discoveries

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

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&#39;Kennewick Man&#39; Mystery Over: He&#39;s Native American
'Kennewick Man' Mystery Over: He's Native American
study says
Jun 18, 2015 3:38 PM CDT

'Kennewick Man' Mystery Over: He's Native American

Finding might lead to his burial

(Newser) - Kennewick Man is not only "one of the most important human skeletons ever found in North America," in the words of the Guardian , it's also one of the most controversial. Now a new DNA study might—but only might—bring finality to the debate over the "...

Those Who Believe in Pure Evil Tend to Support This

And the issue becomes more black-and-white

(Newser) - As Nebraska becomes the 19th state to abolish capital punishment, researchers out of Kansas State University have been investigating just what makes some Americans more fervently in favor of the death penalty than others. One clear factor, they report in the journal Personality and Individual Differences , is whether someone believes...

Eureka! Navigation Clue Found in a Worm&#39;s Brain
Eureka! Navigation Clue Found in a Worm's Brain
study says
Jun 17, 2015 7:10 PM CDT

Eureka! Navigation Clue Found in a Worm's Brain

Scientists discover first-ever magnetic sensor in an animal

(Newser) - A tiny find in a worm-sized brain could give scientists a far greater understanding of how animals use the Earth's magnetic field, phys.org reports. In a lab at the University of Austin in Texas, certain hungry worms were found to move down in gelatin-filled tubes, perhaps in their...

Sexed-Up 'Bachelor' Birds Could Save Their Species

Single male hihi birds can cut down inbreeding, ensure genetic diversity

(Newser) - Is the male hihi bird native to the Jersey Shore? Because, like The Situation and Pauly D, the single male birds in this endangered species (they're actually only found in New Zealand) are decidedly boorish, creeping for already taken ladies to mate with. But this actually might save the...

Dinos Issued a Climate Warning 215M Years Ago
Dinos Issued a Climate Warning 215M Years Ago
NEW STUDY
Jun 17, 2015 12:40 PM CDT

Dinos Issued a Climate Warning 215M Years Ago

Sauropods avoided volatile tropics in Triassic

(Newser) - Scientists have long been baffled by a lack of Triassic period fossils from large, herbivorous dinosaurs known as sauropods near the equator. A new study offers some illumination: It suggests a hot, unpredictable climate and high carbon dioxide levels kept some of the world's first dinosaurs away—and may...

Scientists Figure Out How That Idea Pops in Your Head

Study tracks changes in brain through learning

(Newser) - Scientists using cutting-edge brain imaging technology finally know how that new idea pops into your head and may even be able to read the thought by looking at your brain. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University observed 16 participants' brains as they learned about the habitat and eating habits of eight...

Scientists Reconstructing Ancient Jar Find a Mystery

The inscription dates back to the King David era

(Newser) - When archaeologists stumbled upon hundreds of shards of pottery at the Khirbet Qeiyafa biblical site near Jerusalem in 2012, they noticed letters in ancient Canaanite on some of the pieces and began the work of putting the 3,000-year-old jar back together. What they found was the inscription of a...

'Terrifying' NASA Find: We're Running Out of Water

21 of world's 37 largest aquifers draining faster than they can be refilled

(Newser) - A human being without water is a dead human being, which makes NASA's latest data on the world's water supply pretty chilling. About 35% of the fresh water people use comes from large underground aquifers, but supplies are dwindling, with more water removed from 21 of the world'...

Cat Videos Are Good for You
 Cat Videos Are Good for You 
STUDY SAYS
Jun 17, 2015 2:45 AM CDT

Cat Videos Are Good for You

This study's no time-waster, researcher says

(Newser) - Two million cat videos posted on YouTube with around 26 billion views last year adds up to an awful lot of time watching funny cats, but it's not completely wasted time, according to an Indiana University researcher. Media professor Jessica Gall Myrick surveyed around 7,000 people and discovered...

Mount Everest Moved —One Whole Inch

Nepal's deadly April earthquake shook the mountain hard

(Newser) - Rest easy, geological watchdogs: Reports that Mount Everest may have shrunk almost a whole inch after April's devastating earthquake in Nepal are unfounded, Chinese officials say. But those same officials note that data culled from a satellite monitoring system shows the deadly quake that killed more than 8,000...

