discoveries

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

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Cavemen First Ate Snails 30K Years Ago
 Cavemen First 
 Ate Snails 
 30K Years Ago 
study says
Aug 24, 2014 6:40 AM CDT

Cavemen First Ate Snails 30K Years Ago

They even roasted them at site in modern-day Spain

(Newser) - The delicacy of escargot is by no means a modern one: It seems cavemen were munching on snails between 26,000 and 31,000 years ago. That's the age of an Iberian Peninsula site found by archaeologists and described in a new paper, Haaretz reports. Remains of Iberus alonensis...

&#39;Hallucigenia&#39; Fossil Mystery Cracked

 'Hallucigenia' Fossil 
 Mystery Cracked 
in case you missed it
Aug 23, 2014 4:00 PM CDT

'Hallucigenia' Fossil Mystery Cracked

Surreal Cambrian creature has modern relatives

(Newser) - After four decades of confusion, scientists have finally figured out how to classify a creature so surreal it was given the name Hallucigenia. The tiny creature, found in fossils from the "Cambrian Explosion" of diverse life 500 million years ago, has 14 to 16 legs and large spikes on...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including how spiders in the city outgrow their country cousins

(Newser) - A strange effect of the drought in the West and a reason to hang on to Junior's kindergarten doodles make the list:
  • Drought Lifts Western US—Literally : If you're in the western US, the ground you're standing on may be a little higher than it was a
...

Explorer Finds Lost 'Monster Mouth' City

Slovenian archaeologist finds Mayan city of Lagunita

(Newser) - Archaeologists have long known of a "lost" Mayan city boasting an incredible "earth monster" facade—and now someone has found it. Slovenian explorer Ivan Sprajc came out of the Yucatan jungle in Mexico with photos of the city, Lagunita, and a second, previously unknown city he's calling...

Why Planes Could Someday Get 'Human-Like' Skin

BAE is developing microsensors that act like skin to detect trouble

(Newser) - Good news for those who are terrified of flying. Aircraft may be a whole lot smarter soon, thanks to a human-like skin developed by BAE Systems in the UK. The smart skin is really a layer of microsensors capable of detecting, the way human skin can, things like external temperatures,...

Drought Lifts Western US —Literally

California mountains half an inch higher these days

(Newser) - If you're in the western US, the ground you're standing on may be a little higher than it was a few years ago. The drought that's been plaguing the West has resulted in an "uplift effect," scientists find. The "growing, broad-scale loss of water"...

TB&#39;s Arrival in New World: Blame Seals
 TB's Arrival 
 in New World: 
 Blame Seals 
STUDY SAYS
Aug 21, 2014 1:01 PM CDT

TB's Arrival in New World: Blame Seals

New study also suggests TB is only 6K years old

(Newser) - Tuberculosis may have reached the New World long before Christopher Columbus ever sailed the ocean blue, a new study suggests. Scientists have examined 1,000-year-old Peruvian bones mysteriously infected with TB—500 years before the arrival of Spaniards, who are historically blamed for bringing TB to the New World, Nature ...

Spiders Prefer City Living
 Spiders Prefer City Living 
study says
Aug 21, 2014 9:13 AM CDT

Spiders Prefer City Living

Study finds that those in urban areas tend to grow bigger, have more babies

(Newser) - Though they've got more feet to avoid, spiders in the city seem to thrive in comparison to their counterparts in the country, a new study in PloS One suggests. Researchers in Australia studied golden orb weaver spiders and found that they grew bigger and reproduced more in urban environments....

Neanderthals May Have Died Out 10K Years Earlier Than We Thought

Scientists used sophisticated radiocarbon dating to make the new estimation

(Newser) - Scholars have long wondered why Neanderthals disappeared—and exactly when. Recent estimates date their last days to 30,000 years ago, but a new take using sophisticated radiocarbon dating suggests their rapid decline actually happened between 40,000 and 45,000 years ago. Based on this timing, the findings also...

