discoveries

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

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Amateur Sleuths: We Found Old War Fort

US soldiers used Fort Harrell in the second Seminole War

(Newser) - Three amateur explorers have uncovered what they say are the remains of an old US Army fort in South Florida—a find harking back to the time of Andrew Jackson and the removal of Native Americans to lands beyond the Mississippi River. Shawn Beightol, a Miami-Dade school teacher, says a...

Gene Tinkering Doubles Lifespan ... of Flowers
Scientists Slow Aging
in Flowers
Jul 5, 2014 7:24 AM CDT

Scientists Slow Aging in Flowers

It could mean longer-lasting bouquets eventually

(Newser) - Japanese scientists seem to have figured out a way to slow down the aging process dramatically, albeit only in flowers. They zeroed in on a gene in a variety of morning glory, shut it off, and, voila, the flower's blooms suddenly had twice the normal lifespan, reports AFP via...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including a surprising find about ... head-banging

(Newser) - Two intriguing aviation-related discoveries this week: A potential clue in the mystery of what happened to Amelia Earhart, and the end of another mystery—involving what Norwegians thought were UFOs.
  • Plane Photo May Offer Big Earhart Clue : Could a long-forgotten photo snapped on a runway in Miami in 1937 before
...

1950s Norwegian UFO Mystery Solved
1950s Norwegian UFO Mystery Solved
Jul 3, 2014 4:54 PM CDT

1950s Norwegian UFO Mystery Solved

They were CIA test flights

(Newser) - Plenty of Norwegians thought aliens had taken a fancy to their country back in the 1950s thanks to a slew of inexplicable UFO sightings. Inexplicable no more: It was the CIA, reports the BBC . Actually, it was the CIA itself that fessed up in this tweet , which reads in part,...

Plane Photo May Offer Big Clue in Earhart Flight

Expert thinks he's spotted a repair on fuselage that provides link to crash-landing

(Newser) - Attention, Amelia Earhart buffs. The Miami Herald has an intriguing report about how a long-forgotten photo snapped before takeoff could prove that she crash-landed on a Pacific island. The photo, taken on a runway in Miami in 1937, shows a shiny rectangular patch on the side of the plane that...

How Giraffes' Skinny Legs Support All That Weight

Researchers discover a special ligament

(Newser) - With giraffes tipping the scales at 2,000 pounds or more, how on earth do those skinny legs support all that weight? Researchers think they've discovered the trick, and it involves an uber-supportive ligament tucked inside a groove in the animal's lower leg bones, reports Phys.org . Other...

Ancient Meteorite Unlocks Space Puzzle

'Mysterious object' found in Swedish limestone quarry

(Newser) - Almost 500 million years ago in the Ordovician Period, two large bodies in the asteroid belt collided. Two asteroids, or an asteroid and a comet, blew apart and their debris and dust fell to Earth. One of these large bodies was the source of all the L-chondrite meteorites that have...

Triceratops Horns Were 1M Years in Making

Large nasal horn they are so famous for wasn't always so big

(Newser) - The rhino-like Triceratops, Greek for "three-horned face," didn't always embody its name in way we picture it doing. By comparing 50 skulls collected over a 15-year period from the Hell Creek Formation in Montana, paleontologists have learned that it took between 1 million and 2 million years...

Scientists Discover Ancient Baby Boom

Study: Native American birth-rate growth, fall is a 'warning about overpopulation'

(Newser) - A baby boom among Native Americans that started some 1,500 years ago was so massive that birth rates likely surpassed the highest found anywhere in the world today, according to researchers scouring data tied to thousands of human remains found at hundreds of sites across the region where Arizona,...

