discoveries

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

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Ancient Skull Is the 'Missing Connection' in Human History

Researchers say it points to out-of-Africa migration

(Newser) - An ancient 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 60,000 years ago, researchers say. The 55,000-year-old skull "is the missing connection between African and European populations,"...

Scientists Take Big Step Toward Peanut Allergy Cure

Study sees 80% of sufferers improved

(Newser) - As many as three million Americans may be allergic to peanuts, the Huffington Post has reported, with one study suggesting that the number of kids with the allergy doubled between 1997 and 2002. But those who are affected may have a reason to smile: A new study could point the...

Most Ancient Solar System Is Found

It's a miniature version of our own solar system's inner planets

(Newser) - Just how ancient is a newly discovered solar system? "By the time the Earth formed, the planets in this system were already older than our planet is today," University of Birmingham researcher Tiago Campante tells the BBC . The solar system—a star named Kepler-444 that's orbited by...

Researchers Solve Piece of Easter Island Mystery

The ongoing debate: Did Rapa Nui do themselves in, or are Europeans to blame?

(Newser) - The ongoing debate over what prompted the decline of Easter Island's native Polynesian inhabitants, known as Rapa Nui, is being clarified by scientists digging for answers in the soil. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , an international team of researchers explain that they examined agricultural...

How Tightie Whities Kill Sperm Counts

Laptops, cycling, saunas can also affect sperm for the same reason

(Newser) - Worried about how modern life affects human sperm, both in quantity and quality? You're not alone: Ideas have been circulating that things like underwear, laptops, cycling, and weight kill off or weaken sperm. So Five Thirty-Eight starts off by tackling the tight-underwear issue: A 2012 study looked at five...

Water Temple Reveals 'Drought Cult' of Mayans

As dry spell worsened, offerings to gods increased

(Newser) - Mayans appear to have been done in by a series of severe droughts , and archaeologists now think that something called a "drought cult" sprang up when things were most desperate, reports National Geographic . Researchers led by Lisa Lucero of the University of Illinois have found a water temple in...

Giant Exoplanet&#39;s Rings a &#39;Super Saturn&#39;
 Giant Exoplanet's 
 Rings a 'Super Saturn' 
NEW STUDY
Jan 27, 2015 8:35 AM CST

Giant Exoplanet's Rings a 'Super Saturn'

Impressive 30-ring system is 200 times larger than Saturn

(Newser) - In 2012, scientists discovered a giant exoplanet (one that orbits a star other than our sun) with a ring system so impressive it eclipses its own host star. Now, thanks to a recent eclipse where planet J1407b lined up in front of host star J1407, scientists at the University of...

Surprise Find: Seating Plan for Rome's Colosseum

Restorers uncover red paint that survived for centuries

(Newser) - Spectators who once flocked to Rome's Colosseum could find their seats with the help of red numbers painted over entrance archways. What's amazing is that hints of that paint still remain, Discovery reports. A team restoring the Colosseum has spotted remnants of it in Latin numerals carved high...

Weird Battery Still Runs 175 Years Later

The Oxford Electric Bell has rung about 10B times

(Newser) - Like scientific mysteries? Then check out the Oxford Electric Bell, a battery-powered device that's still ringing 175 years after it was made, the Smithsonian reports. Sitting in the Clarendon Laboratory at Oxford University, it makes a little metal ball move swiftly back and forth between two bells. How its...

Boil an Egg by Mistake? That Can Be Reversed

Researchers "unboil" a 20-minute egg

(Newser) - Want to unboil an egg? Probably not, but researchers in the US and Australia have found a way to do so with a primary ingredient from pee, Popular Science reports. "Yes, we have invented a way to unboil a hen egg," biochemist Gregory Weiss says in a statement...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including an intriguing mummy mask and an ancient Japanese moat

(Newser) - The hidden location of a whole lot of long-lost Civil War weapons and artifacts is among the week's notable discoveries:
  • SC River May Yield Civil War Munitions : South Carolina needs to remove about 40,000 tons of tar left over from a 1950s gas-producing plant from the Congaree River.
...

