New Discoveries: Reports on the Latest Scientific Discoveries - Page 205

Why the Appalachian
Mountain Chain Bends

Jul 22, 2014 2:40 PM CDT

Why the Appalachian Mountain Chain Bends

Blame a giant, underground rock in New York and Pennsylvania

(Newser) - If you took a bird's-eye view of the Appalachian mountain chain, you could pretty much trace a 1,500-mile straight line from Newfoundland to Alabama, notes Nature World News . Except, that is, for a little squiggle in New York and Pennsylvania. So what on earth could make a mountain...

6th-Grader's Fish Project Blows Away Scientists

Jul 21, 2014 11:08 AM CDT

6th-Grader's Fish Project Blows Away Scientists

She says experts were making a silly assumption

(Newser) - Sometimes it takes a kid to truly think outside the box. Such is the case of 12-year-old science fair entrant Lauren Arrington, who decided to investigate lionfish, which the Florida native had observed up close while snorkeling and fishing in the ocean. "Scientists were doing plenty of tests on...

Harvard Students Invent
Cake From a Spray Can

Jul 21, 2014 8:08 AM CDT

Harvard Students Invent Cake From a Spray Can

The 2 students get a big thumbs-up from a Boston culinary star

(Newser) - For two Harvard University undergrads, what began as "an excuse to eat a lot of cake" may turn into the invention of a lifetime. John McCallum, a 20-year-old from Louisiana, was daydreaming about cake his freshman year during his “Science of Cooking” class when he happened to see...

5 Most Incredible
Discoveries of the Week

Jul 19, 2014 5:22 AM CDT

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including a promising development for those with pacemaker trouble

(Newser) - A mysterious-sounding crater and a black that's so black you can't see it highlight this week's list:

Mystery Crater Spotted Near 'End of the World ': It's tailor-made for crazy conspiracy theories: A mysterious crater has formed in a part of Siberia known as the

...

Sorry, Everyone,
But Our Feet Are
Getting Bigger

Jul 18, 2014 2:42 PM CDT

Sorry, Everyone, But Our Feet Are Getting Bigger

Average shoe size is up about two sizes since the '70s, study says

(Newser) - We already knew there was an obesity epidemic , but there’s one body part that may be outpacing the rest: our feet. The average shoe size has gone up two whole sizes since the 1970s—and people are cramming their feet, big or small, into shoes that are undersized, according...

Morning People
Are Liars at Night

study says

Jul 18, 2014 7:50 AM CDT

Morning People Are Liars at Night

Conversely, night owls are more likely to lie in the morning, study finds

(Newser) - Think morning people are somehow morally superior? Think again, say researchers whose new study, the Morality of Larks and Owls , finds a strong link between a person's ethical inclination and chronotype—which refers to when people are most naturally inclined to be asleep or awake. When outside of one'...

Gene Injection Gives Pigs 'Biological Pacemakers'

Jul 17, 2014 3:07 AM CDT

Gene Injection Gives Pigs 'Biological Pacemakers'

Heart cells were reprogrammed to beat normally

(Newser) - A promising experiment on pigs could help save the bacon of people with heart trouble who are having problems with electronic pacemakers. Researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute injected genes into the hearts of pigs with irregular heartbeats, reprogramming regular heart cells into pacemaker cells that temporarily restored a normal...

Mystery Crater Spotted
Near 'End of the World'

Jul 16, 2014 12:12 PM CDT

Mystery Crater Spotted Near 'End of the World'

Scientists in Siberia out to investigate and to debunk speculation

(Newser) - It's tailor-made for crazy conspiracy theories: A big mysterious crater has formed in a part of Siberia known as the "end of the world," reports the Siberian Times . Video of the 260-foot-wide hole has caused such a stir in the region that a team of Russian scientists...

'Flying' Dino
Had 4 Wings,
Long Feathers

Jul 16, 2014 4:26 AM CDT

'Flying' Dino Had 4 Wings, Long Feathers

Turkey-sized raptor may have been expert glider

(Newser) - Take the velociraptors made famous by Jurassic Park, make them a bit smaller, add feathers, then change the limbs to wings and you will have something resembling a newly discovered dinosaur species found in China. Researchers say Changyuraptor yangi, a carnivore that lived around 125 million years ago, has the...

Elephant Ancestor's Bones Alter Our Continent's History

Jul 15, 2014 8:00 AM CDT

Elephant Ancestor's Bones Alter Our Continent's History

Gomphotheres appear to have roamed North America as recently as 13,400 years ago

(Newser) - North America's prehistoric Clovis people were known hunters of large mammoths and mastodons. But another elephant ancestor, the smaller gomphothere, may also have fallen prey to the ambitious hunter-gatherers. An archaeological dig begun in 2007 in northwestern Mexico now carbon dates that site—which has given up Clovis spear...

