discoveries

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

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Stunning New Jellyfish Named, but Still Mysterious

Pelagia benovici's native habitat remains unknown

(Newser) - A new species of jellyfish has been discovered in the Gulf of Venice—but where it hails from remains a mystery. In a phenomenon known as a bloom, the now-named Pelagia benovici showed up in such force in September that it interfered with fishing; citizen jellyfish trackers who were unable...

Expedition: We've Found Columbus' Santa Maria

Flagship may be just off the coast of Haiti

(Newser) - Has the wreck of a ship that changed the course of history been found after more than 500 years? The leader of an expedition off the coast of Haiti believes he has uncovered the wreck of Christopher Columbus' flagship, the Santa Maria. "All the geographical, underwater topography, and archaeological...

Red Wine Health Benefits &#39;a Myth&#39;
Sipping Red Wine for
Your 'Health'? It's a Myth
STUDY SAYS
May 13, 2014 2:11 AM CDT

Sipping Red Wine for Your 'Health'? It's a Myth

Resveratrol's benefits overhyped, researchers say

(Newser) - Researchers still don't know why the red wine-loving French have such low rates of heart disease despite their fatty diet—but they're now pretty sure it doesn't have much to do with an ingredient in the wine. Researchers tracked around 800 Italian villagers over nine years and...

We Can Spark Lucid Dreaming: Researchers

By electrically stimulating subjects' scalps

(Newser) - Scientists may have found a way to cause lucid dreams—those experiences in which we know we're dreaming and can, in some cases, control the dream. The key, explains an expert, is electric scalp stimulation. "I never thought this would work," Harvard researcher Dr. John Allan Hobson...

Newly Found Plant Eats Nickel
 Newly Found Plant Eats Nickel 
May 12, 2014 10:13 AM CDT

Newly Found Plant Eats Nickel

It has big potential in green technology

(Newser) - A newly discovered plant from the Philippines has an unusual appetite—for nickel. In a press release on the find, researchers explain Rinorea niccolifera is a nickel hyperaccumulator, meaning it can absorb up to 18,000 parts per million of the metal in its leaves. That's a "normally...

Fake Laughing? Your Friends Can Tell

 Fake Laughing? 
 Your Friends 
 Can Tell 
study says
May 11, 2014 8:26 AM CDT

Fake Laughing? Your Friends Can Tell

It's all about your breathing sounds, experts say

(Newser) - If you're forcing a laugh after a bad joke, the teller probably knows it. Researchers found that people can identify a fake laugh two-thirds of the time: "Quite a few fake laughs sound pretty good, but listeners seem to pay attention to certain acoustic features that are really...

Newly Found Spider&#39;s Wild Moves Can Kill

 Newly Found 
 Spider's Wild 
 Moves Can Kill 
in case you missed it
May 10, 2014 7:26 AM CDT

Newly Found Spider's Wild Moves Can Kill

Except the one to die in this case is the spider

(Newser) - As far as newly discovered creatures go, the story of the Cebrennus rechenbergi is more fascinating than most. First, there's the way in which researchers figured out the spider, native to the Morocco's southeastern desert, was unique from a similar species found in Tunisia and Algeria: by closely...

5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

The Black Death had an upside, too

(Newser) - A possible HIV treatment from an unusual source and a newly discovered cousin of T. Rex are on the list:
  • Soy Sauce Molecule Could Treat HIV Better : Picture the soy sauce bottle on most sushi restaurant tables, yep, the one with the red or green top. Those omnipresent bottles are
...

Egyptian Archaeologists Report 'Very Important' Find

Authorities hope tomb at Saqqara will boost sagging tourism industry

(Newser) - Archeologists have found a tomb dating back to around 1100 BC south of Cairo, and scholars think it belonged to Egypt's ambassador to foreign countries at the time. The discovery at Saqqara—the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis and site of the oldest known pyramid in...

Another Rare Shark Is Caught
 Another Rare Shark Is Caught 
May 8, 2014 2:16 PM CDT

Another Rare Shark Is Caught

Megamouth is landed in Japan

(Newser) - First came the strange-looking goblin shark caught off the Florida Keys. Now comes another exceedingly rare creature from the deep: a megamouth shark caught in Japanese waters, reports the West Australian . Fishermen brought up the 13-foot-long, 1,500-pound shark from a depth of 2,600 feet, and about 1,500...

