discoveries

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It's Official: Zika Causes Birth Defects

What was long suspected has been confirmed by the CDC

(Newser) - What has long been suspected was finally confirmed by the CDC on Wednesday: The Zika virus causes birth defects, Time reports. According to the BBC , hundreds of babies in Brazil have been born with microcephaly since the Zika outbreak started, but so far the link between the two hadn't...

Sorry, Hand-Washing Takes More Effort Than You Think

 There's a Better Way 
 to Wash Your Hands 
NEW STUDY
Apr 13, 2016 7:13 AM CDT

There's a Better Way to Wash Your Hands

Best technique to reduce bacteria involves 6 steps: study

(Newser) - You do it several times a day: You grab some soap, rub your hands together for 20 seconds or so, then rinse. Yet if you're aiming to get rid of as much bacteria as possible, you've been washing your hands all wrong. After observing the hand-washing techniques of...

Humans&#39; Nasty Gift to Neanderthals: Herpes?
Humans' Nasty Gift to Neanderthals: Herpes?
NEW STUDY
Apr 12, 2016 11:14 AM CDT

Humans' Nasty Gift to Neanderthals: Herpes?

Diseases out of Africa may have helped lead to their demise

(Newser) - Scientists claim Neanderthals were doomed by everything from climate change to their big eyes . A new study offers a different theory: humans were at least partly responsible. UK researchers say humans who migrated out of Africa were "reservoirs of tropical disease" and may have infected Neanderthals across Europe with...

Even a Second of Laughter Speaks Volumes

Scientists find that across cultures humans are good at discerning intimacy via laughter

(Newser) - What can be revealed in just a brief moment of laughter—an audio recording a mere second long, played without any context to people in two dozen different parts of the world? Quite a lot, it turns out. In fact, that tiny blip of sound is enough for many of...

Ancient Letters Reveal Bible Bombshell

Parts likely written 2.6K years ago: study

(Newser) - "A full homer of wine, bring tomorrow; don't be late." That command, written on pottery excavated near the Dead Sea, not only shows soldiers liked to drink in the Kingdom of Judah around 600BC. It might also push back the date of the Old Testament. In analyzing...

Scientists Wowed by First Look at Brain on LSD

'This is to neuroscience what the Higgs boson was to particle physics'

(Newser) - After taking the first-ever look at how the brain functions on LSD, Imperial College, London researchers sound nearly as enthusiastic about the drug as Timothy Leary. The team scanned the brains of 20 volunteers on the drug and discovered that not only did it increase connectivity between parts of the...

America's Poor Live Longer in 'Unexpected' Places

Stanford researchers analyze over 1B records

(Newser) - A new study says America's wealthy live longer than its poor, which is hardly surprising. But it also says low-income people live longer in certain places—like affluent cities including New York and San Francisco, NPR reports. Why isn't clear, but lead study author Raj Chetty of Stanford...

OTC Painkiller May Make It Hard for You to Notice Errors

Past studies show acetaminophen can dull emotional pain

(Newser) - That Tylenol you just popped may do the trick when it comes to dulling your headache. But a new University of Toronto study finds that the painkiller's active ingredient, acetaminophen, may also put a damper on your ability to notice errors, Science Daily reports. "The core idea of...

Were Laos' Huge Stone Jars Used to Decompose Bodies?

February find provides a new clue

(Newser) - The discovery in February of an ancient burial site could provide a clue for unraveling the mystery of the Plain of Jars—a region in central Laos that is littered with thousands of stone jars, Live Science reports. There are more than 90 jar sites (some with up to 400...

Isaac Newton Wanted to Turn Lead Into Gold

The renowned physicist moonlighted as an alchemist

(Newser) - When he wasn't helping to establish modern physics (or getting bonked on the head by apples), Sir Isaac Newton devoted himself to uncovering the secrets of the "philosopher's stone"—a mythical concoction that was said to turn lead into gold. In fact, Newton wrote more than...