Some People Ignored Writing
for Thousands of Years

Jul 14, 2014 4:30 PM CDT

Some People Ignored Writing for Thousands of Years

Ancient Assyrians still used clay markers, 2K years later

(Newser) - What if people still used typewriters in the year 4,000? Or wrote with a stone and chisel today? That's roughly the equivalent of what archaeologists discovered in Turkey, where a dig dating to 600 to 900 BC turned up clay tokens alongside cuneiform tablets, the Smithsonian reports. The...

Scientists Create
'Super Black' That
Our Eye Can't See

Jul 14, 2014 9:00 AM CDT

Scientists Create 'Super Black' That Our Eye Can't See

Nanotubes absorb 99.96% of light

(Newser) - Imagine an object so black that you could stare right at it and see nothing at all. That object can now exist, thanks to a British nanotechnology company. Surrey Nanosystems has created a new "super black" coating that absorbs 99.96% of light, which is to say, all light...

Why Skulls of
Kids Encircled
Ancient Villages

Jul 12, 2014 2:18 PM CDT

Why Skulls of Kids Encircled Ancient Villages

Bronze Age villages placed skulls to ward off flooding, researchers say

(Newser) - Visitors to some ancient villages in Switzerland and Germany weren't greeted by a nice garden or an archway. They encountered skulls—children's skulls, researchers say. According to a new study , certain lakeshore villages placed children's skulls and bones outside of town in an effort to ward off...

Silent but Healthy: Sniffing Farts Is Good for You

study says

Jul 12, 2014 1:00 PM CDT

Silent but Healthy: Sniffing Farts Is Good for You

Or say scientists at the University of Exeter

(Newser) - To put it one way, small doses of hydrogen sulfide help keep cells healthy and thus help ward off maladies such as dementia, diabetes, and even cancer. To put it another way, "smelling farts could be the best thing you do today," as per CNET . As the Independent ...

Mysterious Coin Stash
Unearthed—After 2K Years

Mysterious Coin Stash Unearthed—After 2K Years

26 Roman and Late Iron Age coins found in Derbyshire

(Newser) - A cave in Britain may have been the perfect hiding place for a stash of coins … because 2,000 years passed before anyone found them. A climber sheltering from the rain happened upon four coins in Dovedale, Derbyshire, reports the Ashbourne News Telegraph , which led to a National Trust...

5 Most Incredible
Discoveries of the Week

Jul 12, 2014 5:19 AM CDT

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including a shipwreck search that yields a surprise

(Newser) - Insights about prehistoric creatures make the list, along with a not-so-great discovery about one of today's common animals:

Biggest-Ever Flying Bird Is Unearthed : New research reveals that the biggest flying bird ever discovered had a wingspan bigger than that of some small planes. The bird, named Pelagornis sandersi, lived

...

Gene Tweak
Made Roosters
Fat—and Infertile

Jul 10, 2014 1:03 AM CDT

Gene Tweak Made Roosters Fat—and Infertile

Leading to a shortage of chickens, and higher prices

(Newser) - The breed of rooster that sires around a quarter of America's chickens hasn't been getting the job done and a genetic tweak is to blame. Aviagen Group, the world's largest chicken breeder, made a change to the standard Ross male that has caused fertility issues, causing a...

Herds of Dinos
Thrived in ... Alaska?

NEW RESEARCH

Jul 9, 2014 12:35 PM CDT

Herds of Dinos Thrived in ... Alaska?

Thousands of 'world-class' hadrosaur prints discovered in Denali

(Newser) - Forget seeing Russia from Alaska: Scientists have found a trove of tracks left behind by dinosaurs that once roamed our northernmost state—and some of them are pretty big. A paleontology team discovered a "world-class" trail in the northeast corner of Denali National Park that was littered with thousands...

Explorers Looking
for Shipwreck
Find Plane

Jul 9, 2014 10:55 AM CDT

Explorers Looking for Shipwreck Find Plane

Crew parachuted off plane, hoped plane would crash in remote area

(Newser) - A trio of explorers on the hunt for sunken ships managed to solve a six-decade-old mystery—involving a plane. The group uncovered a US Air Force C-45 plane that crashed in the east end of Lake Ontario on its way to Griffiss Air Force Base near Rome, New York, on...

Odd Ditches Made Before Amazon Rainforest Grew

new study

Jul 8, 2014 5:31 PM CDT