discoveries

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

Stories 4421 - 4440 | << Prev   Next >>

Century-Old Tissue Unlocks Cholera's Genome

Research reveals link between disease's first 2 pandemics

(Newser) - Using a tiny scrap of long-preserved tissue, researchers from the Ancient DNA Centre at Ontario's McMaster University have managed to map out the genome of the cholera strain that ravaged the globe in the early 19th century, in the second of seven pandemics linked to the disease. The research...

Ancient Sea Beasts Were Dark as Night
 Ancient Sea Beasts 
 Were Dark as Night 
new study
Jan 9, 2014 10:01 AM CST

Ancient Sea Beasts Were Dark as Night

Sea beasts weren't so colorful

(Newser) - Ancient sea reptiles are finally showing their true colors. Researchers investigated skin remnants from ancient leatherback turtles and ichthyosaurs and mosasaurs, which resembled fish. The researchers found that all three creatures were covered in black skin or scales, with reason: The coloration may have helped camouflage them and protect them...

Sharks Live Longer Than We Thought

73-year-old great white identified

(Newser) - Great white sharks that manage to stay out of the soup pot can live to much greater ages than earlier realized, according to new research. Using tests that measure radiation from atmospheric nuclear tests, scientists identified a male great white that lived to be around 73 years old and a...

Saudi Arabia Milestone: Dinosaur Fossils

Scientists find first that can be identified in Arabian Peninsula

(Newser) - A new fossil discovery confirms that dinosaurs roamed present-day Saudi Arabia. Researchers report in PLoS One that they found bone fragments of two different dinosaurs that lived about 72 million years ago. One is a distant cousin of T-Rex, a meat-eating theropod. The other is a plant-eating titanosaur, reports LiveScience...

A First: Conjoined Gray Whales

But the underdeveloped calves don't survive birth

(Newser) - Mexican scientists have made a fascinating, if a little sad, discovery in a Baja California lagoon: conjoined gray whales. Unfortunately, the twin calves were dead, and scientists think they were miscarried before full term. While conjoined twins have been seen in other whale species, this is the first recorded case...

Look Out, Cancer Cells, Here Come 'Sticky Balls'

Cornell researchers develop promising technique to keep tumors from spreading

(Newser) - It sounds ingenious: Cornell researchers have created roving proteins whose sole purpose is to destroy cancer cells in the bloodstream. If further tests hold up, this could offer a way to keep cancers from metastasizing, or spreading, reports the BBC , which uses the phrase "cancer-killing sticky balls" to describe...

Stealth Carbs in Paleo Diet Rotted Ancients' Mouths

Acorns, pine nuts caused pus-filled gums, rotted teeth in Morocco

(Newser) - Ancient hunter-gatherers tended to have fine sets of teeth—at least, serious tooth decay was rare since people mainly munched on meat, tubers, and berries, and laid off the carbs, NPR reports. That's why a study from London's Natural History Museum is surprising—and pretty disgusting. Of the...

Supervolcanoes Can Erupt With No Trigger

 Supervolcanoes: 
 What Makes 
 Them Erupt 
study says
Jan 6, 2014 7:40 PM CST

Supervolcanoes: What Makes Them Erupt

Molten lava alone can cause them to blow: scientists

(Newser) - Scientists are keeping a wary eye on our planet's 20 or so supervolcanoes—like the one at Yellowstone National Park—wondering when they will erupt with devastating effects. Now Swiss researchers say that supervolcanoes don't require an external trigger such as an earthquake to cause an eruption; molten...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including just the second asteroid ever spotted before hitting Earth

(Newser) - An amazing find by a sharp-eyed astronomer and a bizarre discovery about the pooping habits of dogs are on this week's list:
  • For 2nd Time Ever, We Saw an Asteroid Before It Hit Us : While working a solo shift on New Year's Eve, an Arizona astronomer spotted a
...

For 2nd Time Ever, We Saw an Asteroid Before It Hit Us

And that's not the only impressive part

(Newser) - While working a solo shift on New Year's Eve, an Arizona astronomer spotted a car-sized asteroid en route to Earth. There are a few amazing things about this: 1) It's only the second time ever that an asteroid has been spotted before impact, and 2) The previous one...

