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In Hot Weather, Song Can Change an Unborn Finch
In Hot Weather,
Song Can Change
an Unborn Finch
STUDY SAYS
Aug 19, 2016 10:06 AM CDT

In Hot Weather, Song Can Change an Unborn Finch

Chicks who hear it grow smaller, choose warmer nests: study

(Newser) - Several types of birds sing to unhatched eggs so their young will recognize their voices once they've hatched—but what the zebra finch does is something else entirely. In a study called "paradigm-shifting" by one of its authors, researchers at Australia's Deakin University say the birds sing...

That Techno Beat May Be Hiding a Secret Message

Cybersecurity researcher pulls it off via Ibiza dance music

(Newser) - There is a long and melodious history of hiding secret messages in song—so-called musical steganography—that dates back at least 500 years. But now a cybersecurity expert from Poland has revealed a new way to send messages that are otherwise undetectable through song: tiny adjustments in tempo. To test...

Radar Found a 'Superhenge' of Stones. Then the Digging Began

Actual excavation revealed holes once filled with timber

(Newser) - Remember the huge stone monument archaeologists found buried two miles from Stonehenge in the UK last year? Well it turns out that the so-called "Superhenge" that radar suggested was made of 100 or so large stones was actually stoneless. "The response from the radar was so good that...

2nd-Oldest Shipwreck Found in Great Lakes

The Washington went down in 1803

(Newser) - The second-oldest confirmed shipwreck in the Great Lakes, an American-built, Canadian-owned sloop that sank in Lake Ontario more than 200 years ago, has been found, a team of underwater explorers says. The three-member Western New York-based team said it discovered the shipwreck this summer in deep water off Oswego, in...

Cute Purple Critter on Ocean Floor Charms Scientists

Exploration vessel Nautilus encountered the squid off the coast California

(Newser) - It looks for all the world "like some little kid dropped their toy," as one scientist jokes. But, no, that adorable purple creature with giant, googly eyes spotted on the bottom of the ocean is, in fact, a stubby squid called Rossia pacifica. Researchers in the exploration vessel...

New Dolphin Species Hid in Museum for 55 Years

Meet Arktocara yakataga

(Newser) - The discoverers of a brand new dolphin species didn't even have to leave the office to make their find, UPI reports. Smithsonian curator Nicholas Pyenson and researcher Alexandra Boersma were presumably going about their business when—in Boersma's words—"this beautiful little skull from Alaska" jumped out...

Popular Medication May Be Causing Hyperactive Kids

According to study of pregnant women taking acetaminophen

(Newser) - A popular medication among pregnant women is linked to higher rates of hyperactivity in children, according to a study published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics . CNN reports acetaminophen is found in Tylenol, as well as cold, flu, and allergy medicines. The study's author, Evie Stergiakouli, says it's "considered...

Number of People With 9/11-Related Cancer Increasing

More than 5,400 have been diagnosed

(Newser) - Since 9/11, more than 5,400 people have been diagnosed with cancers linked to the attacks, according to new numbers from the CDC's World Trade Center Health program. And not only is the actual number likely higher—the CDC's tally only includes people enrolled in its program—it'...

'Oldest Gold of Mankind' Is Discovered

It's minuscule, but its importance is anything but

(Newser) - It measures just 0.16 inches in diameter and weighs just 0.005 ounces, but its importance could be countless magnitudes of that: A tiny gold bead has been found in southern Bulgaria and dated to as early as 4600 BC. If confirmed, that would make it the "oldest...

Nonstop Artificial Light Might Even Affect Your Bones

Nonstop Artificial Light
Might Even Affect
Your Bones
study says
Aug 13, 2016 11:40 AM CDT

Nonstop Artificial Light Might Even Affect Your Bones

In a new study, mice became more frail, but only temporarily

(Newser) - Roughly one-third of the globe can no longer see the Milky Way thanks to artificial light at night. The impact of light pollution has long been obvious, but scientists are now exploring the role of constant exposure to light on health, and a study in the journal Current Biology adds...