10-Minute In-Person Chat May Reduce Prejudice

'If you ask the right questions ...'

(Newser) - A new study published in the journal Science suggests that a quick, face-to-face conversation can put a dent in LGBT prejudice. Volunteers who went door to door—aka "deep canvassing," per the Atlantic —"substantially reduced transphobia," say the researchers. "We found that a single,...

Scientists Answer Weird Question About Moby Dick

Yes, sperm whales could batter a ship with their heads

(Newser) - A multinational team of researchers set out to settle what has oddly been a longstanding dispute in scientific circles: whether, in Moby Dick-esque fashion, sperm whales could use their heads to bash seagoing vessels. And it seems that Herman Melville got it right. Writing in the journal PeerJ , researchers concluded...

A Wrong Made Wright: 5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including an alien-fooling cloaking shield for Earth and the skinny on 'bad' carbs

(Newser) - A burial site crammed with curses and the "holy grail" of missing documents make the list:
  • Missing Patent for Wright Brothers' 'Flying Machine' Found : Missing for decades, the Wright brothers' patent for their "Flying Machine" was found last month in a manila envelope among 15-foot-high stacks of
...

Diabetes, Obesity Dramatically Increase Risk of Big Babies

Fetuses can be abnormally large by the sixth month of pregnancy

(Newser) - Diabetic or obese pregnant women may already be carrying abnormally large fetuses by the sixth month of pregnancy, US News & World Report reports. And that matters because, according to the BBC , abnormally large babies are at risk of injury during delivery and can have a higher chance of obesity...

Shrinking Gender Gap Could Give Economy Huge Boost

Increasing equality could add $2.1T to GDP

(Newser) - Shrinking the gender gap in American workplaces could give the US economy a boost almost as big as the GDP of California, according to the latest McKinsey Global Institute study. The institute found that while the economy could grow by $4.3 trillion if the gender gap was completely eliminated,...

Study Discovers What Creeps Us Out and Why

Clowns, long fingers, lip licking, inappropriate laughing…

(Newser) - As Slate puts it: "Creepy is a state of being that’s easy to identify but hard to pin down." That is, until two social psychologists at Knox College conducted the first-ever empirical study of "creepiness," publishing their findings in New Ideas in Psychology . The researchers...

Top 7 Cities for College Grads
 Top 7 Cities for College Grads 
Apr 7, 2016 11:19 AM CDT

Top 7 Cities for College Grads

Phoenix is No. 1

(Newser) - Which cities are best for new college grads? In terms of jobs alone, San Francisco and New York City might be the top two logical choices, but factor in other things such as rent and the overall cost of living, and the picture changes. Credit.com ranked a slew of...

&#39;Bad&#39; Carbs Nearly Double Cancer Risk
 'Bad' Carbs 
 Nearly Double 
 Cancer Risk 
NEW STUDY
Apr 7, 2016 7:03 AM CDT

'Bad' Carbs Nearly Double Cancer Risk

The link is especially strong to prostate cancer

(Newser) - Meat is often the bad guy linked to higher cancer rates: The World Health Organization says bacon is carcinogenic and red meats in general "probably" are, while grilling meats is linked to higher kidney cancer rates . But researchers out of New York University report in ScienceDaily that their latest...

Horse Manure Helps Crack Ancient Military Mystery

Researchers think they know where Hannibal crossed the Alps

(Newser) - Ace history students might remember that Hannibal led his Carthagian army across the Alps around 200BC and soundly defeated the Roman army in one of the most epic military maneuvers of all time. But not even actual historians can tell you with any degree of certainty where Hannibal crossed those...

Heartbreak Doesn't Just Hurt the Heart Emotionally

Loss of a partner boosts risk of atrial fibrillation by 41%

(Newser) - Yes, it is possible to die from a broken heart. Scientists from Aarhus University in Denmark say the loss of a partner boosts a person's risk of an irregular heartbeat—itself a risk factor for stroke, heart failure, and death—by 41%. The researchers, who reviewed medical data from...

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