discoveries

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

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$900M in Meth Found in Bra Inserts

Australian police make huge bust

(Newser) - In one of the biggest drug busts in Australian history, law enforcement agencies discovered $1.26 billion Australian dollars ($900 million US) worth of methylamphetamine hidden in imported boxes of silicone bra inserts and art supplies, officials say. Four Hong Kong passport holders were arrested in Sydney last month over...

Flights From London to New York May Get Longer

Thanks to climate change, say researchers

(Newser) - Planning a round trip from New York to London in the not-too-distant future? The good news: Getting to Heathrow may be quicker than ever at about five hours. The bad news: The flight back to the Big Apple could drag on for more than seven hours, making the overall trip...

Name That President? Americans Have Weird Answers

71% of those surveyed think we were once led by President Alexander Hamilton

(Newser) - Alexander Hamilton was many things—a bastard from the Caribbean, the founder of the Bank of New York, the father of the US Coast Guard, and the first Secretary of the Treasury, to name a few. But the man who died in a duel against Aaron Burr at the age...

Today&#39;s Pot Is Much Stronger Than 1995&#39;s

 Today's Pot Is Much 
 Stronger Than 1995's 
in case you missed it
Feb 13, 2016 3:49 PM CST

Today's Pot Is Much Stronger Than 1995's

THC levels have jumped from 4% in 1995 to 12% in 2014

(Newser) - Smoking marijuana just isn't the same today as it was 20 years ago—and not only because it's now legal in some states. A study in Biological Psychiatry finds marijuana potency is on the rise. Researchers analyzed some 38,600 samples of illegal marijuana—including plant material, hashish,...

Sharks May Help Make Human Tooth Loss History

Scientists figure out how sharks keep regenerating their teeth

(Newser) - Good news for soda lovers: Scientists appear to be one step closer to being able to regenerate teeth in humans. A study in Developmental Biology explains how sharks and other marine life are able to regrow teeth continuously throughout their lives. Until now, that process had been "poorly understood...

Smiles Really Are Contagious
 Smiles Really Are Contagious 
NEW STUDY
Feb 13, 2016 9:37 AM CST

Smiles Really Are Contagious

...and so are frowns

(Newser) - Smiles—and frowns—are so contagious that they can jump from person to person in a fraction of a second, according to researchers studying the human brain's amazing ability to read expressions. In a paper published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences , researchers say that when we see...

Mouse Found Dead in 155-Year-Old Trap

 Mouse Found Dead 
 in 155-Year-Old Trap 
in case you missed it
Feb 13, 2016 7:47 AM CST

Mouse Found Dead in 155-Year-Old Trap

Rodent got caught in Victorian mousetrap on display in museum

(Newser) - When Colin Pullinger & Sons patented its "Perpetual Mouse Trap" in 1861, the company boasted the device would "last a lifetime"—and it wasn't kidding. One of the antiquated models on display at the University of Reading's Museum of English Rural Life ended up trapping...

Holy Einstein! 5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including a prescient Fitbit and a guy who remembered his name after 3 decades

(Newser) - A huge find in the cosmos and potent pot make the list:
  • Gravitational Waves Exist, Guys : Albert Einstein predicted them in 1916, and they were just confirmed—100 years later. Scientists say gravitational waves have been detected, produced by "two colliding black holes that merged to form a single
...

Feeling Kind of Blue? Blame the Neanderthal In You

Neanderthal genetic variants are strongly linked to a dozen traits

(Newser) - It's long been known that the predecessors of modern humans and Neanderthals lived side by side, but it wasn't until 2010 that it was discovered the two species interbred . In fact, as much as 4% of the DNA of modern humans with European or Asian ancestry comes from...

FBI: Hacker Who Targeted CIA Director Is Just 16

'Cracka' reportedly arrested in England

(Newser) - Remember the hacker who broke into CIA Director John Brennan's personal email as well as the accounts of other high-ranking US security officials? Turns out he's just 16—or so police believe. British authorities and the FBI say they arrested alleged hacker "cracka" in England on Tuesday...

