discoveries

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

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Last &#39;Ingredient&#39; for Life Found on Saturn Moon
Life Requires 6 Elements.
This Moon Has Them All
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jun 24, 2023 6:30 AM CDT

Life Requires 6 Elements. This Moon Has Them All

Scientists detect phosphorous on the Saturn moon of Enceladus, the last element missing

(Newser) - Scientists have detected phosphorous in the icy mist from one of Saturn's moons. That in itself might not sound like a big deal unless you consider that they previously detected carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur there as well. And that might not sound like a big deal unless...

Ancient Mayan City Found in Dense Jungle

Yucatan site was an important center more than 1,000 years ago, archaeologists say

(Newser) - Archaeologists searching an area of uninhabited jungle almost the size of Rhode Island have found the Mayan equivalent of Providence. Mexico's anthropology institute says the previously unknown ancient city was spotted in searches of the Balamku ecological reserve on the Yucatan Peninsula using aerial laser mapping, reports Reuters . Researchers...

Young People Are Really Into Their Shrooms These Days

From 2018 to 2021, young adults' use of hallucinogens nearly doubled

(Newser) - Not in several decades have young adults in the United States done so much tripping on hallucinogens. That's the upshot of a new study that found the use of such mind-altering drugs nearly doubled from 2018 to 2021. According to research published in the journal Addiction , based on stats...

Researchers See Potential Tool in Fight Against Aging
Researchers
See Potential
Tool in Fight
Against Aging
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jun 17, 2023 4:45 PM CDT

Researchers See Potential Tool in Fight Against Aging

Additional taurine helps monkeys and mice, but whether this applies to humans is unclear

(Newser) - The reason you might be hearing about "taurine" a lot in the near future: A new study in Science suggests the amino acid boosts longevity, at least in animals. Nobody is asserting the same applies to humans, and the researchers emphasize that they don't recommend people start taking...

Emerging Dialect in US: Call It Miami English
Call It Miami English:
'Get Down From the Car'
new study
Jun 17, 2023 11:30 AM CDT

Call It Miami English: 'Get Down From the Car'

Linguists detect new American dialect in South Florida, thanks to Spanish-English blending

(Newser) - Americans all over the country might tell someone to "get out of the car." In South Florida, you might hear a slightly different version: "Get down from the car." Linguists say it's a not-random bit of slang—it's evidence of an emerging American dialect...

Ancient Lucy Could&#39;ve Walked Much Like Us
Ancient Lucy
Had Some Pretty
Powerful Legs
NEW STUDY
Jun 15, 2023 9:55 AM CDT

Ancient Lucy Had Some Pretty Powerful Legs

Knee extensor muscles were like modern humans', meaning she could have walked like us: researcher

(Newser) - Part of the reason the human ancestor known as Lucy is so famous is that her bones, discovered in Ethiopia in 1974, indicated her hominin species, Australopithecus afarensis, was among the first to walk on two legs more than 3 million years ago. But what would her long-vanished muscles tell...

15th-Century Minstrel Served Up a &#39;Comedy Feast&#39;
Ancient Manuscript Offers Rare
Glimpse of Minstrel Show
in case you missed it
Jun 11, 2023 10:45 AM CDT

Ancient Manuscript Offers Rare Glimpse of Minstrel Show

15th-century document might be the first known look at the entertainment

(Newser) - A preacher gives a sermon on the virtues of heavy drinking. A group of kings feast until their stomachs burst and out come two dozen murderous oxen. Such is the stuff of medieval comedy shows, revealed through the pages of a rare, 15th-century manuscript held in the National Library of...

Family Finds Small Fortune in Late Man's Home, All in Pennies

And the 1 million coins are worth more than $10K—they're made of pure copper

(Newser) - For years, California real estate agent John Reyes, his wife, and members of her extended family have been slowly (as their schedules allow) cleaning out the home of her late father, Fritz, located in the Pico-Union neighborhood of Los Angeles. One find in particular, however, in the deceased German immigrant'...

Ancient Romans Smelled of Patchouli
Ancient Romans
Smelled of Patchouli
new study
Jun 10, 2023 8:30 AM CDT

Ancient Romans Smelled of Patchouli

Archaeologists identify a perfume of the empire in what may be a first

(Newser) - A first-century Roman tomb discovered in Carmona, Spain, has pulled researchers nose-deep into the history of human scents, reports Smithsonian Magazine . Scientists from the University of Cordoba and Carmona's city museum detailed how they detected the distinct aroma of a bygone era—thanks to a vial of patchouli perfume...

Woodworker Finds UK's Oldest Piece of Carved Wood

Derek Fawcett's discovery was found to be at least 6K years old

(Newser) - In 2019, retired British surgeon Derek Fawcett was having a workshop built, planning to indulge in his new retirement hobby of wood-turning. As the Guardian reports, an unexpected discovery catapulted him into the world of archaeology. Workers found a blackened chunk of wood that, upon closer inspection, was revealed to...