Moon Jellyfish Shock Scientists With This Trick

'Symmetrization' has never been observed before

(Newser) - When Caltech biologist Michael Abrams cut two arms off a young jellyfish in 2013, he figured it would do what many marine invertebrates do—grow new ones. But no. "[Abrams] started yelling... 'You won't believe this, you've got to come here and see what's happening,...

Avocados Can Fight Disease That Kills 10K Per Year

Professor Paul Spagnuolo is trying to make avocado-based drug

(Newser) - The unassuming avocado, so rich and delicious it's often called nature's butter, has been found to hold a key ingredient that could fight off one of the world's most devastating diseases, Eureka Alert reports. That disease is acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a cancer that the American Cancer...

Tribe Became Immune to Brain Disease— by Eating Brains

The cannibalistic practice spread disease that some managed to resist

(Newser) - When members of the Fore tribe in Papua New Guinea ate the brains of their extended kin at funerals, it was their way of paying respect. Unfortunately, the ritual also helped spread kuru prion disease, a form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)—a rare but fatal brain disease that can lead...

Northwest's 'Milky Rain' Mystery Is Solved

Chalky substance came from dry lake bed in Oregon: scientists

(Newser) - Some 15 cities along a 200-mile stretch of the Pacific Northwest were coated in a mysterious, chalky substance on Feb. 6 after "milky rain" fell from the sky. For months, the white substance has been considered a "good old-fashioned weather mystery," per CNN . Now, it's a...

This 15-Year-Old Intern Found Something &#39;Amazing&#39;
This 15-Year-Old Intern
Found Something 'Amazing'
in case you missed it
Jun 14, 2015 11:59 AM CDT

This 15-Year-Old Intern Found Something 'Amazing'

It took 2 years to confirm that WASP-142b is indeed a planet

(Newser) - British high school student Tom Wagg already has a line on his resume most of us can only dream of. While interning at Keele University two years ago, the then-15-year-old found what looked to be a planet; telescopes in Chile were used to take a deeper look, and now astronomers...

Does Creativity Up Your Risk of Mental Illness?

Iceland researchers say there's a genetic link, other scientists say it's flimsy

(Newser) - The "mad genius" is back in fashion with a new claim that there's a genetic link between creativity and genius, the Guardian reports. A study published in Nature Neuroscience analyzed 86,000 Icelanders to flesh out genetic variations that double one's risk of schizophrenia and more than...

There&#39;s Something Staggering About This Photo

 There's Something 
 Staggering About 
 This Photo 
in case you missed it
Jun 14, 2015 8:04 AM CDT

There's Something Staggering About This Photo

'This is the first record of this species as polar bear prey'

(Newser) - They're as graphic as they are "unprecedented," in the words of io9 . Photos published in Polar Research earlier this month show a polar bear eating a white-beaked dolphin on a fjord in Svalbard, Norway; the carcass of a second—"little more than the spine, rib cage...

A Strange, Remarkable Quake Hit Wyoming
 A Strange, Remarkable 
 Quake Hit Wyoming 
study says
Jun 13, 2015 4:30 PM CDT

A Strange, Remarkable Quake Hit Wyoming

Wind River Earthquake stands out for its size and power

(Newser) - An earthquake struck Wyoming two years ago that made little sense, scientifically speaking—but experts seem closer to solving the mystery, the BBC reports. Called the Wind River Earthquake, it hit with 4.7 magnitude in an area that rarely sees such seismic power. Hardly surprising, since the Wind River...

Weird 'Blobs' Turning Up on California Beaches

One expert links these 'sea hares' to warmer water temperatures

(Newser) - A blob from the sea is invading East Bay beaches and waterways this summer, and some experts say it may be caused by warmer temperatures near coastal waters. These California sea hares are harmless plant eaters. But their big size and unusual abundance this year is turning heads at the...

Archaeologists Find Grave of &#39;Sleeping Beauty&#39;
 Archaeologists 
 Find Grave of 
 'Sleeping Beauty' 
in case you missed it
Jun 13, 2015 7:56 AM CDT

Archaeologists Find Grave of 'Sleeping Beauty'

During a 6-week excavation of the ancient city of Aksum in Ethiopia

(Newser) - During a six-week excavation in northern Ethiopia, English archaeologists uncovered 11 graves that contained "extraordinary" items. But the inhabitant of one of the graves is herself particularly enthralling: a so-called "Sleeping Beauty," as Louise Schofield, who led the team, has dubbed her. The woman's positioning and...

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