discoveries

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Scientists Decide There Are 4 Kinds of Drunks

Are you an Ernest Hemingway drunk or a Mary Poppins drunk?

(Newser) - If you can "drink hells any amount of whiskey without getting drunk," you're an Ernest Hemingway drunk—and you're in good company. That's the finding of University of Missouri researchers who broke down the types of drunks into four distinct categories in a study published...

Study: 99% of Obese Will Still Be Obese Next Year

Less than 1% of obese men, women return to normal weight annually

(Newser) - A new study offers some rather depressing news for those of you who are obese: You’re probably going to stay that way. Researchers at King's College London monitored the weight of 278,982 Brits, including 176,000 who were obese, from 2004 to 2014. Excluding those who had...

Marijuana Helps Heal Broken Bones
 Marijuana Helps 
 Heal Broken Bones 
NEW STUDY
Jul 17, 2015 7:17 AM CDT

Marijuana Helps Heal Broken Bones

New treatment helped bones grow back stronger, researchers say

(Newser) - There's a new and very promising use for marijuana, or at least a compound found in it. Researchers discovered that cannabidiol (CBD) worked wonders for rats with broken limbs. When rats with mid-femoral fractures were given CBD, the healing process was "markedly enhanced" within just eight weeks, according...

Scientists Discover What Makes Screams So Scary

They alert fear center of brain, and some are worse than others

(Newser) - What makes a scream a scream? New York University researchers tasked themselves with listening to people scream to find out and have published their findings in Current Biology . NYU psychology and neural science professor David Poeppel and his colleagues collected screams from YouTube, films, and 19 volunteers who screeched in...

Study: Not All Humans Kiss in a Romantic Way

Of 168 cultures studied, 54% didn't partake

(Newser) - Not only is romantic-kissing not a universal behavior, per a new study published in American Anthropologist , some 54% of the cultures the researchers analyzed didn't share such kisses. Art, literature, and the media present such kisses as widespread; some evolutionary scientists have framed them as a behavior that has...

Surprise Find in Antarctica: Oldest Animal Sperm

It dates back 50M years, from a worm

(Newser) - They were looking for mammal bones, but scientists exploring an island in the Antarctic instead stumbled across an unexpected milestone—the world's oldest animal sperm. They found it inside a fossilized cocoon made by some type of worm (possibly a crayfish worm) 50 million years ago, reports Nature . It...

Your Phone Can Actually Tell If You're Depressed

Small study finds usage, geographical patterns are revealing

(Newser) - If you lose your smartphone and it happens to fall into the hands of Northwestern University scientists, they'd likely be able to figure out how depressed you are. Those researchers are reporting on the results of a small study in which they used smartphone "sensor data" to discern...

Chimps Are More Advanced Than Us in One Specific Way

Their hands have evolved more dramatically than humans'

(Newser) - Consider yourself more advanced than a chimpanzee? When it comes to your hands, at least, you might be wrong. American and Spanish researchers who studied the hands of chimps, orangutans, humans, as well as those of human ancestors and ancient apes, say a chimp’s hands have evolved significantly since...

95% of Women Don't Regret Their Abortions

And there was no real difference between those who got early or late abortions

(Newser) - To further attempts to impose longer waiting periods and more stringent restrictions , abortion opponents have long used the argument that women suffer negative mental health after undergoing the procedure. That theory may have just been quashed by a new study that indicates 95% of women who've had an abortion...

Standing at Work Could Be Bad for You, Too

Study looks at long-term muscle fatigue

(Newser) - Study after study has told us how bad it is to spend our workdays sitting. New research indicates standing may be problematic, too. A press release on the study, published in Human Factors last month, notes that almost half the planet's workers have jobs that require them to...

In Search of Lobsters, Scientists Find Volcanoes

New research boat spots 4 calderas off Australia's east coast

(Newser) - Researchers on the last night of a voyage to find lobster larvae instead uncovered four extinct, undiscovered volcanoes some 155 miles off Australia's east coast. "My jaw just dropped," voyage leader Iain Suthers tells the Guardian . Though he says researchers believed the ocean floor in the area...