Long COVID Patients May Fare Worse Than Some With Cancer

Fatigue is No. 1 symptom among this group, which sees 'shockingly' low quality-of-life scores

(Newser) - Medical experts and researchers are still wrangling with the intricacies of long COVID , the label given to health issues that persist or emerge after one's initial bout with the coronavirus is believed to have "ended." Now, a study out of the UK sheds more light on how...

Croc&#39;s Virgin Birth Suggests Dinos Were Also Capable
Virgin Birth Is a First
for This Species
NEW STUDY
Jun 7, 2023 12:30 PM CDT

Virgin Birth Is a First for This Species

Parthenogenesis found in crocodile suggests that dinosaurs may have been capable as well

(Newser) - A crocodile has for the first time been found capable of a virgin birth—a finding that suggests the species' dinosaur cousins were capable of the same feat. An 18-year-old female crocodile who'd been isolated from other crocodiles since the age of 2 laid 14 eggs at a Costa...

They Buried Their Dead 100K Years Before Homo Sapiens

Researchers describe cognitive complexity of Homo naledi, though skeptics remain

(Newser) - Just two hominin species are thought to have intentionally buried their dead: Neanderthals and modern humans. That idea has been floundering over the last decade, however, with the discovery of Homo naledi , an archaic human species that appears to have buried its dead deep inside South Africa's Rising Star...

Unit 731 Did Horrible Things in WWII. Its Bunker Was Found

Archaeologists find a U-shaped bunker used by Japan's Unit 731

(Newser) - Archaeologists in northeast China have unearthed a World War II "horror bunker," reports LiveScience . Researchers at the Heilongjiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology say the underground location was part of the largest research site used by the Japanese army's notorious Unit 731. This particular cluster...

We Like Hearing Nice Sounds in Our Left Ears
Want to Whisper Something
Nice? Use the Left Ear
New Study
May 28, 2023 4:00 PM CDT

Want to Whisper Something Nice? Use the Left Ear

Researchers find a pronounced preference through brain scans

(Newser) - If you've ever noticed a subtle bias toward your left ear when enjoying some pleasant singing or the mellifluous voice of your favorite podcaster, it's not just you. IFL cites a study published in Frontiers in Neuroscience that details how a team of Swiss researchers discovered that our...

5K New Deep-Sea Species Discovered in Pacific

They include the 'gummy squirrel'

(Newser) - It's a bittersweet moment for science—thousands of new species have been discovered in a largely untouched and unexplored region of the Pacific Ocean, but large-scale deep-sea mining in the area could begin soon. In the journal Current Biology , researchers who reviewed environmental surveys say 5,148 species new...

Brain Researchers See a Path to Treating Chronic Pain
Scientists Find Chronic Pain
Signal Pathways in Brain
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
May 27, 2023 12:15 PM CDT

Scientists Find Chronic Pain Signal Pathways in Brain

This may be a huge step in finding new treatments

(Newser) - Researchers have for the first time discovered brain signals that can indicate the amount of pain a person is experiencing, which scientists believe can lead to breakthrough treatments for chronic pain, reports the Guardian . The discovery raises the possibility of treating chronic pain with brain stimulation therapy, which is already...

Toilets in Ancient Jerusalem Reveal Nasty Parasites
Ancient Residents of
Jerusalem Carried
a Nasty Bug
new study
May 26, 2023 11:47 AM CDT

Ancient Residents of Jerusalem Carried a Nasty Bug

Researchers analyze poop from 2.5K-year-old toilets and find evidence of dysentery

(Newser) - Today in fascinating poop news: Even wealthy Iron Age residents of Jerusalem—then a booming city in the Assyrian empire—couldn't escape the distressing grip of intestinal parasites. CNN reports that researchers have unearthed 2,500-year-old latrines that once belonged to the elite, and they've found traces of...

Man&#39;s Brain Mutation Suggests a Way to Treat Alzheimer&#39;s
Alzheimer's Study 'Made
the Hair on My Arms Stand Up'
in case you missed it
May 20, 2023 12:15 PM CDT

Alzheimer's Study 'Made the Hair on My Arms Stand Up'

Man's genetic mutation staved off onset for decades, suggesting a future treatment

(Newser) - In one sense, the study subject's case is grim: He began showing signs of cognitive impairment at 67, developed full-blown dementia at 72, and died two years later, per STAT News . In another sense, his case is remarkable: He should have developed Alzheimer's in his early 40s because...

This Is the First Known Fish to Hold Its Breath
Sharks Holding Their Breath
Came as 'Complete Surprise'
in case you missed it
May 20, 2023 7:30 AM CDT

Sharks Holding Their Breath Came as 'Complete Surprise'

Behavior allows hammerheads to maintain body temperature during dives

(Newser) - Hammerhead sharks dive more than half a mile below the ocean's surface to find and catch prey. And they hold their breath while they do it, according to researchers, who say the discovery—the first time the behavior has been witnessed in fish—came as " a complete surprise...

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