sunken treasure, tells CBS News the timing was "...

Shorter Women Tend to Have Shorter Pregnancies
Shorter Women Tend to Have Shorter Pregnancies
NEW STUDY
Aug 19, 2015 12:35 PM CDT

Shorter Women Tend to Have Shorter Pregnancies

Maternal height appears to influence gestational age

(Newser) - The height and weight of a newborn baby is largely governed by his or her own genes, but it's the height of the mother that's giving researchers a telltale sign, reports the Telegraph . Specifically, shorter women have shorter pregnancies and thus more premature babies, report investigators at the...

Women Recall Rapes Accurately Even While Intoxicated

They may not remember as much, but what they do is trustworthy

(Newser) - Undergoing questioning as a rape victim is difficult, but even more so if the victim is made to feel her recollections are untrustworthy—a reaction that's more probable if she was intoxicated during the assault. "Out of these concerns, the police might forgo interviewing victims," University of...

This Tiny Bone Reveals a Big Find in Human Evolution

Oldest humanlike hand bone dates back 2M years: study

(Newser) - Scientists have stumbled upon the oldest known fossil of a hand bone that looks a lot like one found in your own hand, though this one is at least 1.84 million years old. Found in Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, the hominin bone—likely from the pinky of a left...

Whistled Language Brings Surprising Brain Discovery

People must use both sides of their brain to understand it, a first

(Newser) - The rapidly disappearing "bird language" that is spoken—or whistled, actually—by about 10,000 residents in the mountains of Turkey is changing the way scientists think about language and the brain. The left hemisphere has always been dominant when interpreting language, be it spoken, written, signed, or even...

World's '1st Flower' Dates Back 130M Years

The oldest known flowering plant, found in Spain, was aquatic

(Newser) - The world's oldest known flower dating back 130 million years is an aquatic species called Montsechia found fossilized in limestone deposits in Spain. But it wouldn't necessarily be recognized as a flower today, given it didn't boast petals or nectar-producing structures. "The fruit contains a single...

If You Get Lice, Hope That It&#39;s In This State
If You Get Lice, Hope
That It's In This State
NEW STUDY
Aug 18, 2015 9:30 AM CDT

If You Get Lice, Hope That It's In This State

Michigan is the only one of 30 where lice don't show drug resistance

(Newser) - Head lice might be a bit harder to nit, er, nip in the bud this year: A study out of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsvillle finds the pests have developed resistance to popular over-the-counter medications in at least 25 states. Kyong Yoon, who helped discover ultra-resistant strains, collected 109 samples of lice...

In Cats vs. Dogs, History Answers
 In Cats vs. Dogs, 
 History Answers 
NEW STUDY
Aug 18, 2015 7:18 AM CDT

In Cats vs. Dogs, History Answers

Cats are responsible for the extinction of 40 early canine species

(Newser) - It's official: Cats are better than dogs. Better predators, that is. So say researchers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences after looking at more than 2,000 fossils of prehistoric cats and dogs in North America. It turns out that when cats arrived on the continent...

Married GOPers Are More Satisfied
 Married GOPers 
 Are More Satisfied 
SURVEY SAYS
Aug 17, 2015 2:07 PM CDT

Married GOPers Are More Satisfied

67% of Republicans say they're 'very happy' in holy matrimony: survey

(Newser) - A University of Virginia sociologist who's not convinced that liberal families are better off than conservative ones has what he says is more data to back up his theory. W. Bradford Wilcox says that not only do families who live in "red" conservative counties "enjoy somewhat stronger...

The Lost City of Atlantis May Be Hiding in Plain Sight

Sergio Frau suspects Plato was writing about a tidal wave on Sardinia

(Newser) - Some say the lost city of Atlantis lies not at the bottom of the ocean but in plain sight off the coast of Italy on the island of Sardinia. Herodotus and Aristotle were two who thought Plato's description of a land beyond the strait between Sicily and Tunisia, which...

Pa. Construction Worker Stumbles Onto Mass Grave

Bones probably date to 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic

(Newser) - A construction worker may have unearthed a mass grave while digging last week on private property in Schuylkill Haven, Pa. Local historians say the bones could very well belong to those who died during the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic, which wiped out 1,600 people in a month in this...

Tongue-Rolling Myth Totally 'Debunked'

Biologist John McDonald aims to set the record straight

(Newser) - For anyone who can still proudly recall one factoid learned in high school biology—that the ability to roll one's tongue is genetic—bad news: You learned it wrong. John McDonald, an evolutionary biologist, is out to debunk what he calls a myth about the genetic roots of tongue-rolling,...

Modern Malady May Be Behind Rise in Dementia
Modern Malady May Be Behind Rise in Dementia
study says
Aug 16, 2015 7:54 AM CDT

Modern Malady May Be Behind Rise in Dementia

Researchers in new study think pollution and pesticides play a role

(Newser) - Could pollution be to blame for why dementia is killing more people and being diagnosed earlier than ever? That's the theory being floated by researchers involved in a study of patients in 21 countries from 1989 to 2010. The Smithsonian reports that while dementia is typically associated with people...

How Astronomers Confirmed the Universe Is Dying

 How Astronomers 
 Confirmed the 
 Universe Is Dying 
in case you missed it
Aug 15, 2015 6:25 PM CDT

How Astronomers Confirmed the Universe Is Dying

First, you need some really big telescopes

(Newser) - How does one confirm that the universe is slowly dying? For starters, you use "as many space and ground-based telescopes as we could get our hands on." That according to Simon Driver, a principal investigator with the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) project. Driver explains that the group...

Scurvy: Horrific as It Was Deadly for Sailors

The 'plague of the sea' was not a pleasant way to go

(Newser) - A ship's chaplain in the 1740s wrote of sailors' gums that would grow out of control until they protruded from the mouth and rotted away, leaving a horrific case of bad breath, the BBC reports. So it turns out that not only was scurvy once incredibly dangerous, it was...

Study: Your Butt Doesn&#39;t Make You Attractive

 Study: Your Butt 
 Doesn't Make 
 You Attractive 
in case you missed it
Aug 15, 2015 11:31 AM CDT

Study: Your Butt Doesn't Make You Attractive

Or, at least, not your butt alone

(Newser) - Your shapely derriere alone isn't what makes you attractive, or so suggests a new study. "Most previous work on attractiveness focused on the effect of isolated features," explains Canada's Queen's University professor Nikolaus Troje. As he and two German researchers explain in a study published...

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