discoveries

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

Stories 661 - 680 | << Prev   Next >>

Researchers Document First Virgin Births by Condors
Genetic Testing
Confirms Condors'
Virgin Births
new study
Oct 29, 2021 4:35 PM CDT

Genetic Testing Confirms Condors' Virgin Births

Parthenogenesis has been documented in other species, but not this one

(Newser) - Endangered California condors can have "virgin births," according to a new study. Researchers with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance said genetic testing confirmed that two male chicks hatched in 2001 and 2009 from unfertilized eggs were related to their mothers. Neither was related to a male. The...

For 54 Hours, a Pig's Kidney Worked Normally in a Human

It's a major breakthrough, says the surgeon who performed the transplant

(Newser) - More than 100,000 Americans are on an organ transplant list, and roughly 9 out of every 10 of them are waiting for a kidney—which makes this "breakthrough" such a huge one. Surgeons at NYU Langone Health say they successfully managed to transplant a kidney that was grown...

Off the Coast of Israel, a Rare Archaeological Find

900-year old sword that likely belonged to knight from the Crusades discovered by diver

(Newser) - Imagine arriving in the Holy Land nearly 1,000 years ago, fired up to yank back the territory from Islamic rule in the name of the pope, and then ... dropping your sword in the sea. That seems to have been the embarrassing scenario for one knight, whose long-lost sword has...

8 Weeks Into Study, Cancer Patient Recounts 'Amazing' Call

2-drug immunotherapy appears to have wiped out his throat cancer

(Newser) - A new study in the UK suggests that some cancer patients get better results with a drug combination that allows them to avoid aggressive chemotherapy. The phase 3 trial involved about 1,000 patients with advanced head and neck cancer, according to a post by the Institute of Cancer Research...

Who Was Buried With Racy Cup? 'Thorny Question' Is Answered

Remains of 3 adults and some animals were found in Italian tomb

(Newser) - An ancient cremation burial site in Italy was only thought to contain the remains of one person. Now scientists say they've found a different answer to a most "thorny question": "Who/what was buried with Nestor's Cup?" Researchers say the clay receptacle by that name—dug out...

Survey Confirms Pretty Much Everybody Farts
Survey Confirms
That People
Are Gassy
new research
Oct 4, 2021 1:01 PM CDT

Survey Confirms That People Are Gassy

81% of respondents said they experienced flatulence in the previous 24 hours

(Newser) - If you regularly find yourself gassy, you're in good company, or so indicates a new survey. Using an online health survey, scientists from the Rome Foundation Research Institute in the US and France's Danone Nutricia Research polled nearly 6,000 adults in the US, UK, and Mexico about...

Eggshells Reveal Surprise About Highly Dangerous Bird

Cassowaries appear to have been raised by people thousands of years ago

(Newser) - Thousands of years before chickens were domesticated, scientists say humans may have tried to domesticate another bird—one that's particularly deadly . The cassowary is regularly called the "world's most dangerous bird" thanks to its dagger-like claws that can grow up to 5 inches long (as the researchers...

These Footprints May Be an Archaeological &#39;Holy Grail&#39;
These New Mexico
Footprints May
Be a 'Bombshell'
in case you missed it
Sep 26, 2021 1:00 PM CDT

These New Mexico Footprints May Be a 'Bombshell'

Researchers say the tracks were made 23K years ago

(Newser) - The footprints look ordinary enough, those of young kids and teenagers walking near what was once a lake. But a new study in Science adds a remarkable twist—scientists say the prints were made about 23,000 years ago in what is now White Sands National Park in New Mexico....

Headstone Missing 150 Years Was Used to Make Fudge
Headstone Missing 150 Years
Was Used to Make Fudge
in case you missed it
Sep 26, 2021 5:30 AM CDT

Headstone Missing 150 Years Was Used to Make Fudge

Gravestone of Peter J. Weller, initially listed in auction, is now restored in Lansing, Mich.

(Newser) - A 5-foot-tall headstone missing for 146 years has been restored to its rightful place in a Michigan cemetery after it was discovered in the home of a family who used it to make fudge. The gravestone of Peter J. Weller was lost in 1875, 26 years after his 1849 death,...

Journo&#39;s Attic Find: Letters to Him From the Unabomber
Journo Cleaning Attic Makes a
Stunning Find: 'It Can't Be Him'
in case you missed it
Sep 25, 2021 7:00 AM CDT

Journo Cleaning Attic Makes a Stunning Find: 'It Can't Be Him'

Jack Epstein found letters from Ted 'Unabomber' Kaczynski: 'Thankful I hadn’t been rude to him'

(Newser) - Most people might expect to find old tchotchkes, photos, and letters when cleaning out the attic, but two letters found by Jack Epstein this summer while cleaning out his own attic weren't yellowed love notes or ancient report cards—they were letters to him from Ted Kaczynski, aka the...

