New Discoveries: Reports on the Latest Scientific Discoveries - Page 212

STUDY SAYS

Mar 27, 2014 6:33 AM CDT

Autism Starts in the Womb

Finding offers new hopes for treatment

(Newser) - Autism appears to start with changes in the brain months before birth, according to new research that highlights the need for early identification and treatment of the disorder. Researchers studying the brains of deceased autistic children found abnormal patches in the cortex that suggest something went wrong either during or...

Solar System First: An Asteroid With Rings

Solar System First:
Asteroid With Rings

Mar 27, 2014 3:09 AM CDT

Solar System First: Asteroid With Rings

'Centaur' has only rings seen outside gas giants

(Newser) - Only five bodies in the solar system are known to have rings: The gas giants Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, and Uranus—and Chariklo, a remote asteroid just 154 miles across. Astronomers say they were amazed to spot two rings made up of billion of bits of dust and ice circling the...

New Dwarf Planet 'Biden'
May Offer Cosmic Secrets

Mar 26, 2014 5:46 PM CDT

New Dwarf Planet 'Biden' May Offer Cosmic Secrets

Discovery at solar system's edge hints at more to come

(Newser) - Astronomers, and reporters who cover astronomy, are pretty excited today about the discovery of a suspected dwarf planet named 2012 VP-113—and thus nicknamed "Biden"—in the nether regions of the solar system beyond Pluto. Some snippets:

Nature : "The Solar System just got a lot more far-flung.

...

Second Half of Turtle Fossil Found 165 Years Later

Mar 25, 2014 6:17 PM CDT

Second Half of Turtle Fossil Found 165 Years Later

Paleontologist makes surprising find in New Jersey stream bed

(Newser) - An amateur paleontologist hunting for shark teeth in a New Jersey stream bed found something a lot more interesting: one half of an arm bone from an ancient, massive sea turtle, reports the LA Times . The astonishing part is that the other half of the bone has been sitting in...

Lost Story by
Tennessee
Williams
Published

Mar 25, 2014 2:12 PM CDT

Lost Story by Tennessee Williams Published

It's about an old college flame

(Newser) - Fans of Tennessee Williams have a new piece of fiction to savor, reports the BBC . A US literary journal called the Strand has published a long-lost short story from the author of A Streetcar Named Desire called Crazy Night. It features a student named Anna Jean, an apparent reference to...

Trouble Conceiving?
Stress Could Be to Blame

study says

Mar 24, 2014 1:19 PM CDT

Trouble Conceiving? Stress Could Be to Blame

New study finds link between stress, likelihood of getting pregnant

(Newser) - If you're trying to get pregnant, you may want to go out and get a nice, relaxing massage first: A new study finds that stressed women took longer to conceive. Specifically, subjects with the highest levels of alpha-amylase, an enzyme that indicates stress, were more than twice as likely...

Lack of Sleep
Can Fry 25%
of Brain Cells

Lack of Sleep Can Fry 25% of Brain Cells

Study of mice finds brain damage with prolonged sleep loss

(Newser) - A lack of shut-eye may not just leave you feeling groggy—it could seriously injure your brain. A new study of mice has found 25% of brain cells died off after prolonged sleep loss, meant to duplicate night shifts or long hours at the office—the first evidence of its...

Pests Evolve to Eat Corn
Designed to Kill Them

Pests Evolve to Eat Corn Designed to Kill Them

Corn rootworm is once again making a dent in farmers' crops

(Newser) - A hungry pest known as the western corn rootworm is gradually developing a resistance to genetically modified crops engineered to kill it, reports Nature . Entomologists say they're discovering more and more of the beetles that show no ill effects after chowing down on fields of Bt corn—so named...

How a Sea Snake That Can't Drink Seawater Survives

new study

Mar 22, 2014 8:22 AM CDT

How a Sea Snake That Can't Drink Seawater Survives

Study finds they can just go months without drinking anything

(Newser) - Just one species of sea snake lives in the open ocean, even giving birth there—yet it can't drink seawater. Scientists have been puzzled at just how the yellow-bellied sea snake survives, National Geographic explains. Now, they've learned that it simply doesn't have to drink for months...

New Anti-Obesity
Weapon: Tequila Plant?

New Anti-Obesity Weapon: Tequila Plant?

Agave sugar eyed as potential sweetener

(Newser) - The plant tequila is derived from could play a role in fighting obesity, and it doesn't involve getting people so drunk they forget to eat, researchers say. Natural sugars found in agave appear to protect mice against obesity and type 2 diabetes, Fox News reports. The sugars, known as...

Newly Created Drug Has
100 Times Morphine's Power

Mar 22, 2014 6:40 AM CDT

Newly Created Drug Has 100 Times Morphine's Power

It's still in experimental stage, and makes use of snail venom

(Newser) - Move over, morphine. Someday, we may be turning to carnivorous snails for our pain-killing needs, a study suggests. Australian researchers have found that a drug made using venom from ocean-dwelling cone snails may be 100 times as powerful as top painkillers morphine and gabapentin, which are currently used to ease...

