discoveries

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

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There's Been a Reversal of the Binge-Drinking Gender Gap

Young women are binge drinking more often than young men, but drinking is down overall

(Newser) - Young Americans aren't drinking as much alcohol as previous generations, says Dr. Bryant Shuey, a physician at the University of Pittsburgh, but he's noticed a concerning trend among those who do indulge. Shuey and other researchers say that in a reversal of past trends, women 18 to 25...

'These Are the First Hints' of an Inhabited Alien World

New analysis detects more life-producing molecules on K2-18b

(Newser) - Researchers peering into the cosmos with help from the James Webb Space Telescope say they've uncovered the strongest sign yet of extraterrestrial life. It comes from K2-18b, a planet with about 2.5 times the radius of Earth that resides in the constellation Leo, some 120 light-years away. The...

You've Never Seen a Colossal Squid Like This
You've Never Seen a
Colossal Squid Like This
VIDEO
Apr 16, 2025 3:00 PM CDT

You've Never Seen a Colossal Squid Like This

Footage offers first look at the species—and a juvenile—in its natural habitat

(Newser) - The colossal squid, an incredibly rare species native to Antarctic waters, can be longer than a pickup truck and weigh more than 1,000 pounds, making it the world's heaviest known invertebrate. But the first confirmed colossal squid recorded alive in its natural habitat is a fraction of that...

Researchers: Here's How to Make Better Coffee
Researchers: Here's
How to Make Better Coffee
new study
Apr 12, 2025 6:01 AM CDT

Researchers: Here's How to Make Better Coffee

It's all about height and speed when making the pour-over variety

(Newser) - The latest advice on how to make a better cup of coffee comes from an unexpected place—not a food-related journal but one called the Physics of Fluids . There, researchers say they've figured out how to make better coffee when using the pour-over method, reports the Guardian . This method...

Ancient Jawbone That Sat in Antiques Shop Is 'Scarce Find'

Scientists say fossil found in Taiwan belonged to enigmatic human ancestors known as Denisovans

(Newser) - An ancient jawbone discovered in Taiwan belonged to an enigmatic group of early human ancestors called Denisovans, scientists reported Thursday. Relatively little is known about Denisovans, an extinct group of human cousins that interacted with Neanderthals and our own species, Homo sapiens. "Denisovan fossils are very scarce," with...

With Help From The Matrix, Scientists Map a Mouse Brain

Researchers create largest functional map of a brain to date, after having mouse watch video clips

(Newser) - Thanks to a mouse watching clips of The Matrix, scientists have created the largest functional map of a brain to date—a diagram of the wiring connecting 84,000 neurons as they fire off messages. Using a piece of that mouse's poppy seed-size brain, the researchers identified those neurons...

Hairy Skin Covering Medieval Texts Traveled Quite a Ways

Seal fur harvested by Norse might have appeared 'quite magical' to Europe's monks

(Newser) - A set of medieval manuscripts detailing real and imagined creatures was bound in the skin of a slippery animal that hailed far from the books' creators, according to new research that reveals an extensive medieval trade network. Bestiaries, a type of animal encyclopedia, were popular in medieval Europe and often...

Male Fruit Flies Get Tipsy and the Ladies Come Running

New research finds that alcohol causes males of the species to produce, emit more pheromones

(Newser) - Fruit flies—they're just like us. Meaning, booze seems to boost sexytime for the pesky insect that hovers around fermented drinks and alcohol-producing rotting fruit, but perhaps not for the most obvious reason. According to new research published last week in the Science Advances journal, female members of the...

A Day at Uranus Just Got 28 Seconds Longer

Hubble: It's 17 hours, 14 minutes, and 52 seconds, which exceeds what Voyager 2 told us in the '80s

(Newser) - A day at Uranus just got a little longer. As the AP reports, scientists reported Monday that observations by the Hubble Space Telescope have confirmed it takes Uranus 17 hours, 14 minutes, and 52 seconds to complete a full rotation. That's 28 seconds longer than estimates by NASA's...

Scientists Await Blooming of a Newly Discovered Flower

Scientists are hoping for return of new flower species spotted in West Texas last year

(Newser) - Scientists who want to learn more about a tiny flower recently discovered in West Texas are hoping it will bloom again in a couple of weeks after rain finally fell in the area. Dubbed the wooly devil, the flower with furry leaves, purplish-striped petals, and pops of yellow is a...