Pot Smokers Hit a Surprising Change at 21
 Pot Smokers 
 Hit a Surprising 
 Change at 21 
in case you missed it
Jul 12, 2015 7:00 PM CDT

Pot Smokers Hit a Surprising Change at 21

Study: Lowering drinking age may limit marijuana use

(Newser) - Worried your kid can't kick his pot-smoking habit? Wait until he hits 21. According to a new study, people drastically boost their alcohol consumption at that age—big surprise there—and cut their pot use at the same time. University of Illinois researchers analyzed five years of data from...

Study: Vampires Are Real, and They Have a Big Fear

 Study: Vampires 
 Are Real, and 
 They Have a 
 Big Fear 
in case you missed it
Jul 12, 2015 12:09 PM CDT

Study: Vampires Are Real, and They Have a Big Fear

They drink blood, but live in fear of ... the doctor

(Newser) - This surely ranks among the more unexpected studies: Vampires are real, and they have a fear—"of Coming out of the Coffin to Social Workers and Helping Professionals," as the study's title reads in part. The study, published in the journal Critical Social Work , isn't talking...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Headbanger happiness?

(Newser) - The back story to women's longevity and the consequences of mixing alcohol and weed make the list:
  • Why Women Live Longer Than Men : Death rates for men and women were similar before 1840, but women began outliving men after that as diet and health care improved. Why? Scientists say
...

2 Antidepressants Linked to Birth Defects
2 Antidepressants Linked
to Birth Defects 
STUDY SAYS
Jul 10, 2015 4:20 PM CDT

2 Antidepressants Linked to Birth Defects

Paxil and Prozac implicated; newer SSRIs like Zoloft, Celexa cleared

(Newser) - A CDC study of almost 28,000 women has shown links between use of the antidepressants Paxil and Prozac and birth defects, Reuters reports. The study, published in the British Medical Journal , sought to answer long-debated questions about the effect of taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, during pregnancy,...

School Gives Homeless Piano Player Full Scholarship

Donald Gould getting chance to finish his degree

(Newser) - A viral video of a homeless man artfully playing a piano in Sarasota didn't just make 51-year-old Donald Gould an Internet star. It's giving him a real shot at turning his life around. Michigan's Spring Arbor University, where Gould studied music years ago but left before getting...

Study: '80s Metalheads Turned Out Pretty Great

They're satisfied with life, have fewer regrets

(Newser) - Heavy metal was the No. 1-selling music genre in 1989, and parents feared the worst: that Satan worship, drug use, loads of sex, and suicide went along with it, write researchers in the journal Self and Identity . Records were burned, "Parental Advisory" warning labels were born, and some '...

Rare Lobster Caught Off Coast of Maine

'Split-colored' variety is one in 50 million oddity

(Newser) - A rare orange-brown split-colored lobster has turned up off the coast of Maine. And by rare we mean it's a one-in-50-million creature, according to the Lobster Institute. The Press Herald reports that the unusual lobster arrived last week at Pine Point Fisherman's Co-Op in Scarborough, courtesy of an...

Your Medication Could Be Making You More Selfish
Your Medication Could Be Making You More Selfish
NEW STUDY
Jul 8, 2015 7:40 AM CDT

Your Medication Could Be Making You More Selfish

Two common drugs alter a person's moral compass: study

(Newser) - Medications do more than treat an illness: Certain ones may also make you more considerate or selfish. A new study finds two common medications, an antidepressant and a treatment for Parkinson's disease, actually alter your moral compass, reports Medical Daily . Researchers assigned 89 healthy people a dose of the...

Physicist Unearths Key Detail About Iconic WWII Photo

His finding debunks several people's claims to be the ones kissing

(Newser) - The party started early on VJ Day. Though the official announcement that World War II ended wasn't made until closer to 7pm on Aug. 14, 1945, a scientific assessment of the famous photo of the couple kissing in celebration, called "VJ Day in Times Square" and widely known...

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