discoveries

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

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Scientific Study Determines Catchiest Hit Song Ever

UK study participants recognized Spice Girls' 'Wannabe' in just 2.29 seconds

(Newser) - What makes that earworm an earworm? Musicologists at the University of Amsterdam recently set out to find out, collecting data from 12,000 participants who listened to a random selection from 1,000 hit singles in the UK dating back to the 1940s. The results were unveiled at the Manchester...

Old Stone Circles Baffle Archaeologists

"Big Circles" in Jordan date back at least 2K years

(Newser) - Archaeologists have snapped aerial photos of ancient stone circles as part of an ongoing effort to figure out why the structures exist, LiveScience reports. The images (taken in Jordan and viewable here ) show that 10 of the 11 structures are roughly 1,300 feet in diameter, but their purpose...

Sleeping With 20+ Women Cuts Guys' Cancer Risk

Possibly because of frequent ejaculation

(Newser) - One defense against prostate cancer may be promiscuity. A study of men in Montreal finds that those who'd slept with more than 20 women had a 28% lower risk of prostate cancer than did men who'd had sex with just one woman, CBS News reports. As for virgins,...

70-Year First? Gray Wolf Spotted in Grand Canyon

Conservationists trying to confirm multiple sightings

(Newser) - There's a new visitor roaming the Grand Canyon National Park's North Rim, and it's not exactly the fanny-pack-wearing/Nikon-toting variety: As National Geographic reports, wildlife officials are scrambling to confirm multiple sightings of a "wolf-like animal" that's believed to be a gray wolf—if it is,...

Scientists Spot Elusive Fanged Deer

Kashmir musk deer identified in Afghanistan for first time since 1948

(Newser) - A deer with fangs: It sounds made-up, and scientists hadn't seen one in Afghanistan since 1948. But researchers have found that the musk deer still exists in the country's Nuristan Province. In fact, they've spotted the creatures five times: a male three times, a female and a...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including a revelation that might predict how you vote on Election Day

(Newser) - A possible piece of Amelia Earhart's plane and a centuries-old virus found in an unsavory place make the list:
  • Is This a Piece of Amelia's Plane? : A team that's been investigating the disappearance of Amelia Earhart says it identified a piece of metal retrieved in 1991 as
...

Dig Reveals Mass Sacrifice of Kids, Llamas

At least 42 children, 76 llamas killed in possible offering to the sea

(Newser) - Physical anthropologist John Verano has seen plenty while working in Peru over the last 30 years. What he came across this summer in the village of Huanchaquito, however, is "not what we've seen before, especially on the coast," he says. Locals noticed bones poking out of a...

Reaction to Gross Pictures Can Predict Political Leaning

It's all about how your brain unconsciously reacts

(Newser) - What can pictures of maggot infestations, mutilated animals, dirty toilets, and rotting corpses tell you about a person's political affiliation? A lot, apparently. Researchers led by Virginia Tech scanned people's brains as the subjects looked at disgusting images, and they found that the strength of the brain responses...

New Frog Species Has Croak Unlike Any Other

Atlantic Coast leopard frog discovered in NY, NJ is a 'cryptic' species, scientists say

(Newser) - A few years ago, researcher Jeremy Feinberg was looking into why the New York City area's southern leopard frog had disappeared when he stumbled onto a strange call between a bunch of frogs on Staten Island. The chuck, chuck, chuck sound his team heard was definitely different from the...

Investigators: We've Got a Piece of Earhart's Plane

And it suggests she never crashed

(Newser) - A team investigating the disappearance of Amelia Earhart is reporting, with "increasing confidence," that it has managed to identify a piece of her plane that was retrieved in 1991. The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, or TIGHAR, says the part in question is a metal patch that...

700-Year-Old Viruses Found —in Frozen Caribou Poop

It seems the ice is remarkably good at preserving unsavory things

(Newser) - If trekking into the wilds of northern Canada, drilling samples out of the ice core, and analyzing caribou poop to find a pair of really old viruses sounds like your idea of a hot Friday night, well, we present you Eric Delwart. As NPR reports, the viral researcher did just...

Scientists Link 2 Genes to Violent Behavior

Criminals in Finland more likely to have mutated versions

(Newser) - A new study might be inching us closer to the possibility that the worst criminals can blame their behavior on bad genes. In the study of 900 convicts in Finland, researchers found that those with mutated forms of two genes were 13 times more likely to have a history of...

Why You Should Gamble Before You Chow Down

Hungry people might make better long-term decisions, researchers say

(Newser) - You know not to go grocery shopping on an empty stomach. But making complex decisions while your stomach's rumbling? Go for it, Utrecht University researchers say, claiming that hungry people might delay gratification and make better long-term choices, Pacific Standard reports. A study published in PLoS One conducted three...

Highest Ice Age Camp Found in Andes
 Highest Ice Age 
 Camp Found in Andes 
in case you missed it
Oct 26, 2014 7:00 PM CDT

Highest Ice Age Camp Found in Andes

Settlers in Peru got there earlier than thought

(Newser) - Archaeologists who found ancient settlements high up in the Peruvian Andes were surprised to learn that humans were there between 12,000 and 13,000 years ago. At nearly 3 miles above sea level, that makes them the "world's highest known Ice Age settlements," in the words...

The Future Is Now: Hoverboards Exist

And you can help fund them on Kickstarter

(Newser) - It is now officially the future: Hoverboards are real. A company called Arx Pax has developed a skateboard-style device that rides on air instead of wheels, and it's raising money to "perfect" the project on Kickstarter , Phys.org reports. Arx Pax has already surpassed its $250,000 goal....

Unveiled: City Founded by Genghis Khan's Descendants

2 Christian temples discovered along Volga River

(Newser) - Working along Russia's Volga River, archaeologists have discovered what's left of the 750-year-old city of Ukek, headed by the descendants of Genghis Khan. The researchers uncovered the city's Christian quarter, which was often visited by wealthy people; while some Christians were enslaved, the findings suggest that not...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including the world's first successful 'dead heart' transplants

(Newser) - A dinosaur with "horrible" hands and an ancient Ukrainian temple make the list:
  • Docs Transplant 'Dead Hearts' Into 3 Patients : An Australian heart transplant unit has been toiling for 20 years to transplant a "dead heart" (one that's not still beating in a brain-dead donor) into
...

Giant Snake Has Virgin Birth

Reticulated python had 6 babies, with no male in sight

(Newser) - Sorry, gents, you might be getting phased out of the reproduction loop—at least when it comes to the world's longest snakes. Thelma, a 200-pound, 20-foot-long reticulated python who lives at Kentucky's Louisville Zoo with her female roommate Louise, gave birth in 2012 to six female babies. This...

Antarctic Thaw Reveals Explorer's 100-Year-Old Journal

George Murray Levick described photos in old notebook

(Newser) - Surgeon, zoologist, and photographer George Murray Levick took part in a 1910-1913 Antarctic expedition as part of Captain Robert Falcon Scott's crew, and while Scott perished on a journey back from the South Pole, Levick made it off the continent alive. He didn't accompany Scott to the pole,...

World's First 'Dead Heart' Transplants Successful

Aussie breakthrough could save the lives of 30% more heart transplant patients

(Newser) - For 20 years, the heart transplant unit at Sydney's St. Vincent's Hospital has been working hard to figure out a way to transplant a dead heart into a live patient. Today doctors from the team announced their work had paid off: They have successfully completed three transplants using...

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