discoveries

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

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5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including a shipwreck search that yields a surprise

(Newser) - Insights about prehistoric creatures make the list, along with a not-so-great discovery about one of today's common animals:
  • Biggest-Ever Flying Bird Is Unearthed : New research reveals that the biggest flying bird ever discovered had a wingspan bigger than that of some small planes. The bird, named Pelagornis sandersi, lived
...

Gene Tweak Made Roosters Fat—and Infertile

Leading to a shortage of chickens, and higher prices

(Newser) - The breed of rooster that sires around a quarter of America's chickens hasn't been getting the job done and a genetic tweak is to blame. Aviagen Group, the world's largest chicken breeder, made a change to the standard Ross male that has caused fertility issues, causing a...

Herds of Dinos Thrived in ... Alaska?
 Herds of Dinos 
 Thrived in ... Alaska? 
NEW RESEARCH
Jul 9, 2014 12:35 PM CDT

Herds of Dinos Thrived in ... Alaska?

Thousands of 'world-class' hadrosaur prints discovered in Denali

(Newser) - Forget seeing Russia from Alaska: Scientists have found a trove of tracks left behind by dinosaurs that once roamed our northernmost state—and some of them are pretty big. A paleontology team discovered a "world-class" trail in the northeast corner of Denali National Park that was littered with thousands...

Explorers Looking for Shipwreck Find Plane

Crew parachuted off plane, hoped plane would crash in remote area

(Newser) - A trio of explorers on the hunt for sunken ships managed to solve a six-decade-old mystery—involving a plane. The group uncovered a US Air Force C-45 plane that crashed in the east end of Lake Ontario on its way to Griffiss Air Force Base near Rome, New York, on...

Odd Ditches Made Before Amazon Rainforest Grew
Odd Ditches Made Before Amazon Rainforest Grew
new study
Jul 8, 2014 5:31 PM CDT

Odd Ditches Made Before Amazon Rainforest Grew

Study: Before it was jungle, it was savannah

(Newser) - Some 3,000 years ago, the Bolivian Amazon didn’t look like a jungle at all—it was more like an African savannah. A new study reveals how the ancient landscape took shape, and sheds new light on the mysterious ditches the early Amazonians built there for purposes unknown. The...

Study: Blood Proteins Signal Alzheimer's Is Coming

UK researchers ID 10 proteins that can predict disease onset

(Newser) - Alzheimer's may be well on its way to being a detectable disease by way of a blood test. The BBC reports on the "major step forward": Researchers at King's College London studied differences in the blood of 1,148 people—476 with Alzheimer's, 220 with mild...

Study: Your Skin 'Smells' Odors

And at least one such odor appears to help it heal

(Newser) - It's already known that the nose is not the only part of the human body with olfactory receptors; scientists have found them in the heart, blood, and lungs, and some have suggested they could exist throughout our bodies, reports Discovery News . Now a team of scientists in Germany has...

Biggest-Ever Flying Bird Unearthed at Airport

Pelagornis had wingspan up to 24 feet

(Newser) - The biggest flying bird ever discovered had a wingspan bigger than that of some small planes—and appropriately enough, its fossil was found at an airport. The bird, named Pelagornis sandersi, lived around 25 million years ago and had a wingspan of up to 24 feet across, around twice that...

In Iraq, Clues to Long-Lost Temple Emerge

Doctoral student works amid threat of ISIS attack in Kurdistan

(Newser) - An archaeologist is closing in on the location of an ancient temple so venerated that when it was sacked in 714 BC, its king tore off his crown, "pulled out his hair, pounded his chest with both hands"—then killed himself, according to an early account. The long-lost...

Oldest Known Erotic 'Graffiti' Found in Greece

Phalluses, sexual boasting dating back to 5th century BC leave little to the imagination

(Newser) - Think phallic graffiti art exclusively belongs to the baseless present? Think again. An archaeologist has uncovered what the Guardian touts as the earliest erotic graffiti on the planet, found in Greece—and predating, in one case, even Athens' Acropolis . Since 2011 , Dr. Andreas Vlachopoulos has been directing fieldwork on the...

