discoveries

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

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This Is Earth&#39;s Hottest Pepper
 This Is Earth's Hottest Pepper 
Dec 27, 2013 7:35 AM CST

This Is Earth's Hottest Pepper

...according to Guinness, and it's grown in the US

(Newser) - The Carolina Reaper has taken the title of world's hottest pepper, after a four-year quest to do just that. The Guinness Book of World Records in November handed the honor to Ed Currie, who grows the fire-engine red peppers in South Carolina. The move followed 2012 testing at Winthrop...

Study Sees Link Between Concussions, Alzheimer's

Alzheimer-related brain protein found in some with previous concussion

(Newser) - If you've ever suffered a concussion, a new study suggests you may have a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease—or not. Mayo Clinic researchers performed brain scans on 141 people in their 70s and 80s who had memory problems and 448 who didn't. Some 18% and...

Scientists Create Super-Strong Micro 'Muscle'

Vanadium dioxide-based device is super fast, and the size of a microchip

(Newser) - A team of government scientists has created a microchip-sized robotic muscle capable of throwing objects 50 times heavier than itself a distance five times longer than its length in less than 60 milliseconds. The key to this wonder device is a material called vanadium dioxide, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory...

Gifts Also Rule Animal Kingdom

They offer piggyback rides, share food

(Newser) - Many species of animals are just as into gift-giving as we are, though they may be better at avoiding that last-minute shopping rush. Often, the New York Times explains, the presents are tied to mating. "This is an incredibly cool and important topic in sexual selection that we’re...

Women May Get More Out of Flu Shots

Research suggests they may have stronger immune systems in general

(Newser) - Women react more strongly to flu vaccination than men, a new study has demonstrated, meaning they might be more protected against getting sick. Researchers examined the inflammatory responses of 53 women and 34 men after they got their flu shots, and found that men, particularly men with high testosterone, exhibited...

Big Find Under Greenland's Snow: 100B Tons of Water

Snow insulates it, keeping it liquid year-round, say researchers

(Newser) - As far as discoveries go, this one is literally huge: An aquifer holding more than 100 billion tons of water that covers an area larger than West Virginia has been discovered beneath Greenland's snow-covered ice sheet. And it caught the researchers who stumbled on it in 2011 off-guard, with...

Narcolepsy Breakthrough: It&#39;s Autoimmune
Narcolepsy Breakthrough:
It's Autoimmune
STUDY SAYS
Dec 22, 2013 7:04 AM CST

Narcolepsy Breakthrough: It's Autoimmune

Researchers find 'smoking gun' confirming long-held theory

(Newser) - A group of researchers has finally found evidence to confirm what many have long suspected: Narcolepsy is an autoimmune disease. The hypothesis has been swirling since 2009, when at least 900 children developed the chronic drowsiness disorder after being given a swine flu vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline, Scientific American and Reuters...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

From a French revolutionary to Antarctic gems

(Newser) - Doctors crack a medical cold case, while scientists spot diamonds in an unexpected place:
  • Revolutionary Robespierre Gets a Modern Diagnosis : The guillotine ended the life of French revolutionary Maximilien de Robespierre in 1794, but the 36-year-old might not have been long for this earth anyhow, a new study suggests.
  • Antarctica
...

&#39;Youth&#39; Chemical Reverses Muscle Aging in Mice
'Youth' Chemical Reverses 
 Muscle Aging in Mice 
STUDY SAYS
Dec 20, 2013 1:41 PM CST

'Youth' Chemical Reverses Muscle Aging in Mice

Research team wants to begin clinical trials in 2015

(Newser) - If you have a few unwanted wrinkles, this study may pique your interest: Harvard scientists reversed a part of the aging process in mice with a muscle-rejuvenating chemical the BBC dubs "youth-medication." The chemical, NAD, decreases in cells as the body ages, but when mice were given boosted...

Revolutionary Robespierre Gets a Modern Diagnosis

Doctors think he suffered from auto-immune disorder sarcoidosis

(Newser) - The guillotine ended the life of French revolutionary Maximilien de Robespierre in 1794, but the 36-year-old might not have been long for this earth anyhow, a new study suggests. Doctors think he suffered from an auto-immune disorder called sarcoidosis in which the body attacks its own tissues and organs, reports...