5 Most
Incredible
Discoveries
of the Week

Mar 22, 2014 5:45 AM CDT

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including a fearsome dinosaur nicknamed the 'chicken from hell'

(Newser) - A revelation that the nose knows way more than we thought and a big find about the first trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang highlight the list:

Human Nose Can Detect a Trillion Odors : Prior to this week, the official scientific answer

...

Human Nose
Can Detect
1 Trillion
Odors

study says

Mar 20, 2014 4:10 PM CDT

Human Nose Can Detect 1 Trillion Odors

Some people can sniff far less, and others far more, say researchers

(Newser) - Prior to today, the official scientific answer to the question, "How many scents can the human nose detect?" was a measly 10,000. But now, thanks to a new study in Science , the answer is 1 trillion, give or take. Researchers had long assumed that the first number, based...

New Dinosaur Was
'Chicken From Hell'

Mar 20, 2014 7:33 AM CDT

New Dinosaur Was 'Chicken From Hell'

Tough, 10-foot beast roamed western US

(Newser) - Col. Sanders' nightmare come true? Researchers say a new species of dinosaur unearthed in the US was a bit like a chicken—a 10-foot tall, 550-pound chicken that could rip your head off. The dinosaur, which lived around 66 million years ago, has been nicknamed the "chicken from hell"...

Women Disproportionately Affected by Alzheimer's

study says

Mar 19, 2014 1:59 PM CDT

Women Disproportionately Affected by Alzheimer's

They're more likely to suffer from it and act as caregivers: study

(Newser) - A new study finds that women are more likely than men to be affected by Alzheimer's disease—both as patients and as caregivers. Three out of five people living with Alzheimer's are women, and women over age 65 have a one-in-six chance of getting the disease—compared to...

Earth Once
Slammed by
'Double Impact'

Mar 19, 2014 6:32 AM CDT

Earth Once Slammed by 'Double Impact'

Scientists: Asteroid, moon made impact at same time 458M years ago

(Newser) - Around 15% of near-Earth asteroids are binaries—an asteroid with an orbiting "moon" sometimes nearly as big as itself—but what happens when a binary slams into our planet? The answer, at least some of the time, is the creation of two huge craters, and Spanish researchers believe they...

Skeleton Yields
Oldest Known
Case of Cancer

Mar 18, 2014 2:46 AM CDT

Skeleton Yields Oldest Known Case of Cancer

Disease killed man 3.2K years ago

(Newser) - Scientists hope the skeleton of a very sick man from 3,200 years ago will give new clues to the evolution and causes of cancer. The remains found in an ancient Sudanese tomb bear traces of what is believed to be the oldest case of metastatic cancer ever found, reports...

Scientists Revive
1,500-Year-Old
Life Form

Mar 17, 2014 4:07 PM CDT

Scientists Revive 1,500-Year-Old Life Form

Moss dating back to Roman Empire easily returns to life

(Newser) - Have a craving for 1,500-year-old moss? Just dig some up from Antarctic permafrost, expose it to light and healthy temperatures, and presto, you've got moss, National Geographic reports. Scientists from Britain did just that, marking the first time a multicellular organism that old has regenerated so easily. In...

Scientists Make
Key Big Bang
Discovery

Mar 17, 2014 2:20 PM CDT

Scientists Make Key Big Bang Discovery

Researchers detect gravitational waves for the first time

(Newser) - A dizzying scientific achievement: Astronomers have gotten a look back at what one scientist calls "the beginning of time ... the universe at the very beginning." That is, they've detected gravitational waves that could be the first direct evidence that within a fraction of a trillionth of a...

Mercury Has Been Shrinking

Mar 17, 2014 4:23 AM CDT

Mercury Has Been Shrinking

Slow cooling has created stunning features

(Newser) - The solar system's smallest planet is getting even smaller, but there's not much danger of Mercury disappearing completely: The planet has shrunk as many as 8.6 miles in diameter over the last 4 billion years, according to new research , making its current diameter roughly 3,032 miles....

discoveries

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

Finding offers new hopes for treatment

'Centaur' has only rings seen outside gas giants

Discovery at solar system's edge hints at more to come

Paleontologist makes surprising find in New Jersey stream bed

It's about an old college flame

New study finds link between stress, likelihood of getting pregnant

Study of mice finds brain damage with prolonged sleep loss

Corn rootworm is once again making a dent in farmers' crops

Study finds they can just go months without drinking anything

Agave sugar eyed as potential sweetener

It's still in experimental stage, and makes use of snail venom

Including a fearsome dinosaur nicknamed the 'chicken from hell'

Some people can sniff far less, and others far more, say researchers

Tough, 10-foot beast roamed western US

They're more likely to suffer from it and act as caregivers: study

Scientists: Asteroid, moon made impact at same time 458M years ago

Disease killed man 3.2K years ago

Moss dating back to Roman Empire easily returns to life

Researchers detect gravitational waves for the first time

Slow cooling has created stunning features