discoveries

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

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Paralysis Cases Rose in 7 Sites With Zika Outbreaks

But researchers still won't say Zika leads directly to Guillain-Barre syndrome

(Newser) - Earlier this month, Puerto Rico announced its first death from Guillain-Barre syndrome, a condition causing temporary paralysis that, in this case, was linked to the Zika virus. Now incidences of Guillain-Barre are said to have risen in seven countries in tandem with outbreaks of Zika, per a study in the...

These Rocks May Hold Oldest Evidence of Life on Earth

Researchers say Greenland stromatolites are 3.7B years old

(Newser) - Researchers claim to have discovered evidence of life on Earth more than 200 million years before the oldest known fossils, the BBC reports. A layer of permanent snow melted away last spring on Greenland's Isua supracrustal belt, revealing a series of wavy peaks called stromatolites in the 3.7...

Have Tasmanian Devils Found the Cure for Cancer?

They're rapidly evolving to fend off a particularly deadly form of the disease

(Newser) - Scientists may not have figured out a cure for cancer, but the Tasmanian devil just might have. According to a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications , the marsupial is quickly evolving to fend off devil facial tumor disease, one of only three known infectious cancers. The disease was only discovered...

'That Is Not a Good Thing': Exotic Ticks Reach Alaska

Researchers say some ticks found on dogs, people can't be linked to travel

(Newser) - Five ticks not native to Alaska have been found on dogs and humans in our northernmost state, and at least one of them—the American dog tick—appears to be solidly "established" in the Last Frontier, Randy Zarnke, an ex-wildlife veterinarian with the state's Department of Fish and...

Doling Out Fake Praise? Your Dog Knows
Doling Out Fake Praise?
Your Dog Knows
NEW STUDY
Aug 30, 2016 12:07 PM CDT

Doling Out Fake Praise? Your Dog Knows

They consider words, tone when processing language: study

(Newser) - Score one for the "dogs are better than cats" camp: New research suggests dogs truly understand their owners—not just the words they speak, but also their tone of speaking. Researchers at Hungary's Eotvos Lorand University measured the brain activity of 13 pet dogs as a trainer repeated...

SETI Investigates 'Interesting' Signal From Deep Space

But don't get too excited about ET just yet

(Newser) - Are aliens living 95 light-years away reaching out to say hello? OK, probably not, but astronomers are nevertheless intrigued by an unusual signal reported out of Russia, reports the Observer . It seems to be coming from the general vicinity of an ancient star in the constellation Hercules known as HD164595,...

Study: Lucy Fell 40 Feet to Her Death 3M Years Ago

But not all agree with the new theory

(Newser) - The famous human ancestor known as Lucy walked the Earth some 3 million years ago , but it was her tree climbing that might have led to her demise, a new study suggests. An analysis of her partial skeleton reveals breaks in her right arm, left shoulder, right ankle, and left...

Hello, Out There: 5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including a very old tree

(Newser) - A strange diagnosis and an intriguing discovery in deep space make the list:
  • Scientists Find Earth-like Planet Close By : After scanning the vast reaches of the cosmos for Earth-like planets where life might exist, astronomers have found one right next door. A rocky planet only slightly bigger than our own
...

Prospector Strikes Gold: a $190K Chunk of It

'I thought it was rubbish at first,' he says of 9-pound Aussie discovery

(Newser) - Wednesday saw what could be the world's largest-ever pearl ; Thursday, a massive gold nugget weighing in at around 9 pounds. Found in central Victoria's Golden Triangle in Australia by an explorer who wishes to stay anonymous, per ABC.net.au , the gleaming chunk of precious metal, estimated to...

He Was Minimally Conscious, Until an Ultrasound Treatment

It's first time this type of ultrasound was used to jumpstart the brain

(Newser) - Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles , are reporting on the "remarkable" recovery of a 25-year-old man who had been in a coma, following a simple and brief exposure to low-energy ultrasound targeting the thalamus; that's the part of the human brain that is typically impaired after...

