discoveries

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

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Stonehenge Find 'Blows Lid Off' Old Thinking

Area was 'the London of the Mesolithic,' says archaeologist

(Newser) - The ancient monument of Stonehenge dates back to between 2500 BC and 3000 BC—but when it was built, people had already been living in the area for millennia, researchers found after a dig. Artifacts from what is now Amesbury, the nearest settlement to Stonehenge, dated to 8820 BC. It'...

Introducing &#39;Pinocchio Rex&#39;
 Introducing 'Pinocchio Rex' 
May 7, 2014 1:17 PM CDT

Introducing 'Pinocchio Rex'

T. Rex had a long-snouted relative

(Newser) - T. Rex had a long-nosed cousin that has been christened, of course, with the nickname "Pinocchio Rex," reports the National Geographic . Pinocchio Rex probably lived alongside T. Rex some 66 million years ago, but it was smaller (29 feet long vs. 42 feet long) and faster. As for...

Soy Sauce Molecule Could Treat HIV—Better

Soy sauce company's 2001 discovery holds

(Newser) - Picture the soy sauce bottle on most sushi restaurant tables, yep, the one with the red or green top. Those omnipresent bottles are the product of the Yamasa Corporation, which started manufacturing the soy sauce in 1645. But the most fascinating part of the Japan company's history is a...

How Cotton Balls Helped Save Darwin's Finches

The birds used the treated cotton balls in their nests

(Newser) - Serious problem, simple fix. Researchers on the Galapagos Islands have helped Darwin's finches protect their nests from a dangerous new parasite, reports Scientific American . The simple fix: Scientists left cotton balls laced with a mild pesticide for the birds to take, and the finches happily wove them into their...

Coffee May Help Eyesight
 Coffee May Help Eyesight 
study says
May 6, 2014 5:34 PM CDT

Coffee May Help Eyesight

Study: Antioxidant keeps retinas healthy

(Newser) - Add this to the good-for-you , bad-for-you debate over coffee: A new study out of Cornell suggests that it might help keep your eyes healthy, reports Syracuse.com . Specifically, an antioxidant in coffee called chlorogenic acid, or CLA, staves off retinal degeneration in mice, reports Nature World News . In humans, that...

Archaeologist: Here's King David's Citadel

Reports fuel Israel-Palestine controversy

(Newser) - An Israeli archaeologist says he's discovered a citadel once captured by the Biblical King David, fueling controversy over his methods and the Israel-Palestine divide. "The whole site we can compare to the Bible perfectly," Eli Shukron says of the find, which emerged in a dig that started...

Mystery in Centuries-Old Copy of Odyssey Solved

Italian computer engineer claims $1K prize

(Newser) - An Italian computer engineer has produced fresh insight into Homer's The Odyssey—or, more specifically, one long-intriguing copy of it. In 2007, the University of Chicago Library was given a copy of the book dating to 1504. But alongside about 20 of the pages making up Book 11 were...

To Sound Smarter, Use Your Middle Initial


 To Sound Smarter, 
 Use Your Middle Initial 
study says
May 4, 2014 8:13 AM CDT

To Sound Smarter, Use Your Middle Initial

And if you want people to trust your kid, give him an easy-to-pronounce name: studies

(Newser) - Want to be seen as an intellectual? Here's an easy first step: Start using your middle initial in writing. Doing so, a study finds, boosts "positive evaluations of people's intellectual capacities and achievements." The study—run by researchers Wijnand A.P. van Tilburg and Eric R....

Stress Can Spread Between Strangers




 Stress Can Spread 
 Between Strangers 
study says
May 4, 2014 6:14 AM CDT

Stress Can Spread Between Strangers

Even through a TV screen: study

(Newser) - Stress, it seems, is contagious—even when we don't know the anxious person we're witnessing. So suggests a new study, which paired observers and stressed-out people of the opposite sex. Stress was induced via math problems and interviews. Some of the observers knew and loved their partners in...

An Albino Snake Is Plaguing the Canary Islands
An Albino Snake Is
Plaguing the Canary Islands
in case you missed it
May 3, 2014 7:00 PM CDT

An Albino Snake Is Plaguing the Canary Islands

There are as many as thousands per square mile ... underground

(Newser) - Pet snakes have led to big problems in the Canary Islands, quite literally: Biologists say an albino variety of California kingsnake, bred in captivity in San Diego, is now obliterating native animal populations after some of the snakes came to the islands as pets and escaped. The snakes are 30%...

