discoveries

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

Stories 1341 - 1360 | << Prev   Next >>

It Was a Wolf-Sized Otter, but With Jaws Like a Bear

Modern otters wouldn't stand a chance against Siamogale melilutra

(Newser) - Modern-day sea otters would prove no match for their 6-million-year-old, wolf-sized ancestors , who didn't need rocks to smash open mollusks. They could do that, and perhaps rip into tougher and larger prey, with a single bite from surprisingly powerful jaws, according to new research. In the latest study of...

Alarming Trend Among Teens: &#39;Digital Self-Harm&#39;
Alarming Trend Among Teens:
'Digital Self-Harm'
NEW STUDY
Nov 9, 2017 12:48 PM CST

Alarming Trend Among Teens: 'Digital Self-Harm'

6% of children surveyed said they'd engaged in 'self-cyberbullying'

(Newser) - Cyberbullying is a huge problem among teens—and an alarming new study finds that sometimes, kids inflict the bullying on themselves. Researchers surveyed almost 5,600 US students between the ages of 12 and 17, and around 6% reported they had engaged in what researchers are calling "self-cyberbullying" or...

No More Amnios for Down Syndrome? Scientists Hope So

They say new test results in a 100-fold reduction in false positives

(Newser) - Doctors have discovered a more accurate way to prenatally test for chromosome disorders like Down syndrome, and it's less stressful for the mother to boot. Normally, if an ultrasound and blood test show a woman's risk of an affected pregnancy is high, doctors can perform additional tests to...

80% of His Skin Had Been Lost. Doctors Grew Him a Replacement

Genetic treatment saved 7-year-old's life

(Newser) - A child who was expected to die from a devastating skin disease is alive today thanks to an experimental treatment that grew him a whole new skin. Hassan, a 7-year-old Syrian boy living in Germany, was born with a condition called epidermolysis bullosa that prevented the outer layer of skin...

Too Little Sleep Is Same for Brain as Too Much Booze

UCLA study zeros in on how individual cells slow down during sleep deprivation

(Newser) - When you don't get enough sleep, parts of your brain are going to take catnaps the next day, even while you're ostensibly up and awake, a new study suggests. The results can have real-world consequences, says lead researcher Itzhak Fried of UCLA, who uses the example of a...

Chopin's Pickled Heart Explains His Death

Scientists say they've been able to determine cause 'with high probability'

(Newser) - Frederic Chopin is buried in Paris' famed Père Lachaise Cemetery. His heart is not. The composer asked, on his deathbed in 1849 at age 39, that his heart be buried not in France, but in his native Poland ( Nature reports that he feared being buried alive). And so...

Tiny T. Rex Arms We Laugh At May Have Been 'Vicious'

Scientist thinks they may have been used for powerful slashing

(Newser) - It's a physical mismatch that's long puzzled paleontologists: Tyrannosaurus rex, terror of the Cretaceous Period, empowered with a giant head and ferocious jaws, yet also stuck with tiny, seemingly useless arms. Per National Geographic , scientists' speculation on the arms has included using them to hang onto prey, as...

There&#39;s a Reason Afternoon Heart Surgery Is Best


There's a Reason
Afternoon Heart
Surgery Is Best
NEW STUDY
Nov 2, 2017 11:35 AM CDT

There's a Reason Afternoon Heart Surgery Is Best

Heart genes aren't in top form in the morning: scientists

(Newser) - Should you ever need heart surgery, it might be worth pressing for an afternoon appointment. New research in the Lancet finds patients who undergo morning heart surgery are twice as likely to suffer heart issues and other complications as patients who have surgery in the afternoon, per the BBC . It'...

First Major Find in Great Pyramid Since 19th Century

It's a huge cavity, and it's raising a lot of questions

(Newser) - It's not every day that what is essentially nothingness would be major news, but today is that day: Scientists announced in Nature that after two years of study, they've identified a roughly 100-foot-long void in Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza—built around 2500 BC, it's the...

In Lithuania, 'Most Important Find Since Dead Sea Scrolls'

Inside the incredible discovery of 170K pages of Jewish documents

(Newser) - A professor of Jewish history doesn't mince words: "It's the most important find since the Dead Sea Scrolls," David Fishman tells Fox News . He's referring to a trove of Jewish documents that were long assumed to have been destroyed in Lithuania during the Holocaust—but...

