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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: scientists

scientists stories: 21 news summaries

1 - 20 of 21 Stories | 1 2 Next >>

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 Climate Skeptics: 
 Hacked Emails 
 Prove We're Right 

Scientist talks about adding a 'trick' to graph

2 hours, 56 minutes ago
(Newser) - Hackers have gotten their hands on a trove of emails from leading climate scientists, and global warming skeptics are rejoicing. They say the emails prove the crisis is overblown and are crowing about one in particular, from 1999, in which a scientist plans to add a "trick" to a... More »

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climate change • global warming • email • scientists • skeptics • hacking

Surfer Dude's Theory of Everything May School Science

Yurt-dweller rivets
the establishment

Nov 11, 09 8:09 AM CST
(Newser) - Science needs more people like Garrett Lisi, writes Roger Highfield at the Daily Telegraph . Lisi kitesurfs on Maui, lives in a yurt, snowboards at Tahoe—and has wowed physicists with his "theory of everything." The surfer dude scientist claims to have solved the biggest problem in physics by... More »

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physics • yurt • scientists • snowboarding • surfers • Garrett Lisi

 Giant Rat 
 Found in 
 'Lost Volcano' 

Fanged toads, mini 'Ewoks' among species discovered in New Guinea jungle

Sep 7, 09 11:01 AM CDT
(Newser) - A new species of giant rat with no fear of humans has been discovered in a volcanic crater deep in the jungles of Papua New Guinea. It's the same kind of rat "you find in city sewers"—except it's 32 inches long, said a scientist traveling with a... More »

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BBC • Papua New Guinea • rats • scientists • species • volcano • exotic animals • BBC Films • international • scientific expedition • Bosavi

ANALYSIS

 'Jesus Burial Box' 
 Trial Gets Thorny 

Judge skeptical after witnesses seemingly contradict own testimony

Sep 5, 09 4:18 PM CDT
(Newser) - The public is already frowning on a Tel Aviv man accused of forging the burial box of Jesus' brother James, but the judge in the case has hinted that the case is weak, Matthew Kalman writes in Time. Two scientists, witnesses for the prosecution, have testified that geological conditions could... More »

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Israel • research • scientists • Tel Aviv • artifacts • Jesus Christ • forgery

(Newser) - The Senate will soon debate the climate bill passed by the House, but “even if we do get a global-warming law for the first time in 2009, in a sense we’ve already failed,” write Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum on BuzzFlash. The issue’s 20 years old,... More »

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climate change • Congress • global warming • science • GOP • Republican Party • scientists • Waxman-Markey

Missile Shield Useless Against Iran's Arsenal: Study

System wouldn't protect Europe; Iran far from nuclear missiles

May 19, 09 9:20 AM CDT
(Newser) - The US missile shield planned for eastern Europe wouldn’t protect the continent from threats posed by Iranian missiles, a team of American and Russian scientists found. Further, the Washington Post notes, it will be more than 5 years before Iran can build nuclear warheads and missiles to launch them,... More »

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Iran • Russia • missile shield • nuclear weapons • nuclear program • missile defense system • scientists • nuclear arsenal • nuclear missiles • Obama administration • report • President Obama

 Deadly Genes 
 Make Euro Jews 
 Smarter: Scientist 

Scientists spark furor with controversial DNA theory

Apr 18, 09 4:20 PM CDT
(Newser) - The genes that make European Jews susceptible to deadly diseases may also increase their intelligence, two scientists say. Arizona physicist Gregory Cochran stumbled on the theory when pondering why natural selection hasn't removed bad DNA from the gene pool that makes Ashkenazi Jews get so many diseases. His answer: ... More »

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intelligence • DNA • genes • scientists • Ashkenazi Jews

(Newser) - A 45-foot, 1.25-ton snake stalked the jungles of South America in the period shortly after dinosaurs went extinct, the Times of London reports. Researchers have found 28 individual “Titanoboas” in Colombia’s Cerrejon Coal Mine; with every specimen at least 40 feet long, scientists say it’s likely... More »

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Colombia • paleontology • snake • dinosaur • scientists • prehistoric • Amazon rainforest

 Scientists 
 Sniff Out 
 Ancient Stash 
 of Pot 

2 lbs. of green plant material found in 2700 year-old grave

Dec 3, 08 5:24 PM CST
(Newser) - Scientists excavating a grave in China’s Gobi desert have found what they believe is the world’s oldest marijuana stash, reports Discovery News. Two pounds of still-green plant material were found in a 2,700-year-old grave belonging to a Caucasian man researchers believe may have been a shaman. More »

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China • discoveries • marijuana • scientists • ancient customs • burial site

Scientists Closer to
Invisibility Cloak

New material geared towards military, medical uses

Aug 10, 08 5:24 PM CDT
(Newser) - Soon Harry Potter may not be the only one wearing an invisibility cloak. Researchers today announced a new material that bends light away from objects, causing "negative refraction" and "cloaking." The technology, which adds to earlier research veiling two-dimensional objects, will likely conceal military devices and improve... More »

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military • scientists • engineering • invisibility • metamaterials