Scientists Find Fish Under 2.5K Feet of Antarctic Ice

They expected to find only microbes in the dark, tiny wedge of seawater

(Newser) - With the help of a special hot-water drill, a large, multidisciplinary team of scientists has become the first to bore through the Ross Ice Shelf—the biggest body of floating ice in the world, roughly the size of France—and sample life below nearly 2,500 feet of ice. What...

Ancient Moat in Japan May Be Part of Royal Tomb

Archaeologists think it dates back to 7th century

(Newser) - Archaeologists in Japan have found the remains of an ancient moat that may have once guarded an emperor's tomb. They made the discovery in Asuka, and researchers think the moat was part of the burial site of a seventh-century emperor named Jomei who died in the year 641, reports...

Near Irish 'Little Pompeii,' an Even More Ancient Site

Traces of buildings have been found along cliffs near a well-known castle

(Newser) - The settlement of Dunlace on Northern Ireland's craggy North Coast is thought to have been founded in 1608, but was eventually abandoned after a fire destroyed much of it in 1642. The settlement, first unearthed in 2009, reports the Belfast Telegraph , has been called Little Pompeii, and it's...

What Chimps Say When They Talk to Each Other
What Chimps Say When They Talk to Each Other
STUDY SAYS
Jan 21, 2015 12:58 PM CST

What Chimps Say When They Talk to Each Other

There's a special kind of fruit that makes them all chatty

(Newser) - Chimps chat, just like we do—and like many of us, they spend a lot of time gabbing about what they want to eat and where they're going to get their next meal, Discovery reports. For a study published in Animal Behaviour , scientists camped out in the Ivory Coast'...

Inside the Rare Case of the Woman Who Has No Fear

SM has been studied since the '90s

(Newser) - Would it be like to live a life completely void of fear? NPR's Invisibilia tackled that question in its second episode by talking to Antonio Damasio, a University of Southern California neuroscientist who has treated a woman—referred to as SM—with an inability to feel fear. SM suffers...

Researchers Making Mario Think for Himself

He can 'learn' to collect coins, jump on bad guys

(Newser) - Before you know it, your video games could be playing themselves. Researchers in Germany are working on giving Nintendo's best-known character a form of artificial intelligence, the Verge reports. Their goal is a "Living and Conversing Mario Agent" that can act on commands given not with a gamepad...

How Raindrops Get Their Smell
 How Raindrops 
 Get Their Smell 
NEW STUDY
Jan 20, 2015 8:33 AM CST

How Raindrops Get Their Smell

MIT researchers reveal the mechanism that releases the earthy smell of fresh rain

(Newser) - If you think rain has a distinct scent, you're not imagining it. Petrichor, that earthy smell that accompanies light showers, could be the result of raindrops releasing aerosols, which are tiny amounts of liquid suspended in gas, reports MIT News . "Rain happens every day—it’s raining now,...

Gen. Sherman's War Spoils May Sit at Bottom of SC River

Tar-cleanup project in Congaree River could expose munitions

(Newser) - In 1954, a gas-producing plant closed near the Congaree River in Columbia, SC. But its presence lingers, in the form of roughly 40,000 tons of "taffy-like" black tar that need to be removed from the river. The State reports on a most unusual side effect of damming the...

The Elderly Are Falling More Often

 The Elderly 
 Are Falling 
 More Often 
new study
Jan 19, 2015 7:10 PM CST

The Elderly Are Falling More Often

Study sees 8% increase, but reasons remain murky

(Newser) - Elderly Americans are apparently falling more often, but researchers don't know why. A new study says adults aged 65 and up self-reported a noticeable increase in falls between 1998 and 2010, reports Eureka Alert . Queried every two years, the percentage of seniors who said they'd fallen at least...

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