Ancient Mass Grave May Be Only One of Its Kind

Mass grave is found during renovations of a soccer field in Vienna

(Newser) - During an otherwise routine renovation of a Vienna soccer field, construction crews unearthed a startling secret buried for centuries—a mass grave from the 1st-century Roman Empire that may be among the only ones of its kind. The remains are thought to belong to warriors who were battling Germanic tribes,...

A Shingles Vaccine Policy Paved Way for a Stunning Find

Birthdate cutoff allowed researchers to determine vaccine helps cut dementia risk

(Newser) - In late 2013, Wales changed its shingles vaccine policy: Those people born on or after Sept. 2, 1933, could receive the Zostavax shot; those born before that date could not. The Guardian reports it "created a natural experiment," and one that researchers say now indicates the vaccine does...

In a Sea of Stones, Toddler Makes an Ancient Find

3.8K-year-old amulet is linked to the Bible's Canaanites

(Newser) - A 3-year-old exploring an archaeological site in Israel last month reportedly stumbled upon an ancient treasure: an amulet dating back 3,800 years. Ziv Nitzan and her family were visiting Tel Azekah, a hill created by the layered debris of ancient settlements, when the toddler picked up the scarab amulet...

Boaty McBoatface Makes 'Remarkable' Find in Loch Ness

Robot sub discovers 1970s camera system set up to spot Nessie

(Newser) - Robot submarine Boaty McBoatface has made a surprise discovery in Scotland's Loch Ness—and though it's not Nessie herself , it is related to the rumored monster hiding in the loch's depths. The sub was recently undergoing testing for deep sea research expeditions in Loch Ness when its...

Babies Might Remember More Than We Thought

A new study reveals that infants have the ability to form memories

(Newser) - Nobody remembers their first few years of life, but that doesn't mean babies don't remember anything at all. "We have memories from what happened earlier today and ... even from a few years ago," Tristan Yates, a cognitive neuroscientist at Columbia University, tells NPR . "But all...

Egypt's Latest Royal Tomb Is a Mystery

Abydos tomb, some 3.6K years old, has been stripped of identifiers of its occupant

(Newser) - Egypt has announced the discovery of its second royal tomb in the same year. Weeks after revealing the discovery of King Thutmose II's tomb , archaeologists unveiled the discovery of a looted tomb belonging to another pharaoh, who remains unidentified. The tomb was found at a necropolis in Abydos, one...

How'd Iguanas Get to Fiji? Looks Like a Raft Made of Plants
Mystery of How Iguanas
Got to Fiji May Be Solved
NEW STUDY
Mar 23, 2025 1:30 PM CDT

Mystery of How Iguanas Got to Fiji May Be Solved

Research suggests lizards floated to remote islands from North America on a vegetation raft

(Newser) - Researchers have long wondered how iguanas got to Fiji, a collection of remote islands in the South Pacific. They thought maybe they'd scurried there through Asia or Australia before volcanic activity pushed Fiji far away. But new research published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of ...

It's the 'First Material Evidence' of World's First Empire

4K-year-old cuneiform tablets reveal the bureaucratic 'spreadsheets' of Mesopotamia

(Newser) - Archaeologists say they've found "the very first material evidence of the very first empire in the world" in 4,000-year-old cuneiform tablets unearthed in Iraq. More than 200 administrative tablets have been discovered in the ancient megacity of Girsu, now Tello, along with some 50 administrative seals, per...

Male Blue-Lined Octopuses Use Venomous Mating Strategy
Male Blue-Lined Octopuses
Paralyze Females to Mate
new study
Mar 16, 2025 11:30 AM CDT

Male Blue-Lined Octopuses Paralyze Females to Mate

They use 'high-precision bite' to inject neurotoxin before mating

(Newser) - Female black widows sometimes eat their mates after copulation. Female praying mantises are known for biting off the male's head. Scientists now say male blue-lined octopuses avoid a similar fate because of an aggressive defensive measure: They bite the larger females and inject them with venom near the aorta...

This May Be the First Evidence of Narwhals Playing
The Narwal's
Signature Tusk
May Be Multipurpose
NEW STUDY
Mar 13, 2025 9:23 AM CDT

The Narwal's Signature Tusk May Be Multipurpose

It could have uses in foraging and play, in addition to mating

(Newser) - What is the point of a narwhal's signature tusk, which is actually just one, long spiraled tooth? The answer may be multifaceted, according to new research. Prior research indicates the lengthy tooth, rarely seen in females, is a sexual display, used to communicate a male's fertility —the...

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