One Key to Civilization&#39;s Rise? Fear of an Angry God
One Key to Civilization's Rise? Fear of an Angry God
study says
Feb 12, 2016 9:09 AM CST

One Key to Civilization's Rise? Fear of an Angry God

It's why strangers work together, say researchers

(Newser) - The belief in all-seeing and punitive gods may be a huge factor in how modern civilization came to be. So report researchers in the journal Nature after studying nearly 600 individuals from eight communities, including plant cultivators on the South Pacific island of Tanna, wage laborers on Fiji and in...

After 30 Years, Missing Man Remembers Who He Is

Canadian man wandered away from group home in 1986

(Newser) - Almost 30 years after he went missing from a group home in Kitchener, Ontario, at the age of 21, Edgar Latulip remembered something very important last month: his name. Police say the 50-year-old, who has a developmental delay and functions at a child's level, has spent the last 30...

A Lot More Young Adults Are Into Online Dating Now

Of course, a big part of that is thanks to Tinder

(Newser) - If you think online dating is the realm of the olds, think again: A new Pew survey finds that the use of online dating, including mobile dating apps, among people aged 18 to 24 has increased nearly 300% since 2013, CNET reports. That demographic is the most likely to use...

Two Birds Might Be Purposely Starting Wildfires in Australia

Which opens the possibility that humans weren't the first to tame fire

(Newser) - Two species of birds might be deliberately starting wildfires in Australia, the Tech Times reports. This might seem outlandish, but cultural geographer Mark Bonta tells Newsweek it's "standard knowledge" among the aboriginal community and firefighters in northern Australia. According to the Washington Post , birds of prey are known...

Study Highlights Zika's Devastating Spread to Fetus

Study offers strongest evidence yet of birth defects from virus

(Newser) - The Zika virus' apparent effect on fetuses is on shocking display in a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine that was rushed to publication given the virus' spread . Though it offers no definitive link between Zika and fetal abnormalities, the study does produce the first evidence of...

66 People Were Mentally Ill. How Euthanasia Came Next

A look at cases in the Netherlands from 2011 to 2014

(Newser) - Euthanasia is itself not without controversy; the euthanasia or assisted suicide (EAS) of the mentally ill even more so. It's an infrequent practice but one on the rise in the Netherlands, which is thought to have seen no more than five such cases in 1997 but 42 in 2013....

Gravitational Waves Have Been Detected

Albert Einstein FTW!

(Newser) - Albert Einstein predicted it in 1916; scientists confirmed it in 2016: Gravitational waves have been detected, an effort backed by "2 detectors, 1,000 scientists, 16 countries, and 25 years," as an introductory video trumpeted at a Thursday morning press conference . "Ladies and gentlemen, we have detected...

1 in 10 Syrians Killed, Wounded During War
 1 in 10 Syrians Killed, 
 Wounded During War 
NEW REPORT
Feb 11, 2016 9:03 AM CST

1 in 10 Syrians Killed, Wounded During War

Human life, infrastructure, and economy have been 'obliterated'

(Newser) - A recent United Nations report that warned the Assad regime is "exterminating" civilians in Syria at alarming rates is an understatement compared to a new report from the Syrian Center for Policy Research. While other UN numbers, which the group stopped collecting in mid-2015, indicated at least 250,000...

Why Dementia Rates Are Going Down
 Why Dementia Rates 
 Are Going Down 
NEW STUDY
Feb 11, 2016 8:00 AM CST

Why Dementia Rates Are Going Down

Education, heart health cut the risk, researchers say

(Newser) - If you look after your heart and educate your brain, you have a better chance of avoiding or at least delaying dementia, new research suggests. Boston University School of Medicine researchers say data from the Framingham Heart Study, which has tracked the health of thousands of people in the Massachusetts...

What It Means If Gravitational Waves Were Detected

The big press conference is scheduled for 10:30am ET

(Newser) - A press conference scheduled for 10:30am ET Thursday has the scientific world on the edge of its seats. The rumor/expectation/prevailing hope: that 100 years after Albert Einstein predicted their existence, the hunt for gravitational waves has led to their direct detection. In a media advisory released Monday, the National...

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