discoveries

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

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New Drinking Water Source: Cow Poop?

Technology turns manure into water that's fit for livestock

(Newser) - A new technology could make a world of difference to struggling farmers low on water but rich in cow poop, scientists say. A Michigan State University team has created a system that extracts drinkable water—at least fit for livestock to drink—from manure, creating roughly 50 gallons of water...

Cynical? You May Be Prone to Dementia

Study from Finland sees a link

(Newser) - Hard-core cynics won't believe a word of it, but Finnish researchers think they're more likely to suffer from dementia late in life. Three times more likely, in fact, reports the Sydney Morning Herald . The researchers surveyed senior citizens to gauge their level of cynicism, asking them, for example,...

Watching Porn Linked to Brain Differences

Study: But it's not clear whether it's a cause or effect

(Newser) - Men who watch porn tend to be a little different in the head—literally. A German study of 64 men between the ages of 21 and 45 that made use of MRIs found that the more porn they reported watching, the smaller the volume of the brain area associated with...

Secret to Bruce Lee Punch? His Brain

His famous one-inch jab is all about synchronization

(Newser) - Bruce Lee could famously pack a wallop from a short distance—as in one inch. But how on earth did he punch with such power in so short a span? Popular Mechanics breaks things down and discovers that while the physical components of the punch are indeed impressive, the real...

Dinosaurs Survived by Shrinking
 Dinosaurs 
 Survived by 
 Shrinking 
study says
May 27, 2014 2:10 PM CDT

Dinosaurs Survived by Shrinking

10K dinosaur species live on 'in form of birds,' says study author

(Newser) - How many dinosaur species roam the Earth today? "About 10,000 ... in the form of birds," says Oxford paleontologist Robert Benson, one of the authors of a study published in Plos Biology that clarifies dinosaurs' evolutionary path. As Astrobiology explains (and as you may be thinking), the belief...

Peat Bog the Size of England Discovered

Congolese find is some 23 feet deep

(Newser) - The Republic of the Congo is home to a peat bog the size of England—but experts have only just discovered it. "There are parts of the planet that are still uncharted territory," says a scientist involved in the exploration of the site. "Few people venture into...

California Undergrad Makes Astronomy Breakthrough

No term exists for Michael Sandoval's stellar discovery

(Newser) - At just 21 years old, a California college student has made an incredible discovery: Michael Sandoval and his astrophysics professor at San Jose State have spotted what they believe is one galaxy that was swallowed up by another. The result is a dense system of stars—apparently the densest ever...

Physicists: We Know How to Turn Light Into Matter
Physicists: We Know How
to Turn Light Into Matter
in case you missed it
May 24, 2014 7:15 AM CDT

Physicists: We Know How to Turn Light Into Matter

And it could happen within a year, they say

(Newser) - Scientists are on the brink of turning light into matter—a process first theorized in 1934 but then described by the very men behind the idea as "hopeless to try." The subatomic particles the Imperial College London physicists say they've figured out how to produce will not...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including the rediscovery of a long-lost snake

(Newser) - A theory that Spanish conquerers left their mark on Peru in a way they never imagined and an intriguing discovery about married couples are on the list:
  • Spanish Conquest Literally Changed Peru's Shape : The coming of the Spanish conquistadors changed Peru's shape forever—literally, according to researchers who
...

Not Getting Pregnant? Check Your Cholesterol
Not Getting Pregnant?
Check Your Cholesterol
new study
May 23, 2014 2:10 PM CDT

Not Getting Pregnant? Check Your Cholesterol

Study finds link between high cholesterol, trouble conceiving

(Newser) - High cholesterol is bad for more than just your arteries. A study released this week found that high cholesterol may make it tougher for couples to get pregnant, the Washington Post reports. Researchers came to their conclusion after following 501 couples who were trying to conceive (and controlling for other...

Toddlers' Blood Could Hold Key to Beating Malaria

New vaccine traps disease inside blood cells

(Newser) - Researchers think they've found a promising new potential weapon in the fight against malaria in a fairly unlikely place: the blood of toddlers. In a paper published in Science today, researchers detail how they examined the blood of more than 750 children in Tanzania. They found that about 6%...

Fruit Flies Pause to Think About Decisions

Tiny flies share decision-making gene with humans

(Newser) - The fruit fly's tiny speck of a brain has astonished researchers once again. The flies, given the choice of flying into different chambers with varying levels of a scent they associated with danger, lingered longer over the decision as the differences became smaller, showing signs of the same decision-making...

Mysterious Illness Blows In From China
 Mysterious Illness 
 Blows In From China 
new study
May 22, 2014 10:31 AM CDT

Mysterious Illness Blows In From China

Kawasaki disease is on the rise

(Newser) - A potential big step forward in discovering the cause of a childhood heart disease so mysterious that it was referred to as GOK—short for "God only knows"—for the decade after its 1961 identification: Scientists now believe that the agent that causes Kawasaki disease, eventually named for...

Spanish Conquest Literally Changed Peru's Shape

Age-old process on coastline halted with departure of Incas

(Newser) - The coming of the Spanish conquistadors changed Peru's shape forever—literally, according to researchers who say sand ridges stopped forming along the northern coast after the Incas were forced out of the area or killed by disease after Francisco Pizarro's 1532 arrival. Phys.org explains that radiocarbon dating...

Nightsnake 'Lost' for Decades Is Rediscovered

Original sighting on Mexican island was long written off as mistake

(Newser) - The Clarion nightsnake is hard to spot, so hard to spot that for decades, the only sighting of the species native to one of Mexico's Revillagigedo Islands—the original sighting—was assumed to be a mistake. A joint US-Mexico team, however, managed to rediscover the species found by American...

Newly Found Praying Mantis Is a 'Vicious' Hunter

At least the females, anyway

(Newser) - Researchers have discovered a new species of praying mantis in a Rwandan forest with a unique trait: The females have no wings and are "vicious hunters" who scour the forest undergrowth for prey, reports LiveScience . In fact, they're so good at it that the new species name translates...

Study Debunks Fairy Circle Theories

Termites, underground gases don't deserve the credit

(Newser) - The upshot of the latest study on the enigmatic "fairy circles" that appear in Southwest Africa: "Their mystery remains as yet unresolved." But scientists have been able to rule out one of the leading hypotheses, which fingered termites as the likeliest creators . A 2013 study found evidence...

You and Your Spouse May Have Similar DNA

But new study finds your education level similarity is likely much stronger

(Newser) - You may have more in common with your spouse than you think—like DNA, a new study suggests. Scientists came to their conclusion, published yesterday in the journal PNAS , after reviewing data on 9,429 non-Hispanic whites, a group that included 825 wedded couples. The bigger number of the study:...

Entirely New Order of Animal Discovered

Genetic analysis reveals one of planet's biggest sea anemones isn't one

(Newser) - Researchers creating a catalog-like "tree of life" for sea anemones discovered an entirely new kind of animal among them. Based on genetic analysis, a creature that lives near deep sea thermal vents in the Pacific and had been considered a giant sea anemone really isn't actually a sea...

Animals Are Capable of Abstract Thought
Animals Are Capable of Abstract Thought
studies say
May 18, 2014 7:00 PM CDT

Animals Are Capable of Abstract Thought

And, in the case of apes, using touchscreens apparently

(Newser) - We humans have some pretty big britches when it comes to our intellectual prowess, thinking our high-falutin' language gives us the unique ability to grasp abstract concepts and make connections. But research increasingly shows that animals can do the same, Scientific American reports. In a remarkable experiment last fall, researchers...

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