New Island Isn't Disappearing— It's Growing

And it gets a name: Niijima

(Newser) - An island that sprouted out of the Pacific thanks to an undersea volcanic eruption some 600 miles south of Tokyo last month might just be here to stay. Scientists initially guessed the new island would soon sink below the surface— Pakistan's newest island is doing just that—but satellite...

Watching a Lot of Traumatic News Jacks PTSD Risk

Poll follows Boston Marathon attack

(Newser) - It may be possible to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder without actually being present for a traumatic event, researchers say: Watching a lot of media coverage may heighten the risk of the disorder. Researchers surveyed 4,675 Americans two to four weeks after the Boston Marathon attack. About 4.5%...

New Birth Defect Risk: Dad&#39;s Vitamin Deficiency
 New Birth Defect Risk:
Dad's Vitamin Deficiency 
study says
Dec 15, 2013 8:19 AM CST

New Birth Defect Risk: Dad's Vitamin Deficiency

Father's lack of B9 jacks risk 28% in baby mice

(Newser) - Seems it's not just moms-to-be who need to watch what they eat. Men who don't get enough vitamin B9 may put their children at higher risk of birth defects, a study suggests. "It’s always put on the mother that it’s her health that determines the...

Newfound Greenhouse Gas 7K Times Worse Than CO2
Newfound Greenhouse Gas
7K Times Worse Than CO2
in case you missed it
Dec 14, 2013 1:23 PM CST

Newfound Greenhouse Gas 7K Times Worse Than CO2

And we've been using perfluorotributylamine for decades

(Newser) - Canadian researchers have detected another greenhouse gas—and its global warming potential is extreme. Over the course of a century, "a single molecule of PFTBA has the equivalent climate impact as 7,100 molecules of CO2," says a lead author of the study that identified perfluorotributylamine. "We...

Life May Have Originated Miles Underground

New research questions 'primordial soup' theory

(Newser) - The idea of a "primordial soup," in which life theoretically began in lakes and oceans, may be way off. New studies suggest the beginnings of life on this planet could have occurred deep underground, the Independent reports. Researchers have found microbes up to 3.1 miles below the...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

We've got a new 'coldest spot on Earth' ... even if the universe is just a hologram

(Newser) - Scientists are postulating that the universe is somehow a hologram, but if that's too abstract, other scientists have identified the coldest spot on Earth:
  • All the Universe Is ... a Hologram? Prepare for a head trip: The universe may actually be a hologram and everything you see an illusion, according
...

No, Music Doesn&#39;t Make You Smarter

 No, Music Doesn't 
 Make You Smarter 
STUDY SAYS
Dec 13, 2013 9:23 AM CST

No, Music Doesn't Make You Smarter

Samuel Mehr crashes the 'Mozart effect' myth in two new studies

(Newser) - Sorry to burst your bubble, parents, but all those piano lessons aren't helping to make your child the smartest kid on the block. Learning to play a musical instrument comes with a lot of good: It can bolster creativity, focus, discipline, and even self-esteem. But there's just no...

Doctors Find 40-Year-Old Fetus in Woman, 82

'Stone babies' end up mummified in body

(Newser) - An 82-year-old Colombian woman went to the hospital with abdominal pain and got a diagnosis she almost certainly wasn't expecting: There was a 40-year-old fetus inside her. The condition is known as a "calcified fetus," "lithopaedian," or "stone baby," the Telegraph reports. It'...

All the Universe Is ... Just a Hologram?
 All the Universe Is ... 
 Just a Hologram? 
NEW STUDIES
Dec 12, 2013 11:56 AM CST

All the Universe Is ... Just a Hologram?

New physics research might prove Maldacena's hologram theory

(Newser) - Prepare for a head trip: The universe may actually be a hologram and everything you see an illusion, according to new research that could prove gravity comes from thin, vibrating strings—holograms of events in a simpler, flatter cosmos. It was an idea first put forth by physicist Juan Maldacena...

Scientist: Massive Quakes Hidden in History

Huge seismic events missing from the records

(Newser) - The Earth might have a more turbulent past—and hence a more turbulent future—than we thought. In a presentation yesterday, Dr. Susan Hough of the US Geological Survey argued that hidden throughout history are a glut of giant earthquakes that either went unrecorded or have been underestimated. "Seismometers...

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