Jesus' 'Wife' Papyrus Faces Growing Doubt

Alleged former owner had no interest in antiquities: insiders

(Newser) - A papyrus suggesting Jesus had a wife has sparked continuing controversy since it was announced in 2012 in the Harvard Theological Review. Now, Live Science explains that the evidence against the authenticity of the "Gospel of Jesus' Wife" is mounting. Among the site's findings and observations:
  • The supposed
...

Rare, Freakish Shark Caught in Gulf

Fishermen accidentally haul in a goblin shark

(Newser) - Shrimpers in the Gulf of Mexico found a decidedly unshrimp-like creature in their haul last month: a rare and strange-looking goblin shark, reports the Houston Chronicle . While a bit more common in deep waters off Japan, this is only the second one ever spotted in the Gulf, notes the National...

Cold-War Photos Give Up New Secrets: Lost Cities
Cold-War Photos Give Up
New Secrets: Lost Cities
in case you missed it
May 3, 2014 7:28 AM CDT

Cold-War Photos Give Up New Secrets: Lost Cities

Spy satellites captured ruins throughout the Middle East in the '60s

(Newser) - The Middle East is home to 4,500 archaeological sites, or so we thought. An in-depth review of Cold War-era photos taken by spy satellites has pulled back the veil on as many as 10,000 more lost cities, roads, and other ruins in the region. As Gizmodo reports, CORONA...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including a planet with an 8-hour day

(Newser) - Two stories this week suggest that our forebears were big on ingenuity even if they were short on modern inventions:
  • Discovered: Secret of Pyramids' Construction : When you picture Egypt's pyramids rising over the country's sands, your vision likely doesn't include water. It should, according to a new
...

STD Makes Crickets Mate Like Crazy

Highly contagious iridovirus also causes infertility, death

(Newser) - A newly discovered virus boosts the libido, encouraging those infected—that would be crickets, not humans—to have sex more often and with more partners. The highly contagious iridovirus transmits itself via close contact while mating, but not via insemination; it apparently passes from one's antennae to another's...

Tsunami Wiped Out Ancient 'Paradise' in North Sea

Huge wave eliminated last settlers on 'Doggerland,' says new research

(Newser) - So where did the inhabitants of an ancient "paradise" in the North Sea known as Doggerland go? Under the waves of a giant tsunami about 8,000 years ago, according to a new study. UK researchers say an enormous landslide off the coast of Norway triggered a 16-foot tsunami...

New Smallpox-Like Virus Discovered

Two herdsmen in country of Georgia infected, says CDC

(Newser) - The virus is so newly discovered that it hasn't yet been named, and what's known about it is scant. But the CDC today revealed that the virus, which has saddled two herdsmen in the country of Georgia with blisters on their arms and hands, is what NPR calls...

Modern Humans No Brainier Than Neanderthals
Modern Humans No
Brainier Than Neanderthals
new study
May 1, 2014 10:40 AM CDT

Modern Humans No Brainier Than Neanderthals

Study: Archaeology doesn't support idea of Neanderthals as dimwitted

(Newser) - It's a well-ingrained stereotype: That Neanderthals grunted their way through life as less than brilliant "club-wielding brutes." A new study published in Plos One says that just isn't so. Scientists have long theorized that early modern humans had a cognitive advantage (which translated, they posited, into...

Thanks, Humanity: Ocean Floor Is a Garbage Dump

Study of 32 ocean sites finds not one free of human litter

(Newser) - In the depths of European oceans, you'll find coral, sand—and old Heineken cans. Yup, human litter can be found even in the most far-reaching places on the planet, according to one of the biggest scientific surveys ever done of the seafloor. Using video and trawling surveys between 1999...

Discovered: Secret of Pyramids' Construction

In a word, water

(Newser) - When you picture Egypt's pyramids rising over the country's sands, your vision likely doesn't include water. It should, according to a new study published online Tuesday. University of Amsterdam researchers found that ancient Egyptians employed what Phys.org calls a "clever trick" to facilitate the pyramids'...

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