discoveries

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

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Stoners Are &#39;Safer&#39; Drivers Than Lushes
 Stoners Are 'Safer' 
 Drivers Than Lushes 
STUDY SAYS
Feb 12, 2015 3:28 PM CST

Stoners Are 'Safer' Drivers Than Lushes

Report finds those with THC in systems crash far less often than drunk drivers

(Newser) - As more states push to legalize marijuana , scientists have started to turn their attention toward the effects of driving after toking up. Stoners will likely rejoice at two recent studies by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that appears to put them on the safer side of things: According to...

Did Dinosaurs Hallucinate After Chewing Grass?
Did Dinosaurs Hallucinate After Chewing Grass?
NEW STUDY
Feb 11, 2015 9:15 AM CST

Did Dinosaurs Hallucinate After Chewing Grass?

Oldest grass specimen ever found was topped with fungus linked to LSD

(Newser) - If you're glad you weren't on the planet in the days when Stegosaurus was whipping its spiked tail around in agitation, imagine the dino stumbling around with its eyes ablaze on the prehistoric equivalent of an acid trip, courtesy of newly discovered fungus-tipped grass. A perfectly preserved, 100-million-year-old...

Here's How Many Licks Get You to Tootsie Pop's Center

Scientists learn the answer while investigating action of water

(Newser) - In the classic commercial asking how many licks it takes "to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop," the conclusion was: "The world may never know." Turns out that was wrong—scientists have figured out how many licks are required, though the figure...

Scientists Figure Out Why Popcorn Goes 'Pop'

If you guessed it's the sound of the kernel breaking, you're wrong

(Newser) - Popcorn pops because ... you set your microwave to two minutes on high, right? As you might expect, there's a little more science to it than that, and two French engineers have dug into exactly what happens when a kernel of corn does its thing. Their formula-filled study, published in...

Earth&#39;s Core Has Its Own Core
 Earth's Core Has Its Own Core 
STUDY SAYS
Feb 11, 2015 4:08 AM CST

Earth's Core Has Its Own Core

Earthquake waves reveal mystery beneath us

(Newser) - In research that didn't involve incredible advances in drilling technology, researchers have found some surprising secrets at our planet's core. What was once thought to be a single core of solid iron actually contains an inner core of its own with properties very different from what geologists who...

The Hubble Spots 'Smiley Face' in Space

Its 'eyes' are actually galaxies

(Newser) - The universe is smiling down on us—almost literally. The Hubble Telescope has captured a "smiley face" in space: two bright yellow eyes (a cluster of galaxies called SDSS J1038+4849), a white nose, and a faint smile and incomplete circle around the entire face. But those curving lines "...

Think You Can&#39;t Carry a Tune? Just Sing More
Think You Can't Carry a Tune? Just Sing More
study says
Feb 9, 2015 2:34 PM CST

Think You Can't Carry a Tune? Just Sing More

Study finds singing can be learned, like any other instrument

(Newser) - Just as you can learn to play an instrument, you can learn to sing even if you believe you're completely tone deaf, a new study out of Northwestern University finds. Researchers had people from three different age groups sing (kindergarten, sixth grade, and college-age); subjects listened to what they...

8 Signs That Mean Cancer Death Is Nigh
 8 Signs That Mean 
 Cancer Death Is Nigh 
new study
Feb 9, 2015 10:00 AM CST

8 Signs That Mean Cancer Death Is Nigh

Researchers studied 357 cancer patients to arrive at findings

(Newser) - It's possible to know when a cancer patient's death is imminent, according to a new study that has identified eight "tell-tale" signs that indicate that the end is nigh. A researcher involved in the study, published in Cancer , explains why the findings are so novel: Previous studies...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including a shipwreck off Oregon and new guidelines for snoozing

(Newser) - Steel that's stronger than titanium as well as new discoveries from a murderous mutiny make this week's list:
  • Experts Think They've Made a Big Michelangelo Discovery : Two sculptures of nude men atop "ferocious" panthers might seem attention-grabbing of their own accord, but the pair are generating
...

Scientists Create New &#39;Super Steel&#39;
 Scientists Create 
 New 'Super Steel' 
STUDY SAYS
Feb 5, 2015 12:40 PM CST

Scientists Create New 'Super Steel'

Titanium-strength metal is lighter, stronger, cheaper—and less likely to break

(Newser) - A group of South Korean scientists says it's finally come up with the perfect metallurgical cocktail to create a new form of steel that's flexible, lightweight, relatively inexpensive—and as strong as titanium, Popular Mechanics reports. The South Korean study published in Nature , which is being heralded by...