Kids' Drawings May Predict Future Intelligence

Study: Ability to draw at age 4 bodes well for thinking skills at age 14

(Newser) - Parents wondering whether their 4-year-olds will grow up to be on the honor roll might do well to pay attention to their drawings. Researchers at King's College London say a long-term study suggests a link between how well children draw at age 4 and their intelligence 10 years later,...

Shipwreck Yields 200-Year-Old Booze You Can Drink

Bottle may contain mix of gin and Selters mineral water

(Newser) - A 200-year-old bottle of alcohol found in a shipwreck at the bottom of the Baltic Sea is still suitable for drinking—if you can get past its stink. The stoneware bottle, emblazoned with the name of a mineral water named Selters, was found off the Polish coast in the Gulf...

Toothless 'Dragons' Roamed Our Skies

Pterosaurs were neither dinosaurs nor ancient birds but winged reptiles

(Newser) - A family of animals ruled the skies some 90 million years ago, but they weren't dinosaurs, and they weren't birds, and they didn't even have teeth. The winged reptiles of the late Cretaceous period belong to a family of pterosaurs called Azhdarchidae, and they appear to have...

Someday, You May Change Color of Your Clothes Octopus-Style

Scientists develop material that mimics cephalopods' tricky feat

(Newser) - Scientists have taken the first rudimentary step toward developing a material that can do what octopuses and squid have mastered: change color on a whim. Researchers at the University of Houston and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign "developed a flexible pixellated sheet that can detect light falling upon...

Why Birds Are Igniting in Midair Over California

Cleaner energy sometimes comes at a cost

(Newser) - A cutting-edge solar technology in California's Mojave Desert may have a bit too much cut. Wildlife officials say they've counted one bird being scorched to death every two minutes by intensely focused rays of light at the BrightSource Energy plant, considered the largest solar thermal power plant of...

How Smartphones Could Someday Correct Your Vision

MIT researchers develop 'vision correcting display'

(Newser) - If you're blind as a bat with Coke-bottle glasses, there may be hope for you—new research out of MIT could make it easier to read your tablet, smartphone, or eReader, LiveScience reports. Scientists there have developed a transparent "vision-correcting display" that goes on the screen of an...

Flying Reptile Had Head Like a Butterfly

Researchers find odd-looking new species in Brazil

(Newser) - A flying reptile with a head shaped like a butterfly isn't the next Godzilla nemesis. Scientists in southern Brazil have discovered fossils from a species they say was related to pterodactyls and estimated to have lived about 80 million years ago, reports LiveScience . At least 47 individual dinos were...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including a novel way to speed up a woman's biological clock

(Newser) - Other-worldy dust mites and an insight in tiny human brains were among the week's intriguing discoveries:
  • Tiny Find: Stardust From Beyond our Solar System? Earth may be host to some far-from-home specks. Seven tiny grains of rock sent back to Earth by a NASA spacecraft are believed to be
...

Tiny Find: Stardust From Beyond Solar System?

Citizen scientists help discover what could be interstellar space dust

(Newser) - Earth may be host to some far-from-home specks. A NASA spacecraft that sent space samples back to our planet in 2006 captured an astounding find that's just coming to light: seven specks of stardust believed to be the first from outside our solar system. Finding the teeny fragments, captured...

How to Change a Woman&#39;s Biological Clock
 How to Change 
 a Woman's 
 Biological Clock 
study says
Aug 14, 2014 8:52 AM CDT

How to Change a Woman's Biological Clock

An actual ticking clock can speed things up: study

(Newser) - Ladies, you know your biological clock—the one that "ticks" away as you start feeling like it might be time to reproduce? Well, it turns out the sound of an actual ticking clock can speed up your reproductive timing, making you want to have babies earlier, according to a...

How Bee Venom Might Fight Cancer

Researchers use synthetic form to safely attack tumors

(Newser) - Locked within the honeybee’s painful sting is a toxin that could fight cancer, CNN reports. Though in its early stages, research shows that venom from bees, snakes, and scorpions can stop the growth of cancer cells. University of Illinois scientist Dipanjan Pan has taken the research one step further...

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