Study Paints Bleak Picture for Emperor Penguins

 Emperor Penguins 
 Marching Toward Peril 
study says
Jun 30, 2014 6:58 AM CDT

Emperor Penguins Marching Toward Peril

Study: Climate change to cause steep population declines by 2100

(Newser) - The iconic Emperor penguin is now marching toward its own demise thanks to climate change, according to the first study to assess the creature's long-term chances. An international team of scientists studying Antarctica's Emperor penguin population is calling for the birds to be reclassified as "endangered" after...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including an intriguing finding about older moms

(Newser) - An insight into our human ancestors from an unexpected source and a common trait among mammals make the list:
  • Oldest Human Poop Discovered : Neanderthals who squatted by a campfire in Spain around 50,000 years ago left something that has got today's scientists very excited. What is believed to
...

New Species Looks Like Mouse, Is More Similar to Elephant

One-ounce shrew has some surprising DNA cousins

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered a new species that, though it looks a lot like a mouse, is actually a close genetic relative of an elephant. The mammal, which was found in a remote western African desert, is a type of elephant shrew or "round-eared sengi." Dubbed the Macroscelides micus,...

Scientists Unravel Mystery of Electric Fish's Jolt

6-foot electric eel is 6-inch fish attached to a 5.5-foot cattle prod

(Newser) - For the first time, scientists have assembled the complete genome of an electric fish—the potent South American electric eel—and in doing so have identified something much larger: Exactly how this fish, along with electric fish from other families, evolved to create their jolt-delivering organ. The findings, out of...

10% of US Beaches Teeming With Bacteria

Stormwater runoff major culprit in unsafe beaches

(Newser) - They may look pristine, but one in 10 US beaches is ripe with enough bacteria to make you sick. New research shows 10% of coastal and lakefront beaches fail to meet the Environmental Protection Agency's water-safety standards and swimmers could develop a stomach bug, conjunctivitis, pink eye, or even...

Study: Mammals Big, Small Pee in About 21 Seconds

Above 6.5 pounds, urination duration doesn't scale with size

(Newser) - Ever wonder why it doesn't take elephants an hour to pee? Well someone did. After studying mammals of all walks of life at Zoo Atlanta, scientists discovered that, aside from those that weigh 6.5 pounds or less, it takes the rest of us mammals on average 21 seconds...

Oldest Human Poop Discovered

Neanderthal latrine reveals omnivorous diet

(Newser) - Neanderthals who squatted by a campfire in Spain around 50,000 years ago left something that has got today's scientists very excited. What is believed to be the oldest human poop ever discovered has yielded important information about the Neanderthal diet, Discovery reports. The leavings show that the Neanderthals...

Ancient Burial Site Reveals 4K-Year-Old Chariots

Also inside: gold artifacts, potential human sacrifices

(Newser) - A dig at a 4,000-year-old burial site in the country of Georgia has turned up a pair of wooden chariots along with human remains, possibly from sacrifices, LiveScience reports. The 39-foot-high Early Bronze Age mound is known as a kurgan and would have been the resting place of a...

Moms Who Give Birth at Older Age Live Longer
Moms Who Give Birth at Older Age Live Longer
study says
Jun 25, 2014 2:07 PM CDT

Moms Who Give Birth at Older Age Live Longer

Study: Those who conceive naturally after 33 more likely to live into 90s

(Newser) - Women who are able to get pregnant naturally and give birth in their mid-30s and after tend to live longer than other women, a new study suggests. Specifically, Boston researchers found that women who gave birth after age 33 were twice as likely to live to 95 than women who...

Explorer: I Found La Salle's Ship in Lake Michigan

Hopes to get permission to excavate, prove it's 17th-century vessel

(Newser) - A 17th-century ship called the Griffin has long eluded shipwreck hunters, but one especially persistent hunter thinks he's finally found the vessel that belonged to French explorer La Salle. Steve Libert tells AP that he is "99.9% sure" that he and his team have spotted the ship,...

Schizophrenia, Pot Smoking Genetically Linked

Predisposition to illness may boost odds of drug use

(Newser) - The exact nature of the relationship between schizophrenia and cannabis still isn't clear to scientists, but a new study offers additional clues. Researchers studied genetic data on 2,082 people, about half of whom had used cannabis, Reuters reports; they focused on the number of schizophrenia-linked genes in the...

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