discoveries

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

Stories 4021 - 4040 | << Prev   Next >>

Pits Prove It: We've Been Eating Peaches for Millennia

They were domesticated some 7.5K years ago in China: study

(Newser) - When you savor a juicy peach, you're joining a tradition that goes back some 7,500 years. That long ago, Chinese farmers started domesticating the sweet fruit, researchers find. Peaches eaten all over the planet have roots—no pun intended—near Shanghai, in the lower Yangtze River Valley, according...

Messages Sent From Brain to Brain Over 5K Miles
Messages Sent From Brain
to Brain Over 5K Miles
in case you missed it
Sep 7, 2014 7:27 AM CDT

Messages Sent From Brain to Brain Over 5K Miles

First-of-its kind experiment relays 'hola' and 'ciao' from India to France

(Newser) - A team of neuroscientists tapped into brain-wave-reading gear, binary code, and the Internet to transmit thoughts from a subject in India to three human "receivers" in France—about 5,000 miles away, reports Popular Science . The four participants, ages 28-50, were hooked up to equipment that looked like it...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including why you might want to take a nap after a cup of joe

(Newser) - A strange crater in an irrigation pond and a Neanderthal cave carving make the list:
  • Mystery Crater Surfaces on Utah Farm : Gary Dalton was draining the irrigation pond on his farmland in Circleville, Utah, when he made a startling discovery: a giant crater staring back up at him from the
...

Meet Dreadnoughtus, Biggest Dinosaur Yet

One in Patagonia weighed 65 tons, was still growing

(Newser) - Introducing the new king of the dinosaurs, at least in terms of size. Researchers in the Patagonia region of Argentina found a brute they've named Dreadnoughtus, and they're laying claim to it being the largest land animal whose size can be accurately measured—thanks mainly to the fact...

Mushroom-Shaped Critter in Deep Sea Vexes Biologists

Animal found in 1986, only now being scientifically described

(Newser) - From afar, the deep-sea animal species Dendrogramma enigmatica resembles a chanterelle mushroom. Upon closer inspection, though, the creatures seem to belong to the animal, not fungi, kingdom. And yet they cannot be classified under any existing animal group, perhaps necessitating an entire rewriting of the early tree of life, not...

Mystery Crater Surfaces on Utah Farm

Theories include collapsed soil, earthquakes, or 'Martian art'

(Newser) - Gary Dalton was draining the irrigation pond on his farmland in Circleville, Utah, when he made a startling discovery: a giant crater staring back up at him from the bottom of the basin. "The sun was just right, so I saw this blasted thing that no one had ever...

By 6 or 7, Kids Learn How to Lie and Distrust
By 6 or 7, Kids Learn How
to Lie and Distrust
study says
Sep 3, 2014 10:26 AM CDT

By 6 or 7, Kids Learn How to Lie and Distrust

Lying comes before distrust, researchers find

(Newser) - Kids are capable of thinking strategically, including using competitiveness and lies to their own benefit, by the time they're 7. So report researchers out of the University of Minnesota who studied 69 kids ages 3 to 9 playing two games. Kids typically figure out how to infer what others...

This Carving May Prove Neanderthals Were Artists

Carving dates to 39K years ago; Neanderthals disappeared around that time

(Newser) - An ancient etching inside a cave in Gibraltar may mean that Neanderthals' knuckles weren't dragging quite as much as we believed, reports the BBC . The design suggests Neanderthals were capable of symbolic thinking, a trait once believed to be unique to modern humans, anthropologist Clive Finlayson of the Gibraltar...

Want to Lose Weight? Keep Eating Fats

Carbs, not fats, mess with our metabolism

(Newser) - If you're trying to lose weight on a low-fat diet and it's not working, here's why. Refined carbohydrates—found in processed foods like white breads, white rice, and pastas—tend to be loaded with sugar, which messes with our metabolisms, making it harder to burn calories. Eating...

Freshwater Fueling Antarctic Sea Rise

Coastal waters rising faster than rest of ocean

(Newser) - Around 61% of the world's freshwater is locked up in Antarctic ice—but a new study warns that accelerating melting on the continent is helping push up the sea levels around it. Researchers found that between 1992 and 2011, sea levels rose more around Antarctica than in the Southern...