Dogs Use Earth's Magnetic Field to Poop

When off a leash, they align themselves accordingly

(Newser) - Early contender for line of the year in a genuine scientific study: "Dogs preferred to excrete with the body being aligned along the north-south axis under calm MF conditions." MF, in this case, referring to the Earth's magnetic field. That's right: When dogs poop, they position...

Ancient Obelisk's True Purpose Revealed

We've had 'Altar of Peace' wrong for decades, according to 3D modeling

(Newser) - Researchers using 3D modeling and data from NASA think they've discovered the true purpose of the Obelisk of Montecitorio—upending a theory that has stood for decades. The 71-foot-tall ancient Egyptian obelisk was brought to Rome by Emperor Augustus, and would have stood across a plaza from the Ara...

Ancient 'Diamonds' Aren't Exactly Diamonds

They're just bits of diamond polishing paste, researchers find

(Newser) - Back in 2007, a team of researchers said they'd found 4.3-billion-year-old diamonds inside zircon crystals taken from Australia's Jack Hills. But those researchers had used a grinding paste made of synthetic diamonds to polish the zircons in preparation for lab tests ... and now a different team of...

90% of Old Scientific Data May Be Lost
 90% of Old Scientific 
 Data May Be Lost 
STUDY SAYS
Dec 29, 2013 2:30 PM CST

90% of Old Scientific Data May Be Lost

Thanks in part to outdated devices, email addresses

(Newser) - Scientists rely on raw data to reproduce studies and power new research—it's a foundation of the scientific method. But as much as 90% of data is lost within 20 years, according to a new study that puts at least some of the blame on old technology. Researchers emailed...

Future Painkiller: Scorpion Venom?

Study sees potential applications as it can locate human pain receptors

(Newser) - Scorpion venom could someday turn from threat to therapy. Researchers in Australia are investigating the chemical properties of the stuff after collecting 1,500 of the poisonous critters and extracting their venom. "Because they have been isolated in Australia for so long, their venom is very different to the...

China's 'Great Wall' Wasn't Its First Great Wall

Archaeologist Gary Feinman is studying an even earlier one

(Newser) - As NPR tells it, archaeologist Gary Feinman was "simply walking around eastern China's Shandong province" on a hunt for pottery shards when he found something much, well, greater: a rammed earth wall that reached as high as 15 feet in places. That there had been a wall built...

Shock Treatment Zap Your Bad Memories
 Shock Treatment 
 Zaps Your Bad 
 Memories 
study says
Dec 29, 2013 9:12 AM CST

Shock Treatment Zaps Your Bad Memories

Netherlands researchers find success with electroshock therapy

(Newser) - Scientists are investigating a new way to combat bad memories, and so far, the results look promising. In the 1960s, researchers found that mice who were trained to fear a certain sound were able to forget that fear if shocked after hearing the noise. A new study points to a...

New Crime-Fighting Tool: Photos of Victims' Eyes?

We might see reflected images of the criminals, say researchers

(Newser) - Humans are extremely good at identifying faces, even when they're tiny—and that fact could help police solve future crimes. Researchers showed 32 participants high-resolution photo portraits of faces, and the participants were asked to identify people reflected in the subjects' pupils—often the photographer or someone standing next...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Astronomers may have found a moon unlike any other

(Newser) - Unprecedented discoveries in space (though this one isn't confirmed) and under the ice of Greenland highlight this week's list:
  • Astronomers May Have Found a Milestone Moon : Astronomers have found plenty of Earth-like planets out there in deep space, but so far they haven't found a moon orbiting
...

Astronomers May Have Found a Milestone Moon

It could be the first 'exomoon' detected around an exoplanet

(Newser) - Astronomers have found plenty of Earth-like planets out there in deep space, but so far they haven't found a moon orbiting one of them. Until now, maybe. Scientists might have detected one in orbit around a planet in the constellation Sagittarius, reports Nature . If so, it's the first...

Stories 4421 - 4440 | << Prev   Next >>
Most Read on Newser