discoveries

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

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Papyrus Mentioning Jesus' Wife Not a Fake, But...

...that doesn't mean Jesus had a wife

(Newser) - To call it controversial is putting it mildly: Harvard professor Karen L. King in September 2012 debuted an ancient papyrus now known as the "Gospel of Jesus' Wife" at a conference in Rome. The papyrus makes an explicit reference to the woman's existence with the line, "Jesus...

Where Bee Stings Are the Most Painful
Where Bee Stings 
Are the Most Painful
study says
Apr 8, 2014 1:21 PM CDT

Where Bee Stings Are the Most Painful

Nostril, upper lip, and penis, study finds

(Newser) - Where would it hurt more to get stung by a bee: on a testicle or on a nostril? It was this burning question that led Michael Smith, a graduate student at Cornell University studying honeybees, to his latest research. After being stung on the testicle and realizing it didn't...

Coffee Not the Dehydrating Villain It's Made Out to Be

The BBC declares coffee's bad rap a myth

(Newser) - Humankind downs some 1.6 billion cups of coffee a day, making for some mean dehydration, right? That's the conventional wisdom, but it just might not be true, explains Claudia Hammond for the BBC . She digs into the existing research on caffeine—most dehydration-related studies zero in on that...

Villain That Nearly Killed All Life on Earth Is ... Tiny
Villain That Nearly Killed
All Life on Earth Is ... Tiny
in case you missed it
Apr 6, 2014 7:56 AM CDT

Villain That Nearly Killed All Life on Earth Is ... Tiny

Methane-producing microbe gets the blame 250M years ago

(Newser) - Name your favorite culprit for the mass extinction that wiped out nearly every life form on Earth 250 million years ago. A spectacular asteroid, perhaps? Massive volcanic eruptions? Both are popular theories, but a new study encourages sleuths of the Permian era to think much, much smaller, reports the Guardian...

President Harrison Didn&#39;t Die How We Thought
 President 
 Harrison 
 Didn't Die How 
 We Thought 
in case you missed it
Apr 5, 2014 7:00 PM CDT

President Harrison Didn't Die How We Thought

New diagnosis: It wasn't pneumonia from inauguration; it was illness from sewage

(Newser) - The history books tell us that William Henry Harrison died just a month after taking office in 1841 because he caught pneumonia while delivering a too-long inaugural address in lousy weather. Now, modern epidemiology is revising the diagnosis. In the New York Times , Jane McHugh and Philip Mackowiak write that...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Scientists think they've found the actual Holy Grail

(Newser) - A microbe that nearly made the Earth a dead zone and an intriguing ocean discovery on a moon of Saturn highlight the list:
  • Villain That Nearly Killed All Life on Earth Is ... Tiny : Name your favorite culprit for the mass extinction that wiped out nearly every life form on Earth
...

700-Year-Old Poop Found, Still Reeks

But hey, it's in 'excellent condition'

(Newser) - One of the biggest urban archaeological digs Denmark has ever seen has uncovered a lowly part of history. "We are talking about 700-year-old latrines. And yes, they still smell bad," an archaeologist explains. The team stumbled on what appears to be a 14th-century communal toilet area in the...

Saturn Moon Now 'Best Bet' for Finding Life

Probe finds new signs of underground Enceladus ocean

(Newser) - Saturn's sixth-largest moon holds an underground ocean with at least as much water as Lake Superior, according to exciting new data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft that makes some scientists believe Enceladus is now the place in our solar system where we're most likely to find extraterrestrial life....

Study: Shroud of Turin Reveals Crucifixion's Shape

And it's not a 'T'

(Newser) - Picture Christ on the cross, as you've seen him on countless statues: The figure is, more than likely, a T-shape one. If the Shroud of Turin truly was Jesus' burial cloth, the reality is something more closely resembling a Y, according to Matteo Borrini . The forensic anthropologist was curious...

Morning Light Could Be Key to Weight Loss

Light exposure kick-starts metabolism

(Newser) - Getting a good dose of early morning light on a regular basis appears to be a simple but remarkably effective way of maintaining a healthy weight, according to a groundbreaking new study. Researchers found that regardless of caloric intake, people who had more early light exposure were the most likely...