Patchy Grass Offers a Big Stonehenge Clue

Areas of poor growth suggest stones once made a full circle

(Newser) - A layperson's simple observation may help solve a Stonehenge mystery that scientific expertise couldn't. A historic preservation worker noticed that the grass didn't grow so well in certain areas near the ancient monument, the BBC reports. It's possible that giant stones were once placed there, suggesting...

Couples Who Smoke Pot Together Stay ... Chill
 Couples Who 
 Smoke Pot 
 Together 
 Stay ... Chill 
in case you missed it
Aug 31, 2014 3:18 PM CDT

Couples Who Smoke Pot Together Stay ... Chill

Researchers say it's especially true when both spouses partake

(Newser) - It isn't called a peace pipe for nothing. New research backs up what most people would have probably guessed—that married couples who smoke pot tend to be less violent than those who don't, and that this is especially true when both partners toke up. In a study...

We Understand Probability as Toddlers
 We Understand 
 Probability as 
 Toddlers 
study says
Aug 31, 2014 10:27 AM CDT

We Understand Probability as Toddlers

Experiment shows their quick learning skills

(Newser) - Don't understand probability? Try asking a 2-year-old. A study suggests they have an instinctive understanding of the ideas involved, and that a little observation goes a long way. Researchers at the University of Washington showed 32 toddlers a machine featuring a pair of blocks and a platform, Quartz reports....

Got a Hangover? Blame Your Genes
 Got a Hangover? 
 Blame Your Genes 
study says
Aug 31, 2014 8:21 AM CDT

Got a Hangover? Blame Your Genes

Researchers base finding on study of twins

(Newser) - When it comes to a bad reaction to alcohol, it seems not everyone is created equal. Genetics, researchers suggest, could be to blame for almost half the difference among people in whether we suffer the day after drinking. In a survey, study authors asked some 4,000 people on the...

Why You Should Nap After Coffee

 Why You 
 Should Nap 
 After Coffee 
in case you missed it
Aug 31, 2014 6:35 AM CDT

Why You Should Nap After Coffee

'Coffee naps' produce maximum alertness, scientists say

(Newser) - Debating between a cup of joe or a short nap to make it through the day? Perhaps you should try both. Scientists say a "coffee nap"—having a cup of coffee and then a 20-minute nap—will allow for maximum alertness when you wake, Vox reports. Yes, caffeine...

This Tiny Copper Awl Is Rewriting History
This Tiny Copper Awl
Is Rewriting History
in case you missed it
Aug 30, 2014 7:00 PM CDT

This Tiny Copper Awl Is Rewriting History

Awl is oldest metal object ever found in Middle East

(Newser) - A small copper awl found in a woman's ancient grave in Israel is rewriting history. It's the oldest metal object ever found in the Middle East, and was probably owned by the apparently important 40-year-old woman buried with it in an extravagant Tel Tsaf grave, LiveScience reports. The...

1 in 7 &#39;Sleep Drunk&#39; After Waking

 1 in 7 'Sleep Drunk' 
 After Waking 
in case you missed it
Aug 30, 2014 7:00 AM CDT

1 in 7 'Sleep Drunk' After Waking

And you know you who are

(Newser) - Have you ever woken up so confused you've mistaken a water bottle for a telephone, or the closet for a toilet? If so, you might be among the one in seven people estimated to suffer from a sleep disorder called "confusional arousal," reports MedPage Today . Or to...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including the mother of all wasps' nests found in a UK bedroom

(Newser) - A Death Valley mystery potentially solved and a strange revelation about Hello Kitty make the list:
  • Death Valley's Moving Rock Puzzle Finally Cracked : For at least a century, the "slithering stones" of Death Valley—rocks, some of them boulders weighing more than 600 pounds, that move across the
...

Man Finds Giant Wasps' Nest in Bed

Swarm took over spare bedroom in British home

(Newser) - A British man visiting his mother discovered her spare bedroom was already in use—by thousands of wasps that had chewed up the mattress and pillows to make a 3-foot-wide nest on the bed. Pest controller John Birkett says a small window in the bedroom had been left open and...

Science Explains Why Mozzarella Is Best for Pizza

It both bubbles and browns better than other cheese

(Newser) - In what sounds like the best middle school science project ever, mozzarella has been put to the test against several other cheeses on pizza and declared the best. But scientists in New Zealand got to work with more than just poster board; they used fancy cameras and software to study...

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