New Discoveries: Reports on the Latest Scientific Discoveries - Page 151

Historic Civil War Pic Actually 'Photoshopped'

Nov 1, 2015 5:30 PM CST

Think This Photo Is Real? Look Again

Ulysses S. Grant was never on that horse

(Newser) - Think photographs before the advent of Photoshop were fairly accurate? Then consider the photo "General Grant at City Point" from the enormous Library of Congress photo archives, NPR reports. This sepia-toned shot depicts Union leader and future US president Ulysses S. Grant astride his mount before a camp of...

Here's Why You
Can't Draw a
Perfect Circle

Nov 1, 2015 5:00 PM CST

Here's Why You Can't Draw a Perfect Circle

It requires the use of several joints, while your brain prefers to move only one

(Newser) - If you've felt disappointed at not being a genius who can draw a perfect circle, well, take solace: BrainDecoder explains the matter in detail, and it's not exactly your fault. The site starts by pointing out that we can recognize a perfect vs. imperfect circle pretty easily, and...

Your Cat May
Really Want
You Dead

new study

Nov 1, 2015 2:00 PM CST

Your Cat May Really Want You Dead

Study compares domesticated cats to African lions

(Newser) - Cats are fluffy little creatures that like playing with string and lying on their backs for a tummy rub. They're also neurotic predators that might suddenly kill you if only they were bigger, according to one interpretation of a study on cats. The study , by University of Edinburgh researchers...

Here's Where Men, Women
Are OK Being Touched

Here's Where Men, Women Are OK Being Touched

Our personal bubbles have some surprising quirks

(Newser) - Where are men and women OK with being touched? Perhaps not surprisingly, it has everything to do with who is doing the touching, report researchers at Oxford University this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . A handy body map—1,368 men and women were asked...

Watching TV Can Kill You
8 Different Ways

study says

Nov 1, 2015 7:06 AM CST

Watching TV Can Kill You 8 Different Ways

Researchers find link between prolonged viewing and leading causes of death

(Newser) - Need a reason to watch less TV? Here are eight: cancer, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, influenza/pneumonia, Parkinson's, liver disease, and suicide. Scientists are telling people to get off the couch after a study found a link between TV binge-watching and those leading causes of death. Researchers...

Shipwrecks Are Pollution Threat to US Waters

Oct 31, 2015 5:29 PM CDT

Shipwrecks Are Pollution Threat to US Waters

As vessels sit underwater for decades, oil could start to leak out

(Newser) - An oil barge recently discovered at the bottom of Lake Erie—nearly 80 years after it sank—has brought a renewed focus to the environmental dangers posed by dozens of shipwrecks littering American waters, the Detroit Free Press reports. According to the AP , 87 shipwrecks are included on a federal...

'Halloween' Space Rock
Is a Dead Comet

Oct 31, 2015 10:54 AM CDT

'Halloween' Space Rock Is a Dead Comet

Approaching 'space zombie' looks like a skull

(Newser) - The "Halloween asteroid" set to make its closest approach to Earth today has turned out to be something spookier: a dead comet. Scientist say object 2015 TB145 looked like an asteroid when it was first spotted a few weeks ago. but closer inspection suggests that it is a comet...

This Is the Quietest
Place on Earth

Oct 31, 2015 7:37 AM CDT

This Is the Quietest Place on Earth

Silence inside anechoic chamber at Microsoft HQ measures -20.6 decibels

(Newser) - Guinness World Records has officially ruled : an audio lab at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Wash., is the quietest place in the world. Though Building 87 on the Microsoft campus is home to three anechoic, or "free from echo," chambers the company uses to test audio technology, the...

Ahoy: 5 Most Incredible
Discoveries of the Week

Oct 31, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Ahoy: 5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including a ship's graveyard and herpes that's everywhere

(Newser) - A birth that messed up one clan's family tree and a region of the world that might turn uninhabitable make the list:

Dad Learns Unborn Twin 'Fathered' His Son : When a couple learned their son had a different blood type than his parents, Dad took a paternity test

...

Planet Discovered in
2012 Was Really a 'Ghost'

Oct 30, 2015 5:25 AM CDT

Planet Discovered in 2012 Was Really a 'Ghost'

Alpha Centauri Bb was never there, astronomers say

(Newser) - When an Earth-sized planet was detected in the closest star system to us in 2012, excited astronomers suggested dropping everything and sending a probe. That would have been a mistake, because researchers have now determined that Alpha Centauri Bb does not exist. Astronomers—including the team that "discovered" the...