Cavers Say They Made It to Bottom of the 'Well of Hell'

They found snakes in Yemen sinkhole, but no sign of a gateway to the underworld

(Newser) - For untold centuries, the Well of Barhout in eastern Yemen, also known as the Well of Hell, has been feared by locals who believe it is a gateway to the underworld or a prison for genies. A team of Omani cavers, however, say they descended to the bottom and found...

Schoolkids Discover New Species of Penguin
Children's
Field Trip
Yields New
Penguin Species
new study
Sep 17, 2021 9:20 AM CDT

Children's Field Trip Yields New Penguin Species

Kairuku waewaeroa lived eons ago in New Zealand

(Newser) - The Hamilton Junior Naturalist Club lived up to its name—its school-aged members are credited with discovering a new species of giant penguin. The discovery of the fossil actually occurred back in 2006 in New Zealand, but researchers didn't identify the new species until this week in the Journal ...

New CDC Research Bolsters Support for COVID Vaccines
Unvaccinated
Far More Likely
to Die of COVID
NEW studies
Sep 10, 2021 2:33 PM CDT

Unvaccinated Far More Likely to Die of COVID

Moderna 'moderately' more effective at preventing hospitalization, but all 3 get thumbs-up overall

(Newser) - President Biden is getting pushback , mostly from GOP circles, on the sweeping vaccine mandates his administration put into place this week, but new CDC research may help nudge the vaccine-hesitant into getting their shots without any further directive. Per the Washington Post , the three new studies published Friday "highlight...

Michelangelo Was Shorter Than You Think
Michelangelo Was
Shorter Than You Think
new study
Sep 9, 2021 6:20 PM CDT

Michelangelo Was Shorter Than You Think

New study puts him at 5-2, max

(Newser) - The evidence is circumstantial, but researchers say it's strong enough to show that Michelangelo was a pretty short guy. Specifically, he stood 5-foot-2, max, according to a new study by Italian researchers in Anthropologie . And how did researchers determine this? By examining three shoes—a pair of a leather...

A Warning for Cannabis Users Under 45
A Warning for
Cannabis Users
Under 45
NEW STUDY
Sep 7, 2021 10:25 AM CDT

A Warning for Cannabis Users Under 45

They're almost twice as likely as nonusers to suffer a heart attack, study finds

(Newser) - Heart attacks are significantly more prevalent in US adults under 45 who use cannabis than those who don't, according to researchers, who dispute the idea that cannabis is safe. Their study, published Tuesday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal , looks at the health data of more than 33,000...

Female Octopuses Will Throw Stuff at Bothersome Males
Most Animals Don't Throw.
Female Octopuses Do
new study
Sep 1, 2021 11:56 AM CDT

Most Animals Don't Throw. Female Octopuses Do

Behavior was spotted among octopuses off Australia

(Newser) - When female octopuses are trying to keep males at bay, they throw stuff. Sometimes. So found a study that has yet to be peer-reviewed. Researchers from the US, Canada, and Australia say their finding builds on research done in 2015, in which they recorded wild octopuses in Jervis Bay off...

Scientists Stumble Upon World's Northernmost Island

They thought they were on Oodaaq Island, discovered they were further north

(Newser) - Scientists who thought they were on Oodaaq Island, an Arctic island off the coast of Greenland, checked their position and found they were actually 2,625 feet further north. That means they likely discovered the planet's northernmost island, the point of land closest to the North Pole, the BBC...

Scientists Work to Tie Uranium Cubes to Nazis

Hundreds were lost in the years following WWII

(Newser) - At the close of World War II, some 664 "Heisenberg cubes" belonging to the Nazis were dug up from a field near physicist Werner Heisenberg's secret subterranean lab and brought to the US. Kurt Diebner was at the same time also running a lab focused on trying to...

Rattlesnakes Can Fool Us With Their Rattles
Rattlesnakes Can Fool Us
With Their Rattles
new study
Aug 24, 2021 9:10 AM CDT

Rattlesnakes Can Fool Us With Their Rattles

They change the frequency, making it sound like they're closer than they really are

(Newser) - The rattle of a rattlesnake turns out to be way more complicated than we knew. Researchers have discovered that the snakes are masters of auditory deception, reports the BBC . In a new study in Current Biology , researchers found that they rattle their tails at a frequency of 40 hertz if...

Geologists May Have Solved a Grand Canyon Mystery
Geologists May Have Solved
a Grand Canyon Mystery
in case you missed it
Aug 22, 2021 8:00 AM CDT

Geologists May Have Solved a Grand Canyon Mystery

The 'Great Unconformity' of rocks has been a puzzle for 150 years

(Newser) - The Grand Canyon may be a geologic marvel, but it's also a geological puzzle—one that may have finally been cracked. The puzzle is known as the Great Unconformity, explains a release at Phys.org . In parts of the canyon, layers of rock about 520 million years old sit...

Stories 661 - 680 | << Prev   Next >>