Hoax Solved: 5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including good news for book lovers

(Newser) - The apparent answer to one of the biggest hoaxes in science and a stunningly long-lived shark make the list:
  • Man Behind One of Science's Great Hoaxes Is Revealed : In 1912, attorney Charles Dawson discovered a fossilized skeleton with the skull of a man but the jaws of an ape
...

Bones May Belong to Teen Sacrificed to Zeus

Giving credence to legends of human sacrifices in ancient Greece

(Newser) - An ancient legend tells of a man sneaking a human boy into an animal sacrifice to Zeus on Greece's Mount Lykaion and being turned into a wolf as punishment, the Washington Post reports. But despite Plato and others writing about ongoing human sacrifices, archaeologists have never been able to...

Millennial Men Are Weak Sauce Compared to Their Dads
Millennial Men Are Weak Sauce
Compared to Their Dads
study says
Aug 12, 2016 9:20 AM CDT

Millennial Men Are Weak Sauce Compared to Their Dads

Too much texting, not enough heavy lifting

(Newser) - If today's men think that all those video games are helping them maintain optimal hand strength, they'd better think again. In a series of studies testing grip and pinch strength, researchers report in the Journal of Hand Therapy that among the 237 healthy millennials studied between the ages...

This Shark May Be Longest-Living Vertebrate on Earth

Scientists say the Greenland shark may live up to 500 years

(Newser) - Move over adorable centenarians featured on Good Morning America, scientists say there's a shark out there that may be able to live to be 500 years old. Researchers studying the Greenland shark estimate the oldest of their 28 specimens is 392 years old, give or take 120 years, Science...

First Americans Didn't Arrive on a Land Bridge

They 'must have taken a different route'

(Newser) - You probably remember the Bering Land Bridge theory from history class: North America's first inhabitants traveled along a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska and discovered an immense new world less than 15,000 years ago. Just like the land bridge did 10,000 years ago, that belief now...

Study Names Man Behind One of Great Scientific Hoaxes

Charles Dawson was apparently the sole perpetrator behind Piltdown Man

(Newser) - In 1912, an ambitious lawyer named Charles Dawson discovered a fossilized skeleton with the skull of a man but the jaws of an ape in a British gravel pit, the Telegraph reports. For the next three decades, Eoanthropus dawsoni—better known as Piltdown Man, named for the location it was...

On Facebook, Cat People Are 'Tired,' Dog People 'Excited'

Cat people prefer fantasy and anime, while dog people go for romance and, well, dogs

(Newser) - Facebook analyzed the behaviors and preferences of 160,000 people who posted photos of cats and dogs, at once both confirming and busting several prevailing pet myths. For instance: Cat owners have 26 fewer friends on Facebook, yet are more likely to be invited to events than their canine-loving...

'Beam of Light' Leads Couple to Centuries-Old Art

It led them to petroglyphs on Oahu's Leeward coast

(Newser) - Countless tourists have watched beautiful Hawaiian sunsets—but not many have made important archeological finds in the process. Lonnie Watson and Mark Louviere, visitors from Texas, discovered petroglyphs believed to be at least 400 years old during a stroll along Oahu's Leeward coast last month, Hawaii News Now reports....

To Live Longer, Pick Up a Book

 To Live Longer, 
 Pick Up a Book 
STUDY SAYS
Aug 9, 2016 7:47 AM CDT

To Live Longer, Pick Up a Book

Book readers live 2 years longer than non-readers: study

(Newser) - Reading books does more than ward off dementia : It also increases your lifespan, according to Yale researchers. In fact, the more time a person spends reading, the less likely they are to die. Researchers asked 3,635 people over 50 about their reading habits, then checked back in after 12...

An Incredible Drug Could Leave Us in Deep Doodoo

Ivermectin passes from mammals into their excrement, and that's a problem

(Newser) - Without the lowly dung beetle, we'd be in deep doodoo, somewhat literally. As Mother Jones explains, 100 billion tons of dung are excreted by the planet's animals daily. Dung beetles eat dung (and use it to "woo girlfriends," among other things, as a zoologist explains at...

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