The Black Death Had a Silver Lining

'Strong force of natural selection' left behind a much healthier population

(Newser) - If you can find an upside to the decimation of tens of millions of Europeans, a new study has it, per the BBC : It seems that the Black Death, which killed some 30% to 50% of Europe's population between 1347 and 1351, had the accidental effect of leaving survivors...

Lab Creates Life With 'Alien' DNA

New letters added to DNA 'alphabet'

(Newser) - It's alive! Scientists say that they have created the first living organism with synthetic DNA unlike that of any life that has ever existed on Earth. Until now, all species used the same DNA code of four letters, but researchers added two new DNA bases labeled X and Y...

Yawning? Your Brain May Be Overheated
 Yawning? Your 
 Brain May Be 
 Overheated 
study says
May 7, 2014 4:13 PM CDT

Yawning? Your Brain May Be Overheated

Tiredness can affect body temperature

(Newser) - If you're yawning a lot, check the temperature: Researchers say we may yawn when it's warm out because that cools down the brain. In the study , which agrees with earlier research , experts at the University of Vienna showed pictures of yawns to pedestrians in Austria and Arizona, ScienceDaily...

Stonehenge Find 'Blows Lid Off' Old Thinking

Area was 'the London of the Mesolithic,' says archaeologist

(Newser) - The ancient monument of Stonehenge dates back to between 2500 BC and 3000 BC—but when it was built, people had already been living in the area for millennia, researchers found after a dig. Artifacts from what is now Amesbury, the nearest settlement to Stonehenge, dated to 8820 BC. It'...

Introducing &#39;Pinocchio Rex&#39;
 Introducing 'Pinocchio Rex' 
May 7, 2014 1:17 PM CDT

Introducing 'Pinocchio Rex'

T. Rex had a long-snouted relative

(Newser) - T. Rex had a long-nosed cousin that has been christened, of course, with the nickname "Pinocchio Rex," reports the National Geographic . Pinocchio Rex probably lived alongside T. Rex some 66 million years ago, but it was smaller (29 feet long vs. 42 feet long) and faster. As for...

Soy Sauce Molecule Could Treat HIV—Better

Soy sauce company's 2001 discovery holds

(Newser) - Picture the soy sauce bottle on most sushi restaurant tables, yep, the one with the red or green top. Those omnipresent bottles are the product of the Yamasa Corporation, which started manufacturing the soy sauce in 1645. But the most fascinating part of the Japan company's history is a...

How Cotton Balls Helped Save Darwin's Finches

The birds used the treated cotton balls in their nests

(Newser) - Serious problem, simple fix. Researchers on the Galapagos Islands have helped Darwin's finches protect their nests from a dangerous new parasite, reports Scientific American . The simple fix: Scientists left cotton balls laced with a mild pesticide for the birds to take, and the finches happily wove them into their...

Coffee May Help Eyesight
 Coffee May Help Eyesight 
study says
May 6, 2014 5:34 PM CDT

Coffee May Help Eyesight

Study: Antioxidant keeps retinas healthy

(Newser) - Add this to the good-for-you , bad-for-you debate over coffee: A new study out of Cornell suggests that it might help keep your eyes healthy, reports Syracuse.com . Specifically, an antioxidant in coffee called chlorogenic acid, or CLA, staves off retinal degeneration in mice, reports Nature World News . In humans, that...

Archaeologist: Here's King David's Citadel

Reports fuel Israel-Palestine controversy

(Newser) - An Israeli archaeologist says he's discovered a citadel once captured by the Biblical King David, fueling controversy over his methods and the Israel-Palestine divide. "The whole site we can compare to the Bible perfectly," Eli Shukron says of the find, which emerged in a dig that started...

Mystery in Centuries-Old Copy of Odyssey Solved

Italian computer engineer claims $1K prize

(Newser) - An Italian computer engineer has produced fresh insight into Homer's The Odyssey—or, more specifically, one long-intriguing copy of it. In 2007, the University of Chicago Library was given a copy of the book dating to 1504. But alongside about 20 of the pages making up Book 11 were...

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