Moon Gets a New Birthday
 Moon Gets a New Birthday 
Apr 3, 2014 1:36 AM CDT

Moon Gets a New Birthday

Formation happened later than thought, study says

(Newser) - The cataclysmic event that formed the moon happened much later than previously believed, according to researchers who have shifted the satellite's "birthday" forward around 60 million years. New computer simulations and analysis of elements in the Earth's crust suggest that the moon formed 95 million years after...

Zebra Stripe Mystery Solved, Researchers Say

Stripes help deter biting flies, not lions

(Newser) - The centuries-old puzzle of why zebras have stripes has been solved, and they're not there to confuse lions or for decoration, researchers say. A new study backs up the theory that stripes evolved as a way to deter biting flies , Real Clear Science reports. Researchers gathered stripe pattern data...

Historians: We've Found the Holy Grail

3-year quest started in Cairo

(Newser) - Historians claim that a goblet long identified as belonging to the daughter of an 11th-century Spanish king has actually housed the Holy Grail—and has been sitting in a basilica in the northwestern city of León for nearly a thousand years. A three-year quest that began at a Cairo...

Men&#39;s IQ Easier to See Than Women&#39;s
 Men's IQ Easier to Spot
 Than Women's 
study says
Mar 31, 2014 7:40 PM CDT

Men's IQ Easier to Spot Than Women's

Study asks people to guess IQ by looking at faces

(Newser) - It's easier to guess men's intelligence than women's just by looking at their faces—maybe because we're so distracted by female beauty, according to a new study . Czech researchers gave IQ tests to 80 male and female students, took photos of them, and asked 160 students...

Black Death Wasn't Actually Bubonic Plague

Researchers think it spread in an airborne manner

(Newser) - A fascinating sidebar to the news that some of the skeletons dug up in London during excavation for a train line last year are indeed the remains of Black Death victims : The Observer zeroes in on a new theory as to how the disease spread, and according to researchers, we...

Utah Teen Finds Ancient Remains in Backyard

Bones turned out to be 1K years old

(Newser) - A Utah teen digging a trout pond in his backyard unearthed human remains that turned out to have been there for at least a thousand years. The teen's father called police after a skull and other bones were found and the case was turned over to archeologists after medical...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including an ancient turtle bone finally made whole again

(Newser) - Two major space discoveries highlight the list this week:
  • Far-Flung Dwarf Planet May Reveal Cosmic Secrets : An icy, pink dwarf planet discovered beyond Pluto in the nether regions of our solar system could help shed light on how our cosmos came to be. It also hints that a so-far unseen
...

Teen Discovers Font Change Could Save Feds $136M

Suvir Mirchandani finds Garamond is the way to go

(Newser) - A teen's science fair project could save the US government $136 million each year. Oh, and it could save you a few bucks, too. Suvir Mirchandani, 14, wanted to find a way to make his many school handouts more sustainable. It all boiled down to a single liquid: After...

Autism in Kids Jumps 30%
 Autism in Kids Jumps 30% 
Mar 27, 2014 2:00 PM CDT

Autism in Kids Jumps 30%

CDC report concludes that 1 in 68 has it

(Newser) - Autism Spectrum Disorder may be on the rise in the US, with 1 in 68 children now having the condition, according to CDC figures released today. That's a 30% increase from the 1 in 88 number recorded just two years ago, CNN reports. It also means that, according to...

Pothead Students Beat Out Kids Who Smoke Cigs
Pothead Students Beat Out Kids Who Smoke Cigs
study says
Mar 27, 2014 10:05 AM CDT

Pothead Students Beat Out Kids Who Smoke Cigs

But those who abstain from both do best of all, says study

(Newser) - A little more ammo for the pro-marijuana crowd: A major study out of Canada finds that students who smoke pot do better in school than those who smoke tobacco or indulge in both, reports CTV . But, no, it's not about marijuana making kids smarter. In fact, kids who abstain...

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