discoveries

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

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India&#39;s Glowing Border Is Visible From Space
 India's Glowing Border 
 Is Visible From Space 
in case you missed it

India's Glowing Border Is Visible From Space

Thanks to nearly 1,200 miles of floodlights

(Newser) - An astronaut above the International Space Station has captured a stunning image of what NASA refers to as "one of the few places on Earth where an international boundary can be seen at night." The Sept. 23 image shows the glowing, snaking border between India and Pakistan, visible...

New Evidence: Alcatraz Escapees Didn't Die

John and Clarence Anglin would be in their 80s today

(Newser) - Three inmates who famously escaped from Alcatraz prison in 1962 may not be so dead after all. In fact, new evidence that they survived has spawned a History Channel special and inspired a retired US marshal to revive the investigation, the New York Post reports. "This is absolutely the...

The Day After Tomorrow Not So Weird After All
 'Global Cooling' Scenario 
 Not So Far-Fetched 
study says

'Global Cooling' Scenario Not So Far-Fetched

Scientist evaluates a Hollywood disaster movie

(Newser) - The 2004 disaster film The Day After Tomorrow depicted a world devastated by climate change—including tornadoes, flooding, and, surprisingly, a modern ice age that freezes the Northern Hemisphere. All Hollywood exaggeration, right? Scientists said so at the time, but now a professor has run the film's basic theory...

CIA: Yes, We Covered Up the JFK Killing

Report from an in-house CIA magazine says how

(Newser) - Think the CIA played a role in covering up the John F. Kennedy assassination? Now an important source agrees with you: the CIA. According to an article written by the agency's senior in-house historian, the CIA purposely held back information from the Warren Commission, Politico reports. John McCone, then...

Study: DNA Test Can Predict Whether You're Gay

Potential for misuse troubles lead scientist, who's just left the lab

(Newser) - UCLA scientists think they've developed the first test that can accurately predict whether a man is gay based on his DNA, and all it takes is a swab of saliva, reports New Scientist . The researchers examined 400,000 epigenetic tags—"chemicals that latch onto DNA and help turn...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including 2 captivating images from space

(Newser) - Gruesomeness at an ancient Aztec site and an odd placebo phenomenon make the list:
  • Pluto Has a Blue Sky, Like Ours : A color image of Pluto's atmosphere shows the dwarf planet with a blue glow, suggesting it has a sky similar to Earth's. "Who would have expected
...

Study Finds Surprising Reason Behind Many Falls

It could all come down to a urinary, blood, or respiratory infection: scientists

(Newser) - Around 2.5 million people aged 65 and older are treated in the ER for falls each year, but researchers who took part in a Massachusetts General Hospital study warn not to automatically assume that "older" means they took a tumble because they're feeble, clumsy, or suffering from...

Study: 1 in 3 Young Chinese Men Will Die From Smoking

Researchers in Lancet call for widespread quitting of the habit

(Newser) - Researchers are offering a helpful hint to Chinese men hoping to "avoid disability and premature death": stop smoking. Of the million people who died from smoking in China in 2010, 84% were male, reports AFP . A new study in the Lancet finds the annual death toll in China—which...

Jarring Stat Shows Why US Is Dumping Syrian Training

Major overhaul in $500M strategy in the works

(Newser) - The White House is pulling the plug on a strategy to train Syrian rebels that by all accounts has been an expensive flop. The $500 million Pentagon program that began in December had been designed to put more than 5,000 fighters on the ground this year alone to fight...

Ultrasounds on Fukushima Kids Alarm Researchers
Ultrasounds on Fukushima Kids Alarm Researchers
NEW STUDY

Ultrasounds on Fukushima Kids Alarm Researchers

Study: Kids near the nuclear plant have thyroid cancer rates 20 to 50 times higher

(Newser) - For four years, nearly all kids living in Japan's Fukushima prefecture have received ultrasounds to gauge the effects of the nuclear disaster there in March 2011. Now a research team says the alarming results are in: Children living near the nuclear plant have thyroid cancer rates that are 20...

Security Expert: Boarding Passes Reveal Way Too Much

He suggests shredding them

(Newser) - Airline boarding passes display a lot more information than just your flight and seat number, according to a security researcher who recommends shredding old ones—and he says posting photos of boarding passes online is a bad idea. At KrebsOnSecurity , Brian Krebs warns that the barcodes printed on boarding passes...

Aztec Site Reveals Grisly Fate of Captured Spaniards

Horses and people were eaten, but not pigs

(Newser) - Excavations at the site of one of the Spanish conquistadors' worst defeats in Mexico are yielding new evidence about what happened when the two cultures clashed—and the native Mexicans were in control. Faced with strange invaders accompanied by unknown animal species, the inhabitants of an Aztec-allied town east of...

Pluto Has a Blue Sky, Like Ours

Yup, it's blue, but Pluto's frozen water might be red

(Newser) - New Horizons' flyby of Pluto this summer taught us a lot about the dwarf planet, including that it's 1,597 miles across and has a mountain range the size of the Rockies . But new surprises are emerging as data continues to be beamed back from 3.1 billion miles...

Something Weird Is Happening With Placebos in America

They seem be growing more 'effective'

(Newser) - Figure this one out: The fake drugs we know as placebos seem to be getting more and more effective in the US. That strange finding comes out of a new analysis in the journal Pain, which looked at medical studies going back to 1990. It turns out that people who...

Missing King Cobra Found Under Neighbor's Dryer

10-foot snake is back with his owners

(Newser) - Elvis is back in the building. Elvis, in this case, being the missing king cobra snake that was returned to its owner's home near Orlando after being on the loose for more than a month. A woman who lives about a half-mile from owner (and Discovery Channel reality star...

We Could Be Seeing Biggest-Ever Coral Death

We may lose 5% of world's corals in latest bleaching event: scientists

(Newser) - A coral bleaching event is hitting the globe for just the third time on record, scientists say, and could lead to the biggest coral die-off in history, reports the Guardian . We could lose about 5% of the planet's corals (or 4,500 square miles) this year, while 38% may...

Runners and Potheads Have Similar Highs
 Runners and Potheads 
 Have Similar Highs 
NEW STUDY

Runners and Potheads Have Similar Highs

The euphoric feeling is linked to the brain’s cannabinoid receptors

(Newser) - It's known that a runner's high isn't actually the result of endorphins, which are too large to cross the blood-brain barrier, but scientists have long sought the elusive cause of the much-talked-about sense of euphoria and calm that can accompany the end of a workout. Now researchers...

Going to Bed Late Could Be Making You Fat

Researchers link later bedtimes to increased BMI

(Newser) - Want to lower your chances of gaining weight? Then maybe cut out before Jimmy Fallon's opening monologue, according to a new study published in the October issue of Sleep. The New York Times reports researchers looking at more than 3,300 adolescents between 1994 and 2009 found a two-point...

49% of Americans Have Nothing Saved

Only 14% have more than $10K in their savings account

(Newser) - Nearly half of all Americans—49%—have no money in their savings account or no savings account at all, CNBC reports. “It’s worrisome that such a large percentage of Americans have so little set aside,” a financial analyst for the site that conducted the survey tells Market...

Losing the Grammar Race: Trump Backers

Democrats' supporters make fewer grammatical errors: study

(Newser) - Can you guess which 2016 campaign supporters have the best grammar? Grammarly conducted a study on the comments left by supporters on the candidates’ official Facebook pages—seriously—analyzing them for grammatical mistakes. It turns out Donald Trump's supporters aren't making English great again: They made the most...

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