Amateur Sleuths: We Found Old War Fort

US soldiers used Fort Harrell in the second Seminole War

(Newser) - Three amateur explorers have uncovered what they say are the remains of an old US Army fort in South Florida—a find harking back to the time of Andrew Jackson and the removal of Native Americans to lands beyond the Mississippi River. Shawn Beightol, a Miami-Dade school teacher, says a...

Gene Tinkering Doubles Lifespan ... of Flowers
Scientists Slow Aging
in Flowers
Jul 5, 2014 7:24 AM CDT

Scientists Slow Aging in Flowers

It could mean longer-lasting bouquets eventually

(Newser) - Japanese scientists seem to have figured out a way to slow down the aging process dramatically, albeit only in flowers. They zeroed in on a gene in a variety of morning glory, shut it off, and, voila, the flower's blooms suddenly had twice the normal lifespan, reports AFP via...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including a surprising find about ... head-banging

(Newser) - Two intriguing aviation-related discoveries this week: A potential clue in the mystery of what happened to Amelia Earhart, and the end of another mystery—involving what Norwegians thought were UFOs.
  • Plane Photo May Offer Big Earhart Clue : Could a long-forgotten photo snapped on a runway in Miami in 1937 before
...

1950s Norwegian UFO Mystery Solved
1950s Norwegian UFO Mystery Solved
Jul 3, 2014 4:54 PM CDT

1950s Norwegian UFO Mystery Solved

They were CIA test flights

(Newser) - Plenty of Norwegians thought aliens had taken a fancy to their country back in the 1950s thanks to a slew of inexplicable UFO sightings. Inexplicable no more: It was the CIA, reports the BBC . Actually, it was the CIA itself that fessed up in this tweet , which reads in part,...

Plane Photo May Offer Big Clue in Earhart Flight

Expert thinks he's spotted a repair on fuselage that provides link to crash-landing

(Newser) - Attention, Amelia Earhart buffs. The Miami Herald has an intriguing report about how a long-forgotten photo snapped before takeoff could prove that she crash-landed on a Pacific island. The photo, taken on a runway in Miami in 1937, shows a shiny rectangular patch on the side of the plane that...

How Giraffes' Skinny Legs Support All That Weight

Researchers discover a special ligament

(Newser) - With giraffes tipping the scales at 2,000 pounds or more, how on earth do those skinny legs support all that weight? Researchers think they've discovered the trick, and it involves an uber-supportive ligament tucked inside a groove in the animal's lower leg bones, reports Phys.org . Other...

Ancient Meteorite Unlocks Space Puzzle

'Mysterious object' found in Swedish limestone quarry

(Newser) - Almost 500 million years ago in the Ordovician Period, two large bodies in the asteroid belt collided. Two asteroids, or an asteroid and a comet, blew apart and their debris and dust fell to Earth. One of these large bodies was the source of all the L-chondrite meteorites that have...

Triceratops Horns Were 1M Years in Making

Large nasal horn they are so famous for wasn't always so big

(Newser) - The rhino-like Triceratops, Greek for "three-horned face," didn't always embody its name in way we picture it doing. By comparing 50 skulls collected over a 15-year period from the Hell Creek Formation in Montana, paleontologists have learned that it took between 1 million and 2 million years...

Scientists Discover Ancient Baby Boom

Study: Native American birth-rate growth, fall is a 'warning about overpopulation'

(Newser) - A baby boom among Native Americans that started some 1,500 years ago was so massive that birth rates likely surpassed the highest found anywhere in the world today, according to researchers scouring data tied to thousands of human remains found at hundreds of sites across the region where Arizona,...

Study Paints Bleak Picture for Emperor Penguins

 Emperor Penguins 
 Marching Toward Peril 
study says
Jun 30, 2014 6:58 AM CDT

Emperor Penguins Marching Toward Peril

Study: Climate change to cause steep population declines by 2100

(Newser) - The iconic Emperor penguin is now marching toward its own demise thanks to climate change, according to the first study to assess the creature's long-term chances. An international team of scientists studying Antarctica's Emperor penguin population is calling for the birds to be reclassified as "endangered" after...

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