Scientists 'Hit the Jackpot' With Outer-Space Discovery

Earth-like planet found right next-door

(Newser) - After scanning the vast reaches of the cosmos for Earth-like planets where life might exist, astronomers have found one right next door, the AP reports. A planet that is rocky like Earth and only slightly bigger has been discovered orbiting Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to our solar system, scientists...

Incredible Photos Emerge of WWII Ship Sunk 65 Years Ago

USS Independence is remarkably well-preserved

(Newser) - The USS Independence has remained submerged a half-mile deep off the coast of California for 65 years, out of human sight since it was purposely relegated to the bottom of the ocean by the US Navy in 1951, reportedly with a bunch of 50-gallon barrels containing radioactive waste, per the...

Fisherman Has Craziest Pearl Tale You'll Ever Hear

If it's legit, he found the world's biggest

(Newser) - There are fish tales, and now there's this doozy of a pearl tale from a fisherman in the Philippines. If it turns out to be true, the world has a new largest pearl, by a mile. As first reported by the Palawan News , the unidentified man says he was...

When Columbus Set Sail, This Tree Was 500 Years Old

'Adonis' is Europe's oldest tree

(Newser) - When it comes to ancient things, the United States has Europe beat on one front: A bristlecone pine found in California's White Mountains was shown to be more than 5,000 years old, an age that dwarfs what was on Monday announced as Europe's oldest officially dated tree....

Scientists Make Shrunken, See-Through Lab Mice

'We can look into the wiring of the whole mouse in high resolution'

(Newser) - If your initial reaction is one of queasiness, it would be understandable: A new technique announced Monday in Nature Methods essentially allows scientists to make dead mice see-through—by stripping the lipids and water from the animals' tissues. The fat is what makes the tissues opaque; the removal of water...

You Don&#39;t Know as Many Words as You Think You Do
You Don't Know as Many
Words as You Think You Do
STUDY SAYS
Aug 20, 2016 2:40 PM CDT

You Don't Know as Many Words as You Think You Do

Maybe about 42K if you're a 20-year-old, slightly more if you're older—but definitely not 200K

(Newser) - You don't have to be a lexicographer to have a pretty ample lexicon—but your word knowledge still may not be as ample as you think. At least, that's according to a Ghent University study published in the Frontiers in Psychology , said to be the largest ever of...

World's Largest Pyramid Was Mistaken as a Mountain

It withstood even the lethal advances of Spanish conquistadors

(Newser) - When Hernan Cortez and his Spanish army marched into Cholula in present-day Mexico nearly 500 years ago, they were greeted by a peaceful people prone to building pyramids instead of stockpiles of weapons. Those people and their pyramids fell, and fast, with 10% of the local population murdered in a...

Old Gold: 5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including a Great Lakes shipwreck

(Newser) - Some historically ancient gold and a surprising find about a Stonehenge-like monument are among the notable discoveries of the week:
  • This Might Be Mankind's Oldest Gold : It measures just 0.16 inches in diameter and weighs just 0.005 ounces, but its importance could be countless magnitudes of that:
...

Lazy Contact Care Can Mess Up Eyes Long Term
Lazy Contact Care Can
Mess Up Eyes Long Term
NEW STUDY
Aug 19, 2016 12:23 PM CDT

Lazy Contact Care Can Mess Up Eyes Long Term

Nearly 20% of eye infections from contacts result in more serious eye injuries: CDC

(Newser) - Sleeping with contacts in or forgetting to swap in a new pair according to schedule may be the unintended result of a harried lifestyle, but it could also lead to long-term eye damage, a new CDC study reports. Researchers looked at 1,075 cases of eye infections reported to an...

Here&#39;s How an Ancient Iceman Kept Warm
Here's How an
Ancient Iceman
Kept Warm
STUDY SAYS
Aug 19, 2016 10:48 AM CDT

Here's How an Ancient Iceman Kept Warm

Clothing made from bear, sheep, goat, deer, cattle—you name it, Oetzi wore it

(Newser) - Scientists say Oetzi the Iceman , whose mummified body has been studied extensively since it was discovered on a glacier near the Italian-Austrian border in 1991, wore clothes made of brown bear pelt and roe deer when he died in the Alps 5,300 years ago. Researchers in Italy used genetic...

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