Google Earth Reveals Ancient Mystery in Saudi Arabia
Google Earth Reveals Ancient
Mystery in Saudi Arabia
in case you missed it
Oct 28, 2017 11:24 AM CDT

Google Earth Reveals Ancient Mystery in Saudi Arabia

Hundreds of unexplained stone 'gates' are spotted from above

(Newser) - Google Earth has revealed an archaeological mystery from on high. Satellite images show the existence of ancient stone structures built thousands of years ago in what is now an inhospitable part of Saudi Arabia, reports LiveScience . Archaeologists led by David Kennedy of the University of Western Australia call them "...

500-Year-Old Navigational Tool Discovered in Shipwreck

Mariners used astrolabes to determine position of sun, stars

(Newser) - The world's earliest known navigational tool used by Vasco da Gama's fleet was discovered in a shipwreck off the Oman coast, NPR reports. Called a marine astrolabe, it's believed to date from 1495 to 1500. Unlike the Game of Thrones intro astrolabe, sailors used this one to...

One Whiff of Blood Molecule Separates Hunters, Hunted

Scent of E2D triggers widely different reactions in animals, including humans

(Newser) - Scientists have zeroed in on a molecule in blood whose very scent triggers alarm in humans but also beckons predators. In fact, one whiff of the E2D molecule causes animals of all kinds to act in "diametrically opposite" ways, suggesting that it's been around for eons and responses...

Woman Can't Stop Sweating Blood From Face, Hands

Doctors say 'most unusual' condition is hematohidrosis, but they aren't sure what causes it

(Newser) - You know there's a problem if you start coughing up blood—but how to react when you start sweating blood? Per the CBC , a 21-year-old Italian woman got to a hospital ASAP, and now doctors are puzzling over her "most unusual" case of bleeding from her face and...

Researchers See 'Horrific Decline' in Insect Numbers

Scientist warns of 'ecological Armageddon'

(Newser) - If it seems like there are fewer squished bugs on your windshield after long journeys than in years past, you're not imagining things: Researchers say there appears to have been a steep and extremely worrying decline in insect populations in recent decades. In a study published in the journal...

Battle of the Jaws: Study Finds Alligators Eat Sharks

Alligator experts thought James Nifong was kidding when he asked if it was possible

(Newser) - As far as research goes, it sounds pretty intense: pumping the stomachs of 500-plus alligators—"live and alert" ones at that. It was part of James Nifong's study on whether American alligators on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts eat sharks, and the answer might surprise you: yes. The...

Eating Placenta About as Beneficial as Snake Oil
No Proven Benefits,
Several Risks to
Eating Placenta
NEW STUDY
Oct 17, 2017 10:30 AM CDT

No Proven Benefits, Several Risks to Eating Placenta

Placenta capsules may carry bacteria, heavy metals: study

(Newser) - The trend of eating placenta after childbirth "borders on cannibalism" and is only lining providers' pockets, rather than offering any benefit to women or their newborns. That's according to researchers of a study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, which finds "no known scientifically...

Behold, a 'New Era in Astronomy' Is Born

Researchers witness collision of 2 neutron stars, and the result is monumental

(Newser) - It was a faint signal, but it told of one of the most violent acts in the universe, and it would soon reveal secrets of the cosmos, including how gold was created, per the AP . What astronomers witnessed in August and revealed Monday was the long-ago collision of two neutron...

His Quest to Create 'Gaydar' Had Unintended Consequences

Michal Kosinski says he just wanted to expose a privacy threat

(Newser) - "Our findings expose a threat to the privacy and safety of gay men and women," wrote Michal Kosinski in a paper set to be published by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology—only he's the one now finding himself in danger. The New York Times takes...

He Buried a Letter at Auschwitz. Now We Know What It Says

Discovered in 1980, it was mostly illegible, but has now been restored

(Newser) - Auschwitz was liberated in January 1945; a couple of months before that, a Jewish prisoner secretly wrote a letter outlining the horrors he had witnessed, placed it in a thermos then a leather pouch, and buried it. Now, for the first time, Marcel Nadjari's words have been published in...

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