More Secrets of 1629 Mutiny, Murder Unearthed

11th skeleton discovered on Beacon Island

(Newser) - More details from "one of the darkest chapters of Australia's maritime history" are coming to light, nearly 400 years after they occurred. On June 4, 1629, the Dutch East India ship the Batavia was downed by a reef on its maiden voyage. Most of the roughly 340 people...

Experts Figure Out Exactly How Much Sleep You Need

Sorry, working-age adults: It's still 7-9 hours

(Newser) - Feeling so tired today? Perhaps last night's amount of shut-eye didn't jibe with the National Sleep Foundation's updated recommendations. In a newly published report in Sleep Health , the nonprofit foundation sets its objective: "to conduct a scientifically rigorous update to the [its] sleep duration recommendations,"...

4 Magna Cartas Never in Same Place—Until Now

Priceless surviving documents 'unified' at British Library for first time

(Newser) - You can't exactly call it a reunion—the four surviving original Magna Cartas had never before been in the same place. So instead, the British Library called it a "unification event" today when the priceless documents were put on display together for the first time. The event marks...

Clue in Drawing May Prove Big Michelangelo Discovery

Indicates 2 bronzes are only such surviving sculptures by artist

(Newser) - Two sculptures of nude men—one young, one older—atop "ferocious" panthers might seem attention-grabbing of their own accord, but the pair are generating buzz for another reason entirely: "Compelling evidence" indicates they were crafted by Michelangelo, according to a press release from Cambridge University. If that's...

Benadryl Can Up Your Risk of Alzheimer&rsquo;s
Benadryl Can Up Your
Risk of Alzheimer’s
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Feb 1, 2015 11:50 AM CST

Benadryl Can Up Your Risk of Alzheimer’s

As can other common drugs including sleep aids, antidepressants: study

(Newser) - Need help with allergies—or sleeping? Be careful: A new study finds that some sleeping aids and allergy pills, including Benadryl and Nytol, are associated with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. The study looked at "anticholinergic" drugs, which block acetylcholine, a nervous system chemical transmitter, thus...

On Blackbeard&#39;s Ship: Syphilis Syringe, Rectal Pump
 On Blackbeard's Ship: 
 Syphilis Syringe, 
 Rectal Pump 
in case you missed it
Jan 31, 2015 4:44 PM CST

On Blackbeard's Ship: Syphilis Syringe, Rectal Pump

Medicine was important to the pirate

(Newser) - The wreckage of the pirate Blackbeard's ship has yielded some fascinating finds, from swords to cannons . Some of the "treasure," however, offers a look at a very different side of his crew's life. Researchers have discovered an array of medical artifacts on the ship, called the...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including a revelation about psychopaths

(Newser) - Some archaeological surprises highlight the list of the week's most intriguing discoveries:
  • Ancient Skull May Be Evolution Milestone : A 55,000-year-old skull found in a cave in Israel is the first solid evidence that our species migrated out of Africa to colonize the rest of the world around 60,
...

Baby Chicks Show Smarts With Numbers
 Baby Chicks Show 
 Smarts With Numbers 
study says
Jan 30, 2015 4:54 PM CST

Baby Chicks Show Smarts With Numbers

Study: Like humans, they put lower numbers at left, higher ones at right

(Newser) - Baby chicks seem to process numbers the same way humans do—with small ones starting on the left, according to a new study. The research out of Italy suggests that this "mental number line," considered fundamental to math, might be hard-wired into the brains of living creatures rather...

'Dragon' Dino Had Neck Like a Crane

Qijianglong might have inspired tales of dragons in ancient China

(Newser) - Scientists are seriously excited about a new long-necked dinosaur species found near China's Qijiang City. For one thing, fossils of the beast, which lived 160 million years ago in the Late Jurassic period, show a skull still attached to its neck—a rare find among dinosaurs like this as...

Psychopaths' Brains Don't Register Punishment

Brain scans find striking abnormalities

(Newser) - Psychopaths just don't grasp punishment the way normal people do. So say researchers who used MRI scans to analyze the brains of 12 violent psychopathic criminals, 20 violent criminals who are not psychopaths, and 18 healthy controls who are not criminals. It turns out that the psychopath cohort had...

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