Mushrooms
Make It Rain

study says

Oct 29, 2015 6:19 PM CDT

Mushrooms Make It Rain

'Nothing else works like this in nature'

(Newser) - It turns out mushrooms may be better for more than topping pizzas. Who knew? According to a study published Wednesday, mushrooms may actually help produce the rain they need to live. Discovery reports researchers documented a previously unknown system in which rain makes mushrooms grow, mushrooms release spores into the...

Expedition Finds
'Ancient Shipwreck
Capital of the World'

Oct 29, 2015 4:51 PM CDT

Expedition Finds 'Ancient Shipwreck Capital of the World'

Archaeologists find 22 shipwrecks in less than two weeks

(Newser) - Teams from Greece and the US have made one of the biggest archaeological finds of the year, Discovery reports. While exploring Greece's Fourni archipelago, the Greek Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities and RPM Nautical Foundation stumbled across what Smithsonian describes as an "artifact jackpot" and what Discovery says could...

This Is the Windiest
City in the US

top 5 list

Oct 29, 2015 11:50 AM CDT

This Is the Windiest City in the US

Plus, the rest of the top 5

(Newser) - Hold on to your hats, folks, before reading this one, especially if you live in a city that qualifies as among America's windiest. USA Today shares CoreLogic's rankings of 293 US cities by total force of severe wind gusts since 2006. It turns out the Windy City ranks...

Study: You
Should Sing
to Your Baby
a Lot More

Oct 29, 2015 7:43 AM CDT

Study: You Should Sing to Your Baby a Lot More

They stay calm longer when listening to singing than talking

(Newser) - Want to keep your baby calm and not wailing? Talking in your own voice will work for an average of just under four minutes, at which point the "cry face" typically sets in—the lowered brow, open mouth, and raised cheeks that signal distress. Employing baby talk buys you...

Study: You
Probably
Have Herpes

Oct 29, 2015 6:31 AM CDT

Study: You Probably Have Herpes

Two-thirds of the global population under age 50 has HSV-1, estimates the WHO

(Newser) - In its first ever global assessment of the prevalence of the herpes virus that causes cold sores, the World Health Organization reports in the journal PLoS ONE that two in three humans under the age of 50 are infected with the incurable virus. That's an estimated 3.7 billion...

Why Australians Talk Funny:
Drunk Forefathers?

Oct 28, 2015 11:16 AM CDT

Why Australians Talk Funny: Drunk Forefathers?

Professor makes his case

(Newser) - A communications professor in Australia has caused quite a stir Down Under with a public complaint that almost everyone there talks like drunks. In tracing the origins of the Australian accent in the Age , Dean Frenkel of Victoria University describes its Aboriginal, English, Irish, and German roots. So far, so...

Owner Finds Car
Parked on Her Roof

Oct 28, 2015 9:15 AM CDT

Owner Finds Car Parked on Her Roof

Nobody was hurt in bizarre car accident

(Newser) - When Joyce Kingsley heard "kaboom" in her Michigan home, she immediately thought of extreme weather. It was something much stranger. The 83-year-old discovered that a Ford Mustang was parked on the roof of her home, after the driver had a medical problem Monday and lost control on Interstate 69...

The 5 Most Expensive
Places to Raise a Family

Oct 27, 2015 7:00 PM CDT

The 5 Most Expensive Places to Raise a Family

That's some pricey living, Eastern Seaboard

(Newser) - Want to be able to provide for your family of four? Move west. At least that seems to be the lesson of MarketWatch 's list of the 10 most expensive places to raise a family. MarketWatch came up with the list by looking at data from the Economic Policy...

5 Million US Children Have Had Incarcerated Parent

Oct 27, 2015 6:00 PM CDT

5 Million US Children Have Had Incarcerated Parent

And that's hurting them, according to a new report

(Newser) - One in 14 children have had at least one parent incarcerated during their life—a percentage that's even higher for poor children and black children—and that's having a negative impact on their lives, USA Today reports The statistics come from a report— Parents Behind Bars: What Happens ...

Reducing Sugar Boosts
Kids' Health Within Days

NEW STUDY

Oct 27, 2015 11:12 AM CDT

Reducing Sugar Boosts Kids' Health Within Days

Results push study author to call for a tax on 'toxic' sugar

(Newser) - Dr. Robert Lustig previously argued that sugar is as bad as tobacco or cocaine. Now, he's advocating for a sugar tax in the Guardian based on a new diet study of obese kids. Lustig and colleagues asked 43 black and Hispanic children, aged 8 to 18—each with symptoms...

discoveries

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