Ancient Device Gives Up Its Secrets

Greek calculating machine tracked eclipses, Olympics

Jul 30, 08 5:40 PM CDT
(Newser) - The world's oldest calculating machine was used as a calendar that tracked eclipses and marked Olympic Games, the Telegraph reports. Scientists say the ancient Greek "Antikythera Mechanism," a 2,100-year-old bronze gadget discovered in 1900, marked the 4-year cycle of Games that climaxed with the Olympics—"which... More »

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Antikythera • Greece • scientists • archaeologist • calculating machine

EPA Forecasts Longer, Smoggier Summers for US

Agency warns of effects from global warming

Jul 17, 08 4:46 PM CDT
(Newser) - Climate change will bring longer, hotter, smoggier summers in the coming decades across the US, a new EPA reports says. Expect more wildfires and hurricanes, too, along with water problems in the West, the Washington Post reports. The federal report is noteworthy because it refutes the Bush administration's rosier outlook... More »

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climate change • Bush administration • environment • global warming • Environmental Protection Agency • heat wave • scientists

Scientists Find Fossil of Most Primitive 4-Legged Creature

Fish-eater likely a product of extinct branch of 4-legged family

Jun 26, 08 2:08 AM CDT
(Newser) - Scientists have found a partial skeleton of the world's most primitive four-legged creature— a water-dwelling tetrapod—in Latvia, AP reports. The four-foot-long fish eater resembles a small alligator and likely belongs to an extinct offshoot of the four-legged family tree. The fossil is 365 million years old—predating dinosaurs by... More »

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evolution • fish • scientists • scientific discoveries • Ventastega curonica

EPA Scientists Rip Political 'Interference'

Survey finds agency 'under siege' from meddling officials

Apr 24, 08 8:57 AM CDT
(Newser) - Hundreds of Environmental Protection Agency scientists say they have come under political pressure to fudge their findings, the Los Angeles Times reports. More than half the scientists who responded to a survey said they had experienced interference over the last five years. The report from a nonprofit scientists' group describes... More »

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environment • White House • Environmental Protection Agency • scientists • U.S. environmental laws

 Mecca Time Plugged 
 for World Standard 

Muslim scholars say British-imposed GMT due for a change

Apr 21, 08 4:57 PM CDT
(Newser) - A group of Muslim scholars wants Mecca time to replace Greenwich Mean Time as the world's default setting, the BBC reports. As Islam’s holiest city lies in perfect longitudinal alignment to magnetic north, scientists told a Qatar conference that Mecca was the “true” center of the earth. GMT,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Islam • Saudi Arabia • England • Qatar • Mecca • scientists • Greenwich Mean Time • time

 Lousy Figure?
 Blame Mom and Dad 

Another reason to get mad at your parents: body shape is inherited

Apr 9, 08 9:10 PM CDT
(Newser) - Still struggling to get that 36-24-36 figure? Science can’t help you, but it can explain why some girls are leaner than others, reports the Telegraph. Researchers have found a link between parental DNA and female muscle mass, which could explain “why many people will never obtain the perfect... More »

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genetics • DNA • scientists • gene pool • scientist • genetic research • scientific study • muscle mass • scientific research

 Human-Animal Embryos Created 

Controversial cow-human creation lived for three days

Apr 2, 08 6:14 AM CDT
(Newser) - In a brave new world breakthrough, British scientists for the first time have created animal-human hybrid embryos, the London Times reports. The nuclei of cow eggs were removed and replaced with ones from a human cell, creating "admixed" embryos—or "cybrids" whose genetic material is 99.9% human.... More »

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stem cell research • hybrid animal • stem cells • embryo • scientists • bioethics • human embryos

 Top 10 Planet Earth Puzzlers 

Even basic questions still have scientists scratching their heads

Mar 16, 08 3:12 PM CDT
(Newser) - Forget deep-space exploration; even basic questions about Earth still have scientists scratching their heads, LiveScience reports. A panel of geologists and planetary scientists lists its top lingering mysteries.
  1. How did Earth form into such a distinct body?
  2. What happened during Earth's first 500 million years?
  3. How did life start
... More »

MORE ABOUT:
aerospace • Earth • geology • universe • scientists • biology • volcanoes • Earth's interior • earthquake

Kamikaze Palm Baffles Botanists

Madagascar giant flowers spectacularly, then dies

Jan 17, 08 3:30 AM CST
(Newser) - Scientists have found a gigantic—and suicidal—new species of palm tree in a remote area of Madagascar, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The tree, so big it can be seen in satellite photos, grows normally for a century or so until it spectacularly erupts with countless tiny flowers that... More »

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conservation • trees • Madagascar • scientists

'Christmas Punch-up'
Rocks South Pole

Two Antarctic workers engage in Yuletide combat

Dec 27, 07 5:28 PM CST
(Newser) - The North Pole is usually abuzz with activity this time of year, but the South Pole was rocked by a "drunken Christmas punch-up," between two men in a remote research station at the bottom of the world. The Guardian reports both men—one with a broken jaw—were... More »

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research • Antarctica • fight • scientists • Christmas • South Pole

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